The BBC talks to the mixed race community in Leicester

BBC Inside Out looks into what it means to be mixed race in Leicester

It was not that long ago that being mixed race was not even an option on a census.

However, the issue is only set to grow with dual heritage now the fastest growing ethnic group in the UK.

BBC Inside Out's Roann Ghosh takes a journey through his home city of Leicester to discover what people think about being of mixed race in 21st Century Britain.

In Leicester mixed race births now outnumber those of Asian origin.

A changing world

Things are changing in the UK. People are changing. Race is changing and the way people see colour is changing forever.

One in 10 children in Britain lives in a mixed race family according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

But not that long ago being of a mixed race origin was not acknowledged at all - the category was not included on the national census until 2001.

But now there is a mixed race president and Formula One World champion.

I remember people thinking my mother and I were not related because they were not used to white people having brown children Roann Ghosh, BBC Inside Out

Roann, whose mother is Italian and father Asian, finds out how attitudes in Leicester have changed over the past 50 years towards mixed race children.

Today Leicester is known as a multi-cultural city. In 2009 young people are six times more likely to be mixed race than adults.

But it was a different story when Roann was born in the 1970s and the 1980s when he grew up.

"I can remember people thinking my mother and I were not related, just because they weren't used to white people having brown children."

There have been dramatic shifts in the last decade and flies in the face of claims by the British National Party that races do not and should not mix.

In fact the BNP said it would ban the promotion of mixed race liaisons. The BNP called it "a matter of evolutionary biology".

Jhan Husain, who lived through these times, was born overseas and has an Irish mother and a Pakistani father. Jhan settled in Leicester with his mother in the 1950s after his parents divorced.

"Where she felt it the most was amongst her own family, because they were entirely against her marrying a Pakistani.

"And the thought of engaging with mixed race children in Leicester was not seen a proper."

When we went to enrol at school somebody assumed my sister, my brother and myself were adopted Leroy Caines

Leroy Caines from Leicester had a similar experience in the 1970s.

"When we went to enrol at school somebody assumed that my sister, my brother and myself were adopted. They didn't put my mum, as my mum."

Leroy hopes times have now changed for the sake of his son.

During filming Roann heard that mixing races can lead to confusion over identity.

Roann asked an Indian group why? "Religion wise, culture wise, they don't know which way to follow.

"They get confused, they get lost."

For Roann contact with his Asian background have been limited. As a result; "While I was growing up I felt English, lived in a Italian household, but looked Indian to most people."

Teenagers Jinty and Gemma Kotak have been raised by both mother Teresa and father Dinesh and regularly celebrate their Asian heritage.

"We started of more English and more white but as we got into the Bollywood dancing, about four years ago, we became more interested in the Asian culture."

Roann believes that despite lingering attitudes it is clear that with every generation that have pasted there has been a greater understanding of mixed race people.

"There is a real feeling of pride of being dual heritage and that's here to stay."