Combatting racism

[miraflores81]

I was fortunate to grow up in a very multicultural city and "only" recall 1 incident of racist verbal abuse.

I now live in a predominantly white area and have experienced racist verbal abuse a few times. Most recently while with my 17 month old son. The perpetrator was an old lady. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do with myself.
I need to know the best way to handle this not just for myself but also to provide an example for my son, as sadly I expect he will have to tackle it as well.

To provide context on the latest incident I was leaving Boots on a sunny day and the extension sun hood thingy on the pram was misbehaving so i paused and took literally 5 seconds for me to sort it out whilst I was just outside the doorway (normally it pops up no problem) and 2 old ladies stopped abruptly as they approached us and 1 called me a coloured b*h and said that I had no manners! They had enough space to walk round me it wasn't as if I was blocking the whole doorway.

I did feel conflicted as although there is no excuse for racism I did feel as if the 2 old white ladies denied it nobody would believe me. It was just me and my son so there were no other witnesses. Also it happened so fast I'm not sure I would recognise them if I saw them again.

Generally where I live is a good place to live and usually people are polite and I often get people stopping to coo over my son and say how gorgeous he is!

I know people have obviously experienced a lot worse than this incident but it did shake me up so please be kind in your responses! Looking for practical advice. What would've been the best way to combat this and more general advice on combatting racism in the future.
Thank you

[Teddybear45]

I am a big brown woman, and in situations like this I play that up and become really intimidating. I find most racists (and especially white ones) are scared shitless when I start getting loud and ranty. Try the same?

[Earlywalker]

Someone sent this to be recently re being called coloured and I always wished I was brave enough to say it irl!

I don’t know how best to help but I’m sorry you’ve Experienced it and sending solidarity

[miraflores81]

Thank you for your responses. It was cathartic just getting it out as well! Now I've put some thought into it I think I would deal with it better if there was a next time. Your responses were definitely helpful x

[FedUpMum40]

I used to get alot of racist abuse growing up, cause I was one of the only white girls in my class, its not nice, and still avoid that area as I have heard its got worse!
I think standing up for yourself is a must, but understand its difficult with a baby with you, mine happened a fair bit in front of the racist children's parents but they just laughed, or couldn't understand what their own child was saying, my brother helped as he come to pick me up from school with our very large dog who apparently offended them, sorry this has happened to you