A teenager is followed around a shopping centre by a security guard.
Another cops abuse on a football field from spectators.
An Australian-born person is asked: "But where did you really come from?"
These are some of the examples of racism young people in the ACT are experiencing or witnessing every day.
ACT children and young people commissioner Jodie Griffiths-Cook said racism was a live issue but not many people were talking about it.
"We're keen to start that conversation and see if we can find out more about children's experiences of racism, but also their ideas about what we should be doing about it," Ms Griffiths-Cook said.
The commissioner has launched a survey to try to capture the extent of the issue in the territory to find ways to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
She has started the consultation with small focus groups involving 40 young people to start to gather information and to shape the language in the survey.
"They spoke to us about experiencing or witnessing racism across pretty much any environment you can think of: the shops, schools, bus stations, on public transport, sporting fields," she said.
She said the young people reported being asked repeatedly about where they came from, even if they and their parents were born in Australia.
"When you're trying to identify who you are and where you fit, being challenged about that, in and of itself, it was something that children and young people were raising," Ms Griffiths-Cook said.
While some forms of racism were overt, such as name-calling or racist jokes, other forms were subtle, less-intentional interactions which left people of colour feeling uncomfortable.
"They were talking about things like, 'I love the colour of your skin, can I touch it'? Or, 'I love your hair, can I touch it'?' They looked at it and read it and heard it as someone trying to be perhaps genuine and inclusive, but still felt it as racism," Ms Griffiths-Cook said.
"The intentional racism was something that they were more likely to call and be really definitive about, even while realising ... those more subtle forms are still racism."
Research on the subject suggested children as young as five could understand racial prejudice.
Ms Griffiths-Cook said it was important to start raising the issue of intentional and subtle racism at an early age but in an age-appropriate way.
"Some of what we've heard is that adults are either not listening or not responding effectively when racial or racist incidences are reported. And, and that's part of the problem really, because that can actually perpetuate racism," she said.
The survey will gather data on if young people know what to do if they encounter racism in their everyday life and help develop some response strategies to shift the burden away from young people.
There are signs that young people are starting to call out incidents as they happen.
"There was one one young person who said, 'Before I just ignored it, my head was always down. Now, I have my head up and I say, what's your problem'? And give them some nice life lessons on the impact that they're having," Ms Griffiths-Cook said.
- The racism survey is open for people aged five to 24 years until August 31. See actkids.act.gov.au.
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