Jason Lowe: “People think I’m safe to share their prejudice with”
The Desi Rascals star on embracing his Pakistani heritage with fair skin and blue eyes
Hi, welcome back to Mixed Messages! This week, I speak to Jason Lowe, who is of Pakistani and White British heritage. I first saw Jason on Sky reality series Desi Rascals, which followed the lives of a group of British Asians in London. Being blonde with blue eyes, Jason is often assumed to be white, so I was really interested to hear his experiences of his mixed identity and being part of Pakistani culture.
How would you define your ethnicity?
My mum is Pakistani but grew up in Seven Kings, Ilford. My birth father is white. From my mum’s side, having me at 18 with a white guy didn’t go down too well, either.
My mum’s family are from Gujar Khan in Northern Pakistan, where apparently people are very fair with light eyes. I love that people are intrigued by the way I look. I do wish I had more of a South Asian complexion, but I took my grandad’s nose more than anything.
Do you think your mixed-race experience has been different because of your fair features?
Yeah. I’ve always had a sort of insider knowledge because people do see me as a white guy. I’ve definitely had people say racist or prejudiced things to me, thinking I’m a safe person to share that with. I’ve had to let them know that it’s not OK to say things like that, whether I’m white or not. I will call people out on the spot.
Have those experiences affected your views on how prevalent racism is?
It’s given me quite a pessimistic view of racism. I’ve seen so much negativity that it wears you down after a while.
People hope for change, but I do wonder if we’ll ever get to that point of acceptance where everyone can freely actually be themselves. With the older generation in particular, I don’t think they’ll change. I try to educate as much as possible, for the sake of my daughter.
Are you raising her to know all of her cultural heritages?
Yes, definitely. My wife is Bajan, with some Jewish and Polish in there too, and I love that my daughter has all of those in her. No kid is born racist, so it’s important for parents to educate her about these things. We want to do that as much as possible before she gets to school, where we don’t have as much control over her influences. I never want her to be ashamed of her heritage.
Are you proud of being Pakistani?
Yes! People always wind me up because I say I’m mixed any chance I get, even if people always try to tell me that I’m not.
Do you feel connected to Pakistani culture?
I mainly got to know my culture through weddings. It’s a shame that my mum wasn’t close to my dad when I was growing up - I think I’d have been a lot more involved with my Pakistani heritage then. Instead, I’ve had to find ways to embrace it for myself. But for me, I’ve never felt embarrassed about not knowing certain things. I feel like with the way I look, people don’t have expectations of me.
As a kid, I just looked in the mirror and saw a white guy, so I didn’t want to be known as that white kid who goes to mosque or who speaks the language. I don’t know how seriously people would have taken me. I’ve definitely still got that paranoia about how people perceive me. To look at me, you wouldn’t have a clue that I’m Pakistani. I don’t love that, but it is what it is.
And if you could describe being mixed race in one word, what would you kind of say that word would be for you and your experiences?
I feel like it's a privilege. I can never understand Pakistani fully because I’ve had white privilege, but I feel privileged that I can share these different cultures.
Next week, I’ll be talking to presenter and content creator Jasmine Muller. Subscribe to get Mixed Messages in your inbox next Monday!
Mixed Messages is a weekly exploration of the mixed-race experience, from me, Isabella Silvers. My mom is Punjabi Indian (by way of East Africa) and my dad is White British, but finding my place between these two cultures hasn’t always been easy. That’s why I started Mixed Messages, where each week I’ll speak to a prominent mixed voice to delve into what it really feels like to be mixed.