Aktar was the only kid at my school who wasn't Caucasian. He was from Pakistan (or his parents were) and the poor git was subjected to endless racial persecution when we were about six or seven years old. The reason was Roots was being shown on TV, and since we didn't have a real person of African descent to play Roots with, Aktar was the next best thing. Playing at Roots involved shouting 'nigger' at Aktar and telling him to get back to the cotton fields. Steve S was particularly nasty, he used to take off his belt and whip Aktar with it.
Playing at Roots halted abruptly when Aktar's dad came to the school and spoke to the teacher. All the kids that had played Roots got belted (hit across the fingers with a leather belt - common in Scotland see below)