On November 22nd 2025, I was called the N-word by a Cambridge student in the McDonald's in town.
Twelve hours later, I posted a reel on my Instagram and the rest was history.
HERE'S MY STORY
Part 1: The Crashout
Twelve hours after the hate crime, I felt completely overwhelmed. Worse still, it felt as though I had no one to turn to for understanding.
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I didn’t know how to process those emotions, so I decided, “fuck it—might as well make a storytime.” It felt like the only way people would truly understand was by seeing the impact on someone directly affected by a racist hate crime.
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So I made a reel not only about what happened, but also about how chopped Cambridge is for Queer people of colour. It was meant to be a wake-up call—and it worked. Maybe a little too well.
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A few days later, in response to the community outcry, I posted a written statement to clarify my frustrations and demand that Cambridge do better for QIPOC. It didn’t just circulate around Cambridge—it breached containment and went viral. Oops.
The main takeaway from the outcry was that I should take things further. During Part 1, I decided to report the incident to the police—but things didn’t go smoothly.
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After days of hearing nothing, I called the police for an update. I was told that being called the N-word in public wasn’t a crime.
Frustrated, I decided to make another reel—this time about my interaction with the police.
That reel blew up, reaching more people than both of my previous reels combined.
Suddenly, I was thrust into the public eye. Between the viral reels and coverage from PinkNews and other outlets, my story reached thousands in just one week
Part 2: The Police
Part 3: The Investigation
Surprisingly, a few days after I posted that reel, the police called to say they had opened an investigation.
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It seemed the public outcry had worked. I then made a third reel announcing that the investigation into the incident had begun and that I would be focusing my time on it.
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The investigation only lasted a week, but in hindsight, that was a good thing.
Final Part: The Movement
With the investigation wrapped up and a suspect in mind, I had to make a choice: continue pursuing the case with the police, or let it go.
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If there’s one thing I realised during the two weeks this blew up, it’s that beyond my individual case, Cambridge hadn’t changed at all.
In the only two days I went into town, I experienced two more racist incidents. On top of that, hundreds of people reached out to tell me similar things had happened to them.
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Ultimately, I decided I’d rather use this moment to change Cambridge. So I dropped the case and started this movement.
