To ask if you think this comment is bordering on being racist/xenophobic?

[mytartanscarf]

My friend has her own little shop. It was quiet this morning and we were sitting having a chat when a fairly regular customer came in and we said hello.

She bought something and then was going to drop the change in the UNICEF tin by the till but then said "oh dear! I don't think I'll bother - I want to support children in THIS country!"

We both said it made us feel uncomfortable (after she'd gone!)

This certainly isn't a criticism of her wanting to support whatever charity she likes, by the way. We can't give to all of them!

Yabu. It isn't racist. Many people prefer to donate to less corrupt countries and the UK is one of the least corrupt in the world (think a recent UN study showed this). So a £1 given to help poor children in UK is more likely to reach them than somewhere like Somalia.

If the woman had merely said, "I'm afraid I can't donate to any more charities as I have my chosen ones and have a limited budget", one could understand. I'd really love to be able to donate much more than I do, but our finances just won't stretch that far. You can't give to every Society. I especially get upset by the requests that come through the door with awful photos of suffering, it breaks my heart.

That is what I thought at first, he had used a shortened version of the word Pakistani which is very racist, but he claims he got told off for using the whole word.

Its believable ral, some people do get a bit stupid about perfectly appropriate words. Tend to be those who moan about pc-gorn-mad...

Dipankrispaneven see my post about "charity begins at home".

I can't read the mind of everyone who uses the phrase (and nor can you), but it can be seen as irresponsible to send money to other countries if children here go hungry. Even if you disagree it's a valid point of view.

Oh and in the case of your own children it's the law that responsibility begins at home. If you let your own kids starve to make a bigger donation SS would have something to day about it.

Can anyone tell me if UNICEF help out UK people at foodbanks and such? Because if not then choosing UNICEF could be twisted taken to mean "I don't care who gets the money as long as it's not those British people"

You have to want it really bad though.

Yes UNICEF do lots of work for UK kids too. Check out their website!

A bit OT i know, but it's still to do with racism. Would some of you say that someone was racist if they disliked one particular race of people.

FFS sorry but racist not to give to UNICEF???? Logically how can it be racist? UNICEF work with all races and her choice to give to people in the UK would mean children of all races here would benefit?