Anti Semitic teenage girls - WIU to say nothing?

[WeAreNewHere]

Sitting outside the pub with sleeping DS. Four teenaged girls - say 14/15 years old - hanging round practising dance routines. They're being quite noisy but seem OK until a boy arrives to retrieve his coat. The girls chased after him repeatedly calling him a ''fucking Jewish prick". I'm totally stunned and would normally say something but didn't - mainly because I'm with the baby, but also as I don't know what I would say. I suppose I was unreasonable to say nothing but I was quite taken aback and a bit intimidated by them. What would you have done or said?

I would have said nothing and been thoroughly ashamed of myself :(

I think I was really surprised by the language and a bit scared of repercussions. Very sad it's still happening.

That's exactly like me! I'm not allowed to ask people to pick up litter any more after a minor incident in town...

They were committing an offence. No question. I would have called police and made a witness statement.

I am usually too cowardly to say anything in these situations, but if I was having a brave day I would say something like, 'Do you realise racist abuse is illegal?'

sugarpaste my mum was just like you :) I remember (fondly now) thinking why the fuck couldn't we even go and get some shopping without a huge argument (normally over basic politeness) errupting!

Wish I had done that. Unfortunately they ran off quickly. My mum once called the police when she witnessed a woman hitting a child. The mother was astonished.

sugarpastepumpkin

I too am partial to a sarcastic 'your welcome' if i am having a moody day i say 'thanks' rather snotty. mad manners make me cross.

Sugarpaste

I will join your gang of do-goody big-mouths. I am also partial to embarrassing my DCs by breaking up fights and asking teens to pick up their rubbish.

In the OPs case, I would probably have told them to please mind their language. I'd expect to get a mouthful. The only time I have had comeback was from teenage girls.

I think it depends where you were: small village, suburb, town, etc., and whether you knew them, knew what school they went to etc. If I knew the school I might write to the head noting what I had heard and asking the head to ensure it was covered in PSHE. I would not have appraoched them directly.

That poor boy what part of the country was this?

I hope I would have intervened with 14/15 year olds.

Inner city. When I was on ML I was always more threatened by teenaged girls than boys when walking with the pram. (Little things like them not moving aside although boys tend to.). This experience has cemented that belief.

Lol I was walking along behind some teenage school kids last week, when all of a sudden one of the girls dropped something.

It was a large sweet packet...like a multi-pack.

The thing is, it hit the ground with a bit of a thud so I was convinced it still had sweets in it and that she'd dropped it by accident.

So I picked it up and at the same time shouted, "Excuse me, you've dropped this".

But as I handed it to her I realised it was empty and that she'd obviously thrown it on the pavement on purpose

She looked rather shocked and embarrassed, apologised and dropped it in a nearby bin

I am a teacher, and have pulled teenagers up for this- calling people 'Jewish' as an insult seems to be A Thing.

Strangely enough, most of them had no idea that Judaism was even a religion, had never heard of the holocaust, and were shocked when they had the meaning of their comments pointed out.

I would absolutely have challenged the girls, but I would check their level of understanding too. They are making anti-semitic comments, but they may not be anti-semitic IYSWIM.

Using the term 'Jewish' as an insult needs to be stamped on; I think the best way to do this is to ensure that young people are educated enough to know not to.

Then if they think he's a douche, call him a douche but there's no need to call him a Jewish anything is there?

Then he's still a douche, so call him a douche.

MsAverage, I think I'm having trouble understanding what you're saying... can you elaborate?

Sugarpaste I do that too. My OH pretends he's not with me. Especially if eye contact is made!

I'm not sure if I would have said something in your position OP,given there were a couple of them,they clearly weren't nice girls and you had your baby with them. I don't think I've ever heard Anti-Semitic abuse in real life ever,so I would have been stunned if nothing else.

Um MsAverage how can anyone be anything in a "specifically Jewish way" except for being well,Jewish? Bit of an odd comment?