JOHN YOUNG tells me it is time I visited “places such as London” to discover whether white people are also “facing injustice and racist abuse” (HAS, Feb 15).

I love the great cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic city of London.

I have several family members living there, and, before the pandemic, I would normally visit around once a month to see my grandchildren in Camberwell.

Unlike Durham, which is 98 per cent white, Camberwell has substantial black, Asian and other ethnic minority populations.

I have never been subjected to any form of racist abuse or discrimination, unlike black people I know.

A black friend has described the routine racism she has encountered, and I have witnessed some of it at first-hand.

As I walked through Durham with her, a boy of about 14 sneered, “Oh look! There goes a p*ki banana!” (She happened to be wearing a yellow coat.)

In Durham City centre, I saw a couple of lads approach a Chinese man and ask: “Have you got a light, mate?” He politely replied: “Sorry, I don’t smoke.” The response was: “Well, f*** off then, ch*nk.”

The historian David Olusoga describes the racist abuse his family received as he grew up in Gateshead, including getting bricks through the windows with racist messages attached (Echo, Jan 10).

But it is not just verbal abuse and violence that black people face. There is overwhelming evidence they also suffer discrimination in health, housing, employment and in the criminal justice system.

This is not to say that white people never experience racism, but it is usually because they are from an ethnic minority, e.g. Jewish, Gypsy, Polish, Irish etc.

Pete Winstanley, Durham.