Riots causing me (Muslim female) anxiety.

[Mavan1984]

I am a Muslim hijab wearing woman (born and brought up in this country). I have 3 kids under the age of 16 and the riots are causing me a great deal of anxiety. Me and dh had planned to take the kids out this weekend but we cancelled because we didn't think it was safe. I feel like we are better off just staying at home throughout the summer to protect ourselves and the kids.

I have had racist comments made at me before, but I don't want my kids to experience this. I feel like the rioting will empower others to be openly racist. I experienced this when 9/11 happened and I am just so scared because this time it feels a lot worse.

Me and dh were born to immigrant parents who worked very hard in menial jobs to educate us. We both have professional careers, but at this moment in time I feel like none of this matters and we are being attacked. Will it get any better? How can I protect my family?

A lot of my Muslim friends are feeling the same and it feels as though we have a very bleak future in this country.

The Far Right in France is not something new. Le Pen ,father and daughter, have been on the political stage for years.

By the way, Brexit happened in 2016. Get your facts right.

No it isn't the same at all. If you are white, you will NEVER experience racism like a non-white person. You can experience racism but it will never be the same as the racism a non-white person will experience. Just like I will never experience the same racism as you.

Understanding a voting sytem is equivalent to racism??? What are you talking about???

Right 🙄

So basically, you don't know what these people are saying that is not being 'listened to', you don't know if they've spoken to anyone or what they are asking for.

For context, when I was 8 years old I was spat at and called a 'n^^^ loving cunt' by National Front members 'protesting' at a peaceful anti-apartheid march in London.

These people don't want to negotiate.

They want every person of colour out of this country.
Unless of course they are doing the jobs they refuse to do - cleaning, street sweeping, waiting, serving, fetching, carrying etc.

That's what they really want.

I'm way up North but not to far from Newcastle. I'm hoping this passes us by. We have both a large Jewish and Muslim population, the former having been established since the 18th century. Its troubling that they don't feel safe here anymore. I'm hoping Starmer is able to stop the spread of disorder before it goes any further.

Have you missed the other poster recommending you give up and flee? That's the kind of person you are "listening to". When they say they want their country back, they mean from you too. Be careful what you wish for.

"But we still have to listen to them and not ignore them like Macron and Merkel did or we will end up with a very powerful far right just like in France and Germany."
@IMustDoMoreExercise
But listening to them isn't the same as giving them what they want. This group will not be happy until they get what they want - mass deportations as Tommy Robinson has said. And they have absolutely no understanding of how this would actually work nor do they much care, as long as England is more white and English. They just want a scapegoat for their problems.

I don't have the time to explain to you how sarcasm works.
Racism is racism. There isn't a scale which grades it.
I think youmustreflectonyourviews.

There is no justification to this violence and racism. None. It's not a political protest to set fire to shops, to beat up people because they don't like their ethnicity, it's not a political protest to smash up town centres, it's not a political protest to harm the police.

Hate creates problems, hate never solves problems.

Scapegoating is not a way to be heard.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

This was written by Martin Niemoller, a man who protested in Germany before WW2. I think we should focus on the huge positive of everyone who came out to clean up yesterday, who stood up to these thugs. There is a silver lining we speak out.

These responses are shocking to me and I can't believe people are defending this mindless behaviour. Lucy Letby literally MURDERED BABIES and did anyone riot over that white woman?

So you think existing residents should decide who else moves into their town? How would that work? What if your neighbours decided they didn't want you in their town?

I'm really sorry to hear this OP. I don't know what these people are thinking. A bit off topic, but I went to the Hope not Hate rally in Liverpool and heard the amazing Imam of Abdullah Quilliam mosque talking about those poor little girls and about building community. I'm a Christian, but the compassion shone out of him. Need more people like him and fewer like Nigel Farage! https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/03/love-will-prevail-how-a-far-right-rally-in-liverpool-was-defused?fbclid=IwY2xjawEcun9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHUkXkCSHS-DxFUC_aHYyeNZT-p5eDu2HaNTHf5_A_TqGf-34KJM5OKGTqw_aem_XmIUqB1sZFJ7CojUdW6MQg

No, the vote happened in 2016. Get YOUR facts right.

So what if the Far Right in France are nothing new. The NF, BNP, C18 are nothing new in the UK.

What exactly is your point?

I'm white. I have experienced racism when I was with my then non white husband in the middle east. Openly. Blatantly So don't devalue people's experiences just cos they're white. And you wonder why people are saying 2 tier policing. This is why this is happening ffs. I will never ever be ashamed to be a white British woman

I am not taking about negotiating with the EDL who are racist thugs.

I had a glass bottle thrown towards me when I was 7 in 1973 by racist thugs in a car. Luckily it missed.

I am talking about listening to the white working class who are aggrieved so that what has happened in France and Germany does not happen here.

There are vast numbers of white working class that are not racist, are not taking part in mindless violence and are not blaming immigrants for the state of the housing and job markets.

That's why Reform did not, and will not, get into power.

Thank god.

I actually think that even if Reform had got into power, these idiots still wouldn't feel 'listened to'. They'd just see it as a green light to be openly, aggressively and violently racist, 24/7. There would be more unrest, more violence, possibly civil war.

Of course they mean me. That is why I am worried, just like the OP is.

But no, I haven't seen that poster as I am too busy replying to people who have tagged me.

But we know what will happen if we ignore people just like Macron and Merkel did.

We do not have a choice but to listen to people's concerns.

My point is that you are using the argument that immigrants are the cause of the rise of the far right. Not so.
The vote in 2016 is the cause of the small boats situation.
The UK migrant dilemma - it's all about Brexit - BBC News

I'm not talking about listening to Tommy Robinson. He is an extremist. You cannot listen to extremists.

I am talking about listening to the ordinary white working class people who are not extreme yet, but will become extreme if they are not listened to just as ordinary people have in France and Germany.

How are they not being listened to? What exactly does that mean? Because not being listened to and not getting your way aren't the same things.

I am so sorry you are going through this. Sending love to all the UK Muslim community right now.

We will have to agree to disagree.

Black, brown, yellow and white people all experience different types of racism and every individual within each of those groups experience racism differently.

Your racism is not the same as mine.

I am not going to flee, thanks. My father came to this country as a doctor invited- nay begged- to build the NHS. He put up with the racism of Enoch Powell and any number of P* comments.
We have assimilated, integrated, fit in except for the colour of our skin. Not going to run away like cowards because the white working class are aggrieved.

Of course, some of my neighbours don't want me in my town because I am brown and they are racist. But the vast majority aren't racist. If the vast majority of my town was racist, I would not live there because it would be very difficult.

But if the vast majority of a town do not want asylum seekers and it is causing riots, then something needs to be done. They cannot be ignored or we will end up like France and Germany with a powerful far right.