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.

What do you think they're "supposed to do"?
They're breaking into hotels now. What exactly do you suppose their intentions are, and where do you think they will stop?
Think very hard about what you're excusing. Condone any of this and you're as bad as them.

100%. There are very legitimate grievances about people suffering from very political decisions to cut services and funnel resources and money to the very small minority of rich people at the top. The people protesting this are out at demonstrations, organising in their areas, they're junior doctors, and firemen and any number of professionals striking, union members marching, those marching against destructive foreign policies etc. These are the people that are rightly fed up.
The people looting and assaulting vulnerable people and foreigners haven't expressed one coherent argument. They are motivated by racism, hate, and violence.
Of course, without poverty and injustice it's harder to motivate people to feel angry and look for scapegoats but these are not the expressions of legitimate protests.

Of course I am. I am brown. That is what the rioters are rioting about.

But statistically speaking Stoke has higher rates of worklessness (going through several generations) and violence against women and girls than elsewhere - that’s not stereotyping, it’s just a depressing and challenging fact. There are likely lots of complicated reasons why but asylum seekers are not at the top of that list - they’re just an easy, visible scapegoat.

I didn’t say there are no decent houses (although again, statistically speaking Stoke has a much higher rate of lower value housing than elsewhere) - I said asylum seekers aren’t taking houses away from locals. I can recommend you some lovely local hotels but none of them would have been those which have now been turned over to asylum accommodation!

It makes me so sad you’re being made to feel this way. It is your country too and you have as much right to be here and enjoy your freedoms as anyone else!

As soon as all this rioting happened I immediately thought of my Muslim friends and colleagues (I’m based in the north as well). Know that the majority of people don’t feel this way and are disgusted by the rioting. My daughter is mixed race and I fear for her growing up in this environment. If I see any incidents of racism I will be stepping in myself, as I really think we have to respond as a community to this and send a strong message that it is utterly unacceptable. I blame right wing social media and a contingent of politicians in Reform who have exploited people’s fears and brought the worst thuggery to our streets, with no thought for the safety of innocent people. I really hope this all calms down soon and that you feel you can go out with your kids as is your right ♥️

Calling someone 'it' regardless of who they are or what you suspect them to be, is vile.

Edit: I hope that it was just poorly phrased and you were referring to the post rather than the poster - if so I apologise.

I want them to be listened to. Yes, we may have had 15 years of talk about immigration, but it hasn't stopped the boats has it?

That is why people are rioting.

Tommy Robinson who riled these weak little men up and is still posting on his Twitter account telling them where to riot - is doing so from a different country.

He’s on an all inclusive holiday (paid for by his idiot worshippers no doubt) absolutely loving life in a foreign country knowing that these lemmings are willing to do anything he says.

It’s actually embarrassing that there are men who support him.
He’s literally laughing at them.

Well no apparently they’re rioting because of the 3 girls killed - which has absolutely nothing to do with immigration.

So it sounds like you are just as clueless about the riots as the thugs doing them.

I don't know why people are getting so het up about calling a spade a spade.

My town is a shit hole. I really don't care if someone from elsewhere calls my town a shit hole. Because it IS one. Most of us just live here because we can't afford to move somewhere else.

It doesn't matter how I feel about asylum seekers because I am not rioting.

The people who are rioting need to be listened to otherwise we will end up like France and Germany.

Macron and Merkel ignored their far-right.

I bet you are white. You haven't got a clue what it is to be non-white.

Yes, it was mainly black people who rioted in Brixton.

I’m so sorry you have been made to feel like this. I’m ashamed of our country today. I don’t know what to say to make it better but I would absolutely defend you if I saw something happen in public.

Ok. Well, that is what happened in France and Germany. The far right were ignored and look what has happened there. Ordinary people (like my husband's French friend) have become racist.

I mean fgs look how divided mumsnet is on this issue and mumsnet is generally way more centre/left leaning, imagine what the sentiment is including men in the population which generally are more conservative. So many people are thinking this way now so much so that people are now using the far right label with pride and using the tag #farrightthugsunite on twitter. I remember a time where people were ashamed to be far right but now because you have overused far right to describe people who even just ask a question how can you be suprised it’s lost all its meaning. I wonder what we are going to call the real far right when it’s here in next few years guess we need a new word.

I am not lumping you with them, just as you wouldn't lump me with the Asians in Bolton today.

Because I am a white woman of a similar age to you who lives in an town with a large Muslim population.
I have said it before on here - I would be more worried walking past Wetherspoons on a Saturday night than a Mosque on a Friday afternoon.

It will stop when people start listening to them.

Somehow, I don't think that the EDL would allow me (a brown person) to join them so I can never be as bad as them.

France and Germany ignored them and how the FN and AfD are so powerful.

People like you will ensure that the same thing happens here. But it won't affect you because you are probably white so you will be ok.

I'm so sorry you're been made to feel unsafe by the actions of these racist morons OP. I know this won't be much consolation, but rest assured the vast majority of white working class people are on your side. We have far more in common with you than with these idiots. They don't represent us.

Sending hugs. Must be so frightening for you. I hope these thugs are stopped and we can all live together peacefully x

The 3 girls is just an excuse.

This has been building up for decades.

It won't stop when people listen to them

They don't want to be listened to

They want people to do what they say

That's not the same thing

Mindless thugs. It’s an excuse, nothing more.

I've not experienced racial abuse either but if OP said she saw a large group of Muslim youths beat up a white boy why can't you accept that happened and OP saw it?

What on earth am I reading?? People defending these utter morons because "they don't want refugees in their town" what?? What has this go to do with BRITISH Muslims? Why are they being targeted? Because the thugs are mindless morons!