RURAL RACISM

I think that may be the case somewhat. People don't think demographically either.

You can see the same pattern in reverse in countries that are majority non-white. Friends of mine that were a couple - a white man and Native American woman - moved to a country to work which was majority black, in fact the population that was not black was less than 1% and that included Asians, white people, everyone. My friends had to travel for several days by car to get to the rural village where they were going to work, and there was certainly no one else there who was white, and many of the villagers had never met anyone white. They also saw both of my friends as white.

It was a bit weird for them, of course, to live there, and they didn't really ever feel like locals. But it's not like the UK is some weird hotbed of homogeneity compared to the rest of the world.

I don't think that is quite what people are saying.

In general many of the people living in rural areas have been there for a number of generations, and the economies in villages and the countryside have a different basis than towns and cities. They tend to be built around agriculture or some other resource based industries.

These are industries that are not easy to expand at the moment and many rural areas have been losing population for decades, even generations, to the cities. Young people grow up and a large proportion have to move into a city or town for work.

What that means is that it can be difficult for any outsiders to move from the town into the rural areas, and find work. There are limited numbers of outsiders coming in unless it is becoming a commuter village or it's a beauty spot that attracts the well-off (which many of the historic residents may resent as it drives up housing costs.)

Given that newcomers of any kind aren't common, newcomers who happen not to be white are also not going to be that common.

Then of course you also have lots of other factors like being close to religious communities, language groups, that make moving away from the city more difficult.than it would be for someone whose language or religion etc is more likely to be found in an out of the way place, and that is likely to affect new immigrants or their kids to a greater degree. I used to know a lady (who was white as it happened) who belonged to the Russian Orthodox church and lives in a very remote area - she could only attend church occasionally as it really required an overnight trip to be practical. Many people don't really like that.

Not sure there is anything wrong with my language. Could you be more specific?

I live in a small village. The only Muslim family in the village always attend the Christmas stuff at the church and Christmas celebrations in the village. They're not very observant muslims as far as I can see though. They don't eat pork (I know this because they come to our barbecues) but do drink alcohol. Plenty of villagers don't come to the church or Christmas stuff and nobody thinks anything of it, so they just go because it's fun rather than to try to fit in.

@FiddlefigOnTheRoof
Good article.
I remember a programme back in the 1980's where Black and White people applied for the same housing , and so often the Black person would be turned down, with the landlord/lady saying the flat had been taken, and yet when the White person applied, they were told it was available.

But Britain isn't a ''Racist Country''..

Brother's oldest schoolfriend{White} is married to a Black woman, and they have teenaged DC.
They are very aware of racism, but as the Guardian article states, it is a lot more subtle these days, but it is still there.

I had to go to a Police station at a quiet time of day, a few years ago, and while waiting, heard a copper outside on a racist rant.
The copper I was giving a statement to, saw my look of shock, and went out to tell his colleague to be quiet.
He did apologise, but that's not the point.

The rant showed what that policeman thought of Black young men in particular.
also the person he was ranting to must have had similar views, otherwise loud copper would have buttoned his lip.

The Station has been shut down now.

I noticed a 'Messy' look to the site today, almost 'Emailesque'.

Assumed it was something to do with my phone app, only to see it on laptop as well.
{Plus having to actually log in, rather than just stay logged in}

It's not a good look.

Don’t mistake this for them not having experienced racism. I don’t talk to people about race (particularly not white people).

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/30/why-im-no-longer-talking-to-white-people-about-race

I live in a very white area and have a 50 mile round trip to a specialist food shop sometimes. That’s an obvious issue.

But it’s mainly jobs, people worrying about racism and actually some people from ethnic minorities preferring the company of people from the same background. I know my Dad did just to back up what @Brainwave89 wrote.

I think some white liberals just would not want to even contemplate that as an angle and yes they wouldn’t be able to say it.

Nope. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I disagree that a white person would have been lambasted for saying it.

Eh did you miss all of the racist accusations over Ukrainian refugees? Saying that you related to them because looked like you and lived a life similar to yours in similar apartments etc to you is absolutely not allowed in some quarters.

My mum lives in a small town on the Welsh border, having moved there from a large West Midlands city. She has often said that she struggles to recall the last time she saw a non-white person.

I think you have missed my other posts, and the one you quoted was replying to a particular post, not the OP's.

@Rosehugger I THINK YOU HAVE MISSED OPS question completely. We are not discussing France and OP asked WHY they are lack of ethnic minorities in rural areas? So is that YOUR conclusion?!

@Countdownis35 There are over a hundred nationalities/ cultures represented in London, I can't claim to be an expert in most of them! We can't know everything. Once I walked past a kosher bakery near where my DH grew up on a Friday afternoon and a man was rapping on the window, he could not understand why they had closed at such a strange time. I explained to him that they closed early for Shabbat. He looked utterly bemused. All the bakeries ( I can't think of a single non kosher one) on that high street are kosher which means they all close early on Friday as it is an area with a large jewish population but the majority of people who live there aren't Jewish. Maybe some people would be annoyed that there aren't bakeries on that particular high street which adhere to more conventional opening times. I think most Londoners just go to a different one and aren't bothered. There are probably many things from other cultures that I don't know about and would find it difficult to get my head around, but its honestly none of my business...

I do know that in some towns that Jewish people have moved out to like Borehamwood and Canvey Island, the locals complain that the prices kosher bakeries charge are too high...

@desiringonlychild2022 Interesting article. In Arab culture - or Iraqi at least, I don't want to generalize - walking for pleasure isn't really a thing. The climate doesn't permit it. The Iraqi idea of 'getting back to nature' is driving your air-conditioned vehicle onto the sandflats for a carefully controlled barbeque (complete with the 365 tupperware containers) and pretending to be Bedouin for an evening. My dad never did get used to the idea of walking somewhere when there was no physical need to.

Nope. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I disagree that a white person would have been lambasted for saying it. She was just saying people often feel more comfortable with familiar things around them, and people who are more like them. And that is true. Whether it's people of the same class, or ethnic origin or age group.

Have to agree to disagree here.

This is where racism comes in though. The majority of the time people who have been born into a villiage life have lived a different type of life, they have been exposed to less... let's say bold things in life. If you are not used to being around ethnic minority food shops and people you can see how there could be an issue that would rock the boat

Most places in the UK aren't that rural or isolated though. France on the other hand... Where I live for example is semi rural, I've got cows and sheep practically in my back garden (sometimes actually in my back garden, but I'll gloss over that). Yes we can commute to London and lots of people come to live here from other areas, and other parts of the world. People who have had experience of living in other places, who have done Bold Things even and have chosen to live here.

This is where racism comes in though. The majority of the time people who have been born into a villiage life have lived a different type of life, they have been exposed to less... let's say bold things in life. If you are not used to being around ethnic minority food shops and people you can see how there could be an issue that would rock the boat.

@MurmuratingStarling i would guess it’s this bit that a white person would be flayed for saying:

For some people access to people who sound and look the same is important as is access to different food and religious facilities

@PlainJaneEyre WTF is wrong with ANYthing that @Brainwave89 said?

Stop reaching, and looking for flaws and problems that don't exist!

Ethnic minority here, I'd love to live somewhere like the Cotswolds but would be reluctant as I would fear racism. I would particularly worry about my soon to be school aged DC and what they would experience at school. We are soon to move from a very ethnically diverse area to a semi-urban and I'm really worried that the move will be detrimental to the kids. It will be a better quality of life and a better house etc but we are likely to be one of the few ethnic minorities.

So only white people are born in the UK?

You do know that if you were white you would be flayed alive for your use of language here?

This isn't racism but it is often a requirement in rural areas . If your family had been there for a couple of generations then your name would be on the list. It's a way of trying to ensure that local families are able to stay in an area where often there are many second home or outside buyers/renters.

On a TOTALLY different tangent, I am not a fan of the NEW ability to double/triple/quadruple/quintuple quotes on here. 😕 Like in @ancientgran's post at 14.07. It looks very messy. I have been on other websites in the past, and found that really offputting. (That's not a dig at you personally 'ancientgran') 🙂

I really am struggling to take to this new format!