An Indian woman has claimed Australia is an “extremely racist country” after being subjected to a series of cruel comments and acts because of the colour of her skin.
Alexis Dennis, who has more than 20,000 followers on social media, has posted two TikTok videos about her many experiences of racism in Australia since her family moved to Melbourne in 2008 when she was six.
This included defacing the back fence of his family’s home with racist graffiti.
“My family and I have this graffiti,” Dennis said.
A photo of the billboard showed an offensive message scrawled on it: “I hate Indina (sic).”
Ms Dennis speculated that someone had overheard her Indian father on the phone and picked up his accent with the offensive message now covered up by the council.
She said her experience of racism in Australia began at her “predominantly white school” when she was just six years old.
“Someone in class asked me why my skin was so dirty,” she said.
TikTok influencer Alexis Dennis said she has been bullied for being Indian since she moved to Australia 16 years ago.
“I went home and cried my eyes out. I thought people really thought I was a dirty person.”
She added: ‘The boy who was known to be the class clown made up a song about me singing it in a comical Indian accent, singing my name, singing about how I carry a pot of curry, I love cows, I do this, I do that.’
“I realized that people didn’t like me because I’m Indian and I’m different from them,” Dennis said.
“It was a very difficult revelation for me.”
She said she unconsciously became a self-hating Indian.
“I liked to put myself down before other people could,” she said.
Ms Dennis said she experienced “a lot more racism” after she started dating.
“Whenever kids asked me where I was from, I avoided the question like the plague,” he said.
Ms Dennis said that if she told potential suitors she was Indian, she would get two responses: “No, you’re too sexy to be Indian” or “Oh yes, I can see you’re Indian,” but then they would insult her.
“Some guys have told me, ‘You’re really pretty, but I probably wouldn’t date you because I can’t stand Indians,'” she said.
‘Most of the men in my life, even my friends, not just the guys I’ve been with, talk about my country, they talk about the food from my country, the clothes from my country, the traditions from my country.
Ms Dennis shared racist graffiti that had been painted on the back fence of her family home in Melbourne.
“They really like to stick to stereotypes, so dating is quite difficult when you live in a Western country since you’re a race that people don’t usually like.”
In a second TikTok, Ms Dennis said she had received a lot of “mean” comments for her previous remarks and issued a “disclaimer”.
“I’m very grateful to live in Australia, but I’m still allowed to talk about the negative experiences I’ve had in this country,” she said.
Ms Dennis said she often felt very “unsafe” and “very out of place” in Australia.
“I generally feel like people won’t like me just because I’m Indian,” she said.
Social media users were quick to share their own experiences, revealing they had had similar encounters in their lives.
“This is very true and most of us Indians who grew up in Australia have unfortunately faced this,” wrote one.
“I’m an Anglo-Indian living in Melbourne,” said another.
“I was born and raised here, but I definitely saw and felt what you described in your videos. When I was younger, especially, I know it’s hard to comprehend.”
“I’m from Sri Lanka and I was bullied by my own classmates from the age of 6 until grade 6,” said a third.
“But then a new guy joined, who was Indian, and from then on I could never relate to anyone again.”
