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F1 legend Lewis Hamilton was bullied when he was just 6 years old. In a podcast, he shared that as a child he was racially abused during his school days. They also received filthy abuse related to their race. He also said he was completely isolated due to discrimination at school.
Hamilton grew up in England
Lewis Hamilton was born in the town of Stevenage, England. He studied there. Lewis’s father, Anthony Hamilton, is of Grenadian descent from the West Indies, while his mother, Carmen Larbalestier, is a white Briton from Birmingham.
“People call you half-breed and don’t really know where you fit,” Hamilton, 38, said on the podcast show. When I went to history class, I never saw people who looked like me in the books. There is no mention of blacks in the history books of England.
Hamilton drives for the Mercedes team.
school never let me go
Hamilton further states that, out of 1200 children in our school, there were only 6 to 7 black students. We were always kept outside the principal’s office. I have always been placed at the bottom of the school. They used to tell me that if you do well, we’ll get you ahead. But, never let me get ahead, no matter how hard I try. The system went against me.
chosen last in school
Sharing the experience related to games at school, Lewis said that whenever there were games at school, at that time I was selected last in the team. When it came time to make the football team, we stood in line and I was picked last, even though I played better than a lot of kids. Because of discrimination, I didn’t realize until I was 16 that I was dyslexic.
In 2021, Lewis Hamilton was given the title of “Knightwood” by the British family. With this, Hamilton became the only black driver in Britain to receive this honour.
Hamilton was shy to say things at home
Lewis Hamilton said that a lot of these things that happened at school, I didn’t talk about at home. I didn’t think to go home and tell my parents that today I was racially abused or beaten. I didn’t want my dad to think I was weak. I brought my aggressiveness first in running and then in driving.
