to be thinking wtf when it's difficult to walk down a street in town these days?

[LolaTheShowgirl]

The town I used to live in and grew up in is very multicultural. Some areas of the town are majority populated by the Asian community. Now the other day myself and 2 friends were walking through a particular area trying to find somewhere. None of us had ever been in this area before, but as it was a nice day people where out and about and we did not see one non-Asian person at all. The majority of our walk was on a main road and all the people in the cars were even Asian. This itself was not a problem. The problem was the hostile stares we recieved. People looked really angry that we had dared to be white and go in their area.

One of the people who was with us looks Pakistani (although is Iranian) and apparantely one of his friends saw us and said "it's lucky those white fuckers where with you, otherwise they'd have had a good beating by someone or other"

[runawayquickly]

Are you serious? Where do you live? Any chance somewhere the BNP are doing well?

[MIFLAW]

Living in Peckham until recently and working in Brixton - and being very white - I find this impossible to believe.

[FenellaFudge]

I live in an area with very high asian population and cannot even begin to imagine the scenario you describe.
What town are you talking about?

[LadyGlencoraPalliser]

But this is all your subjective perception - eg 'hostile stares' and a secondhand remark. You yourself experienced no direct hostility of any kind.

[seeker]

It's always 'apparently" or "my friend said" isn't it?

[MIFLAW]

If they're not already here the BNP apologists will be here soon - turn and face ...

[PavlovtheCat]

perhaps it was not in anger that they looked at you, but in fear. It is very difficult to identify what is actually behind a person's stare. All number of things could have been going through their minds.

In an area which is as you say predominantly asian, they may well have been anticipating/already experienced some hate behaviour/comments from people on the back of the recent elections. And this may also be the trigger for the hostile remarks about getting beaten up - when some-one or a group of people fear attack, their defences can go up. Fight or Flight.

[LolaTheShowgirl]

I wasn't imagining the hostility, it was there for all of us to comment on. I am used to going in areas with a high population of Asians as my close friend is Bangladeshi but this was different - it was scary and i've since told people that we went to [placename] without mention of what was supposedly said or even the stares, and most people have asked if we were mad going to that place as it's widely known as a 'no-go area' for non-asians.

[MIFLAW]

The only time I have ever felt this sort of hostility was when I was in the mainly "Arab" (ie North African) quarter of Nice.

This was partly because the FN were very strong in the region and also because I was often pissed up and annoying.

Even then, it was clear that they just wanted me to go away and stop irritating them rather than the fact that I was white per se.

[MIFLAW]

Why not name the place and educate us all, Lola?

[seeker]

"One of my closest friend is Bangladeshi"

Next cliche, please........

[PavlovtheCat]

Why did you go there if it is so known to be unfriendly?

FWIW there are 'no-go' areas here in Plymouth, places i would not dream of going into, and if i had to, the car door would be locked, windows up, fast as you like through it. Its very much 'this is our place, get lost' but its nothing to do with race or different cultures. These are white people not wanting others not from their 'patch' to come on in.

I guess what i mean is, it is not so much about being asian or not asian. All areas have 'bad' areas.

[Claire2009]

Pavlov, Would that be 'Swilly'

I do agree though, everywhere has it's bad areas, where ever it may be!

[PavlovtheCat]

LOL you got it! You ain't from there are ya?

[Claire2009]

I'm not nope! I just knew where you meant!

[savoycabbage]

You don't know why people were looking at you though. You might have had a nice top on or be handsome or very ugly.

I did snort water out of my nose at 'One of my closest friend is Bangladeshi' Classic.

[scaryteacher]

Swilly still as bad as ever then? I had to run a polling station near there once, and was most relieved to see that my car was still there and had all it's wheels when I came out.

[SoupDragon]

Lola didn't say "One of my closest friend is Bangladeshi" she explained why she is used to being in areas with a high Asian population. It's not the same cliche at all.

[poorbuthappy]

I was asked to return from whence I came (not those exact words...) by a friendly non-white chap in Luton when I was in my first year of college in the early 90s.
I replied - what Wales? in complete innocence and then walked away completely confused. (very young at the time!)

[ABetaDad]

I live in both a very high density British Asian population area (part time) and a high density traditionally white British area (part time) I never feel this sense of hostility.

As PavlovtheCat says is this actually a 'gang' territory thing rather than an Asian area thing?

[Callisto]

There was an article in the Times about this exact subject a while ago - about how some areas in big cities have become 'no-go' areas to whites. I can't remember where the areas were, there was somewhere in London I think.

It does amaze me that as soon as someone begins a possibly contentious discussion everyone jumps in and accuses that person of racism/sexism/trollism whatever. It is no suprise that there are racial tensions in the UK when we can't even discuss the subject without people immediately yelling 'racist'. Also can I just turn this round and ask if anyone would accuse a black/Asian person of racism if they started a thread about feeling intimidated walking through a predominantly white area?