What’s the worst racist incident you have experienced?

[Hope54321]

I’ve had quite a few:

Students in secondary school have pulled my hijab off.

After the 9/11 a group of boys threw paper balls at me and shouted “Taliban” at me.

The day after a terror attack in London, a man pulled his window down and called me a dumb whore. There was no one else around.

Walking back from school, a man told me, “Go back to your own country”.

On my way to college, I got on the bus and a woman said, “I don’t know why you would want to draw attention to yourself by wearing that”.

@Brideandprejudice @Tillsforthrills Well, for example, insulting people with ginger hair is nasty but it is not racism, however unpleasant it may be.

I nursed a Nigerian lady in her own home (I am white) and she was abusive towards me due to the colour of my skin; she forced me to wash when I entered the house, cover my hair because it was ‘filthy white bitch hair’, called me every name under the sun, I wasn’t allowed to use the toilet in case she ‘caught something from it’, she wouldn’t eat anything I made for her because I had touched it, I could go on. None of the Black nurses experienced that treatment in her home and she made it clear that it was because I was a different race to her.

However, I still wouldn’t say I experienced racism because it was the actions of just one woman, and not inherent, institutional abuse or microaggressions hurled at me every day of my life. That’s the difference, and it’s the same for most of the other white people who have posted here; anecdotal racial prejudice just isn’t the same.

When I was younger my neighbour was Chairman of Social Services in our area. (Luckily it was just a committee type position, he didn't have contact with actual families). One Monday morning he came round looking very worried and asked if we were selling our house. I was puzzled, said no, and asked why he would think that? He said "No, no, it doesn't matter, no reason". and off he went. It was only when my husband and I were chatting about it that evening that we realised he'd seen our visitors the day before, when we were showing them our garden. They are Nigerian.

I agree it's not the same, however the OP asked for "worst racist incident"

Then poster are shot down when they share their experience because of their race

However, I still wouldn’t say I experienced racism because it was the actions of just one woman, and not inherent, institutional abuse or microaggressions hurled at me every day of my life. That’s the difference, and it’s the same for most of the other white people who have posted here; anecdotal racial prejudice just isn’t the same

Exactly. People know this but for some reason want to also play a victim/they have it as bad. The racism my dad had thrown at him has impacted how he is as a person how he has led his life as it will do for many

its a form of racism itself

@pedropony76 You cannot expect, on Mumsnet, a subtle academic conference on semantics and theory titled ''Is This Racism Or Is This Racial Prejudice?'' and then browbeat people for slipping up according to certain critical criteria. To use a kind of score card of racism and patronising (It's not just about patronising (quote ''However people should be wise enough to learn the difference. It’s really that simple'') certain posters that they should be glad to be ''privileged'', after what they have been through, is just inhumane.

The Gary Lineker thing is part of an interesting phenomenon of people wanting to identify with a group that experiences prejudice and downplays that prejudice in the process. I have known a couple of white women from Southern Europe who have been keen to include themselves as black or in some way ‘blacker’ than white British people. My DP is also from that part of the world and while I would say he has experienced xenophobia and ignorance about his culture, it is absolutely not the same as the racism black and brown friends have faced. Trying to muscle in on that always strikes me as being in very poor taste.

I've had a few over the years, as a child I remember people yelling racist abuse at my mum. But the one that sticks out is when I went to Heathrow airport and the woman at the check in desk asked me to repeat my name by saying "what was that? Ching Chong?" And sniggered to herself. I was completely gobsmacked by her behaviour and I made a complaint but nothing ever came of it.

I also had a woman call me a tart for sleeping with a (N word). I worked in a children's home, and had taken a little boy out for the day. I was 18, it was in the 60s. Also my daughter, aged 16, sitting in a shopping centre with our Nigerian friend's baby, and a woman sat next to her and was making a fuss of the baby. The woman said "It's a shame, isn't it?" My daughter said "Sorry, what's a shame?" and the woman said, "Well, she's so beautiful, it's a shame she's black".
My daughter didn't know what to say, and walked off. I think she might react differently today, 30 years later.

When someone yelled that me and my bf at the time we’re ugly because I’m black and he is white. It was very hurtful at the time.

I agree. The actions of one horrible woman haven’t affected my life in any meaningful way (as much as she might have liked them to!) neither has it clouded my opinion on any other Black person I meet nor made me live in fear that I will experience it again, but I imagine what your Dad went through has shaped him as a person and almost led him to ‘expect’ to be treated like that, because it wasn’t just an isolated incident, it was his whole life.

@oohfancythat maybe @ the poster who mentioned about white privilege because it wasn’t me. I simply agreed with points made in their post. I never said people should be grateful of their privilege lol wtf maybe have a re read of what I said.

People should know the difference between racism and prejudice/discrimination. If you disagree with that then that’s great for you

yes sadly he does expect to be treated as less equal it makes me sad and so angry. That isn’t just individual being racist towards him it’s how many countries that have been ruled by the British or other European countries have ingrained in their society

Thank you! The last paragraph is exactly what I’m talking about.

Sorry you experienced that as that sounds awful but at the same time I’m glad to see you can recognise the difference and see it for what it really is

2 things I witnessed. I live in a very non-diverse rural area of UK.

1. A relative threw a party to introduce his lovely American fiancee. She told us her family was mostly of German descent. A drunk older person then announced "oh, you're a NAZI!" ...it was excruciating.

1. My school had less than 10 mixed race or non-white pupils out of 1000. Some of these children hung out together because other people didn't include them, which was sad.

We were in a classroom one day, a girl joked "Every time I try to do a top knot, I look either Chinese or Indian!" Two Chinese and Indian pupils were sitting in the background and they must have heard. I don't think she realized, but I felt for them.

When I was a teenager, we used to frequent a corner shop after school for sweets and snacks. The owner was friendly and we always had a chat. One day we went into the shop and the owner was proudly displaying a photo from his daughter’s recent wedding. We said how lovely she and her groom looked, and hoped they had all had a great day. Then I commented on how gorgeous the three little bridesmaids looked. Shop owner: ‘Well, two of them were lovely’. I asked what he meant. He just pointed at the little black girl (the other two bridesmaids were white). We never went in his shop again after that.

One last derail but I think threads like these always end up the same because when a black person comes on here and sees for example, a poster talking about something that happened to their ginger friend, it just makes you think wtf. You experience all this racism in your life and then read comments like that and kind of feel like people are taking the mick or are just ignorant.

You then feel like ‘well now I need to educate this person so they can understand what real racism is and let them know that there’s a difference between racism/prejudice/discrimination.’ That’s how I feel anyway

So in no way am I minimising anyone’s experience or trying to patronise anyone but if you’re going to come on a thread asking for the most racist incident that you’ve experienced. Make sure your incident is at least due to racism. That doesn’t mean that your feelings aren’t valid or that it shouldn’t stick with you. Just make sure it applies to what’s actually being asked for here

@Loveatortie Same. Scottish and brough up in England. For context I have a slight twang of English in my voice that people pick up on when i'm back home and sound Irish more than anything.

The amount of times i've been told to fuck off back to Scotland/Ireland or called a Scottish/Irish bitch by English people is disgusting, both as a child and an adult. It has cost me opportunities because an English person in control of said opportunity "doesn't like Scottish/Irish people" (this was confirmed to me with written evidence of them saying it too) or colleagues/classmates who share the same view have just been down right rude to me based on an accent. Funilly enough, people in Scotland who assume i'm English because of the twang don't pull that shit.

Nothing by comparison to the shit some people have been through on here but it is STILL a thing that shouldn't happen in 2022.

I see this point completely, but not everyone has the same perspective. Some posters are just rude and dismiss other posters feelings.

Oops sorry, I see white people can't be victims of racism again. I'll report my post and see myself out.

Hi everyone, just popping in to remind everyone that everyone is welcome on this thread and any posts excluding others will be deleted. If we all can't be civil, this thread will be closed.

I hear you. I don’t think anyone should be dismissive of anyone’s experiences but some posters definitely need to read the room

Exactly, I’m not. And find white people telling other people they assume to be white, whether they have experienced racism or prejudice, to shut up are embarrassing themselves.

I hate racism and prejudice, which Is alive and well on this thread.

Hear hear.