The singer and her daughter had a negative experience while travelling this week.

Singer Jamelia was travelling on a train with her 11-year-old daughter Tiani when she was subjected to 'institutionalised racism'. She claims that while she and her daughter were sitting in first class when a woman approached her and asked for whether she had a first class ticket.

''I was genuinely confused at her question, why would I be sat in the 1st class carriage without one?'' The singer explained. ''I look at her, she isn’t dressed as if she works for the company, I glance around and it clicks…My daughter and I are the only black people in the carriage.''

When Jamelia asked why she was looking for the ticket, the woman said:

“well i’ve just seen the conductor, and he wont let you travel in this carriage”

The woman claimed that she was asking about the ticket because she wanted to sit beside her.

“Let’s be honest, you’ve seen a young, black girl and assumed she doesn't have a 1st class ticket. You’ve allowed your prejudice to speak for you” Jamelia said.

The woman claims she would ask anyone about their ticket if she was going to sit beside them. “So if I was an older white man, you would ask him? Let this be a lesson to you, don't you ever make this kind of assumption out loud again. I hope you feel ashamed” Jamelia said to her. Jamelia and her daughter then moved to another table. The singer said that she began to apologise to her daughter and explain the situation when Tiani stopped her to point out that an older white man had sat down beside the woman.

''In a level that would’ve been audible to the entire carriage, Tiani says “Are you not going to ask him for his credentials then?” The woman didn’t turn her head to acknowledge my daughter’s question, but the beetroot hue on her face was proof enough that she’d heard every word. For me, the perfect ending to our unfortunate exchange.''

Jamelia, who was also a judge on the Voice of Ireland, initially tweeted about this encounter. She received both praise and abuse and media queries, which is why she decided to share the story in an open letter.

 ''I also received tweets asking why I felt the need to tweet about it... I'm attention seeking and “always playing the ‘race card’” If i was to tweet every single racist incident that happened to me as it happened, you would be on the floor... The insistence that I don't affect the status quo with my uncomfortable truth is quite telling, and indicative of the issues we face today as a society.'' ''The problem is that we don't tell you, we speak about it amongst ourselves, and you get to carry on about your day not realising you've ruined ours. I tweeted because i wanted you to read it. I wanted you to be aware of this happening. I wanted you to know that even if you have these thoughts in your head, it’s not ok to say it aloud.'' She explained. ''We serve no-one by remaining quiet.'' ''I absolutely refuse to send my daughters out into a world that tells them NOT to speak up when someone hurts them. The only way that will happen is if we are all brave enough to put these important conversations on the table now.''

You can read the full letter here.