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.

I am not devaluing your experience, I am saying that it will never be the same as mine.

My husband is white.

Who is saying you should be ashamed to be a white woman?

I had many similar experiences growing up

I don't see the white working class going out onto the streets and making their voices heard, I see a small group of racists causing trouble

Why don't the white working class get out there and stage an actual peaceful protest if they want to be listened to?

Literally no one is saying anyone should be ashamed to be white but sure make it about you!

@IMustDoMoreExercise why will it never be like yours?

The reason Reform did not get in to power is because the vast majority of people in the UK are not racist.

But if we keep ignoring the peaceful people who are aggrieved then they will get in to power just like in France and Germany.

Am reporting all the posts suggesting PoC should flee.

No, I am not making that point at all. The small boats and asylum seekers in general do not help but a lot of white working class people feel that their views are not being listened to at all. That they are at the bottom of the scrap heap and that minorities are listened to more than they are.

That is what ordinary people felt like in France and Germany and that is why they started voting for the extreme right.

We need to learn from France and Germany, but Starmer will make the same mistakes as Marcon and Merkel because he is just like them.

😂

Funny isn't it?

IMustDoMoreExercise · Yesterday 19:03
They don't want asylum seekers in their towns. Why should they have them if they dont' want them???
**
I think what you mean is they don’t want black or brown people in “their” towns.

They do not want asylum seekers in their towns but are being ignored. That is just one example.

I am not white working class so I can only go on what people tell me.

They feel that non-white people are given preferential treatment and that the Labour party cares more about BAME then white working class, which is probably true as the Labour party needs the BAME vote.

I successfully got that poster banned earlier! They started their own thread spewing more Nazi ideals...

Once again, you are making assumptions regarding France and Germany,
Why are you so obsessed with them?
I am French and by getting all together ( left and right) we voted the Far right out of power. This is the power of democracy in action. Not rioting.
Macron did not ignore the Far right; he took them extremely seriously. He gambled that the French would see then off by announcing an election. He was right. By the way, I am not a Macron fan.

I am confused. You state you are "brown" but you deride the BAME, which you are a member of. Care to explain?

I am yet to understand how burning libraries is a way to bring about better immigration and asylum policies.And of Starmer bows to these Nazi thugs, they will only be encouraged.
This is the first but I guess not the last time I an seeing Nazi posts on MN.

And what were the NF, BNP, C18 all protesting about in their day? Stopping the boats and asylum seekers? Governments giving preference to those of BAME origin?

This is why it's ridiculous you think these riots are about anything other than these idiots thinking what they always think and doing what they always do.

Yes this is it. They're not only targeting asylum seekers but anyone who's not white. It's completely irrelevant to them if the person is British, their family have been here for generations and if they've made a great contribution to British society. The fact that they have "too much" melanin in their skin means they are worthy of being attacked and terrorised.
You keep saying we need to listen to them and I've agreed that a lot needs to be done to help the disenfranchised and the poor. It's a matter of extreme urgency, in my opinion.
However, if we listen to them, a high number will simply say they don't want any Muslims in the country, or they only want white people here or that all immigrants, no matter what generation, should be sent back "home". Then what do we do? We can't give in to this type of racism. If there isn't a very visible reduction in the number brown people on the streets then many people will continue to feel the same way and "want their country back".

It unbelievable people calling these thugs 'working class'. Most look like they haven't done a proper days work in their lives - no, not because they cannot find a job, but because they enjoy living off the state and able to charge around the country rioting, looting and terrorising locals.
I'm 'working class' if that means working hard to feed my family and put a roof over our head and in doing so have brought up kids to do the same.
these people are a minority group, thugs and hooligans who don't give a stuff about anybody - even their own children, or they wouldn't be exposing them to this.
These people are so keep to ship off people to Rwanda - best ship them off instead!

The vote was in 2016. As I said, there were no small boats before we voted for Brexit.

Are you suggesting we should appease the far right? What would that look like?

It's not the vast majority though, it's a few hundred racist thugs.

You think they should be listened to more than all the thousands of people who happily live alongside everyone peacefully just because they are more violent and vocal?

You think it's better for people to trash cities, ruin businesses, beat innocent people, throw things at the police etc than use their vote, educate themselves, write letters, start petitions etc to get their own way.

It's abhorrent that you're defending this behaviour.

What if you were out at the weekend, got dragged out your car and beaten? Would you just shrug and say "oh well, the poor little cherubs aren't being listened to so no wonder they had to kick the shit out of me, bless".

That is such errant nonsense. You seem to be conflating issues which are of legitimate concern; lack of public services, housing, wages, inequality, healthcare, education etc and like the racists, blaming it on refugees and immigration in general.

You'll never satisfy the racists, they were "protesting" Jews fleeing the Nazis, the Windrush generation, Ugandan Asians
.
What you can do is address the conditions that allow rightwing populism to thrive.

"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."
@IMustDoMoreExercise
But the rioters are influenced by Tommy Robinson? They chant his name. And we're on a thread talking about the rioters because the OP is talking about feeling unsafe due to the rioting taking place.

So ordinary white working class who are unhappy due to asylum seekers/refugees/immigrants. Why do you think they are unhappy?
I can suggest it's a complex answer including mental health, lack of education, apathy, lack of understanding how the world, politics and govt work, and they listen to others telling them that all the problems in their lives are because of asylum seekers/refugees/immigrants.

Some of those issues could be supported - mental health for example. Education can help, but in my experience (I work in a school) some people's cognition means they are unable to understand and apply critical thinking and their emotional intelligence is low. This group will always be vulnerable to exploitation by various, including the far right. There are of course people who are intelligent, but lack ability to regulate emotions so seek to place blame elsewhere for their shortcomings. Ego and arrogance mean they are unable to take responsibility for it. And generally speaking the children of immigrants I have taught work extremely hard and value education because the family have come from a poor poverty stricken background and know education is their way out of poverty.

What I do know is that it is not a quick or easy fix. It certainly won't be fixed by stopping immigration because we need immigrants. I agree with stopping the boats because people are risking their lives crossing the channel and are another vulnerable group being exploited by criminal gangs who they are then in debt to. Of course it would be much better if there were no wars and people didn't feel the need to leave their home countries in the first place. Even when wars end, the countries involved can take years to get back on their feet so what should those facing famine/broken economy do in the meantime? Just starve?

Meanwhile the richest continue to get even richer...

www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-releases/richest-1-grab-nearly-twice-as-much-new-wealth-as-rest-of-the-world-put-together/

I note the posts by white supremacists on this thread urging people of colour to flee like the Jews have still not been deleted. Not surprised.

They don't want asylum seekers in their towns. Why should they have them if they dont' want them???

Are you off your trolley? What do you mean 'their town'. When does anyones town become "their town"? I've moved around these island enough to be driven out of plenty of "their towns" if that inane point of view persisted.

What I do know is that the law of the land is clear - looting, violence against people and property, assaulting a police officer, disturbing the peace and inciting racist violence IS A CRIME and should be met with the full force of the law. Moving into 'their town' is not a criminal offence.

All the low life that wanted to ship migrants off to Rwanda .........well, there is now plenty of space for the racists to go there. Off you pop.

It’s a bit scary.