Greta teenager Seela Carrick still remembers the moment she was called a n******.
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She was 12 years old and the highly derogatory term was spat from the mouth of a fellow child.
The teenager, who organised a Black Lives Matter anti-racism protest in Wangaratta but had to postpone due to COVID-19, considers herself lucky as she's only experienced racism a few times in her short life.
"I do get a few looks because I'm a different colour and I get comments and questions which are kind of hurtful," she said.
"It left me feeling very hurt and really questioning why?
"Every time it happens I ask myself, who am I? What am I? Where do I belong? Why does no one like me?
"Sometimes it's shocking to see someone you think is a nice person lash out."
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Seela was adopted from India by an Australian couple and said she was motivated by others' experience of racism, not just her own.
"There hasn't been that much racism towards me but I want to make a change because I don't want any more racism," she said.
"I want to achieve a goal of a peaceful world where people don't get judged by their skin colour, gender identity or religion."
Miss Carrick said after reading and seeing about the death of African-Americans like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arberyat, and learning about Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia, she was inspired to take a stand.
"I was just absolutely horrified, I still am, " she said.
"I'm a person of colour too and I became frustrated and angry, I wanted to do something so that's why I came up with the vigil."
Initially, Miss Carrick had organised a peaceful and silent anti-racism vigil for Friday afternoon but once posted online the event attracted far more attention than she expected.
"[The post] had so many likes it concerned police and myself that a huge number of people might be coming," she said.
"Police were really nice about it, there are good police out there."
She said that instead of a mass protest, she was looking at organising a series of daily vigils next week, each of about 10 people.
She said it was great that so many people were interested in attending, though she was also attacked for wanting to host the event.
"I was surprised and absolutely delighted at how many people were supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement and protesting Aboriginal deaths in custody," she said.
"I received quite a lot of hate as well as a lot of support... with the negative comments I think it was a shame that they had to be so personal and nasty."
Seela said she was going to create an Anti-Racism Wangaratta Facebook Page with more details.