To not want to be the minority where I live?

[Charlottehines]

It really saddens me that in parks and soft plays with my children, that I am in the minority and my children can't play with other children there as they all play together and obviously can't speak English.
I'm in no way racist, my husband is of mixed origin but I do find it incredibly sad that my children are growing up the minority especially when these other groups make no effort to integrate with other mums or the children.
Am I completely unreasonable to feel sad about this?

No you didn't give me evidence that all schools are have a 90% intake of non white kids. You gave me experience of one specific area which is 'ethnically segregated' (your words not mine) I and many others simply pointed out that one area is not demographic of all areas hence the wrong assumption that all schools must be like this. This was demonstrated by explaining that other MNers in similar areas as to the ones you describe...don't see or suffer from the same thing you guys seem to. Ergo the 90% across all schools is bollocks. You're right it is a silly notion that this is even an issue. I wonder how many people in Spain for example complain about the huge uptake in their schools of British immigrants.

I actually don't like the term "non white" as it implies that being white is "normal" and everything else is "different. It's like calling gay people "non heterosexual".
My children have grown up in an extremely diverse area and it"s what they know and are comfortable with. When DS1 went to visit DH's family in Ireland, one of the first things he asked was why were there no brown people.
DD will be going to a secondary school which is "non white". Prior to reading this thread, I genuinely hadn't thought about it. We chose it because it's a lovely school with an outstanding Ofsted rating.

85% non white, that is.

Andy I mean no offence when I say it and simply using it in simple generic terms. As a sidenote given some of the attitudes on this thread I'm hardly bloody suprised some won't engage with others. I don't think I would want to neither!

Miss I know you weren't being offensive and I don't think anyone else means it offensively. It's just that I'm a bit of a language geek and I think it's a term that indicates how we equate being white with being "normal". It only really occurred to me while reading this thread.

I have some fabulous news for you OP - you're not in the minority!

www.sutton.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=928&p=0

Less fortunately, however, you are racist.

I know what you mean Andy It is why I stopped the Great Grandma In Law from describing the DCs as half cast. Hate hate hate that word!

Yes, not comfortable with 'non white' and paused when typing it - it's so them and us and lumps a whole lot of people together from all different races and backgrounds. Just wasn't sure how to put it - had wrote Asian (another term that lumps too many people together who often have nothing in common with each other) and wasn't sure how to include all the other races and nationalities.

See, I like "non-white", because it summaries everyone who is not in the cultural majority or can't easily pass for a majority member (like me). I like the Canadian term "visible minority", too.

You dont like the term non white because it implies white is normal? At the risk of stating the obvious, in a country where the clear majority of people are white and whose native population is white, white IS normal. It is no way denigratory to people arent white, and as for promoting and "us and them" mentality, I dont see this charge ever made of the term "people of colour" (never coloured people mind, that would be racist), even though it makes exactly the same division.

The fact that anyone would even be concerned whether they were being inadvertently racist by a completely innocuous term demonstrates how neurotic we are as a society about "racism". You dont see this hypersensitivity with respect to any other potential character flaw. When it comes to selfishness, for example, we have a sense of proportion. No one is expected to feel guilty about reasonable or innocuous examples of selfishness, for example spending more money on yourself than others. No one is deemed to be wicked an immoral for expressing self interested political preferences, like the poor being in favour of redistribution. But you express the sentiment that you dont like feeling alienated from the community you live in as a consequence of mass immigration, then the self righteous lefties are out in force to denounce you as an evil bigot.

This thread being a fine example: a mother has the temerity to want her daughter to grow up around children who share her language, and the responses vary from:

-You are a vile bigot and I would want to have nothing to do with you,

-You need to be more open minded and realise that communication is more than just language. (This was actually a serious point. Apparently, because you can exchange "warm smiles" with mothers and two children can play for one hour in the park without sharing a language, going to a school where the great majority of your peers dont share you language is no problem at all. I mean, its not like the majority of children are going to ignore her in favour of children they can actually communicate with.)

-You are a liar, because apparently, the demographics of Surrey as a whole cannot be substantially different from the intake of a particular school in Surrey.

-This thread is racist!

-I think diversity is great! (Diversity of race of course (even though we shouldnt notice it), not diversity of anything like opinions and preferences. Because thinking or wanting different things to "right on" liberals makes you a bigot.)

Wherever you live, really you are always in a minority of one.

Funny was thinking similar thoughts to op today as when I was in the park with my dd I couldn't hear any other English speaking families. I have never encountered this before, live in Somerset.

YANBU op.

Thing is leftwing (oh, in stitches with regard to the name) it is racist in many parts. Diversity of opinion is absolutely fine, but with freedom of speech comes responsibility and that means not being racist, homophobic etc.
As for going to school where the majority of pupils have a first language that isn't English, so what? Everyone will be speaking English in school anyway.

Oh, no. People were speaking languages other than English? What is the world coming to? Whatever shall we do?

My post was for girliefriend, BTW.

but with freedom of speech comes responsibility and that means not being racist, homophobic etc

It's not illegal to be either.

And the screaming racist mob are getting a little boring.

Yes, screaming racists are always boring.

It can be illegal, depending on how you express your bigotry.

Anything can be illegal depending on how you express it.

Absolute nonsense.

Stop calling posters racist potty mouth.

Dawn, it may be lost on you, but someone who has the user name leftwing echo chamber is almost certainly not going to be leftwing.

And you say diversity of opinion is fine, yet from what I can see, acceptable diversity of opinion doesnt even extend to wanting your daughter to not be placed in a social environment where she is far more likely to be isolated. Whether or not the lessons are conducted in English, the children may for the most part have very limited fluency, particularly in early years at primary school, and will socialise in the language they are most fluent in. They are obviously going to prefer the company of people who share their language and race and culture over the white English speaking girl.

As for with Free speech comes the responsibility not to be racist etc. bullshit. If free speech is contingent on not expressing certain views and opinions (especially given how elastic your definition of racism appears to be), it isnt free speech. Its the most blatantly self contradicting statement I have heard in some time. You are basically saying you are entitled to free speech so long as you dont say anything that you think is immoral. That would be like me saying you are free to vote for who you wish, so long as I approve of the decision.

YABU: "these other groups make no effort to integrate with other mums or the children." How much effort do you make to integrate with them? As you said you are the minority why should they have to integrate. Anyway its proven to be better for children to grow up in an racially divers aria. Is this honestly a major problem for you because most people really don't care or have the time to care about something as trivial as this (apart from UKIP members of course).

leftwing I was wearing my sarcasm hat, didn't you notice.
As for the rest, go away, do some research, grow up and stop posting on here thinking you are 'the great white hope'. You're not. You are a barely coherent frother who chooses to make up the rules as they go along.
Oh, and if you want to be a sarcastic twat, pick on someone on your level, because intellectually, sweetie, on my part, it's too great a drop.

You are basically saying you are entitled to free speech so long as you don't say anything that you think is immoral.

Wrong! You are entitled to free speech as long as it doesn't infringe on other people's human rights. Freedom from fear is a human right. Racism is meant to cause fear and alarm. Therefore, while you are as free as a bird to be as racist as you like in the comfort of your own home, being it in front of others is a bad thing.

It also shows a lack of basic manners. Something which I have always been told is a mainstay of being British. You're not forrin are you?

If you understood what left wing echochamber meant, you know its a criticism of the bulk of opinion on the forum, not a joke. So it makes no sense to say you were being sarcastic.

Your pathetic and petulant response simply demonstrates your own intellectual inadequacies. If you could refute my points, you would do that rather than spew vitriol. Its all well and good declaring your intellectual superiority, but it would be a bit more convincing if you didnt say things which were obviously stupid.

Making vague dismissals about me need to do some research (of what exactly?) doesnt change the fact that it is a perfectly legitimate concern that most children in your child's school dont speak English. Nor does it change the fact that it is ludicrous to say you have free speech so long as you dont express certain opinions. And you claim I am barely coherent? Oh the irony.

In short, you are a fine example of the self righteous arseholes I made reference to at the outset.

Leftwing, as you choose to not answer my perfectly reasonable questions (but, as you said, you have no obligation to do so), I'll ask again in case you didn't see it the first time, like you didn't when I directly addressed you before.

It was in response to your comment yesterday at 18.35 (MOST people prefer the company of people like themselves) I'll just copy and paste my question, as I don't think it needs rewording:

Is your skin colour the only thing that you base your identity on? Or do you also prefer to be around women only (or men, if you are a man)? Do you prefer to be around people with the same hair colour, shoe size, taste in music, eye colour... as yourself?

Also, in response to your comment 16.14 today, I personally don't think that this thread is necessarily racist. I do think there are racist people on this thread though, you being the most prominent one so far.

Thing is leftwing I do understand what it means. I too have read, but then I have the intellectual capacity to comprehend what I'm reading rather than be led along a path because I think I'm intellectual.
To be honest, if you were a long time poster I'd consider arguing with you, consider mind, doesn't mean I would. However, you've joined in order to be clever on a thread, or name changed because you're too scared to admit to what you are. I do like the bit about saying things would be more convincing if I didn't say things that were obviously stupid, a whole sentence that says nothing, oh hang on...