If you are Muslim.

[Masher]

Hopefully this doesn't come across as insensitive. It is to do with the photograph of the lady in the brown headscarf walking across Westminster Bridge after the attack. I thought she looked terrified, distraught, and very, very shaken. The photographer has just confirmed this.

One thing that crossed my mind I think, is that if I was muslim and caught up in such an act I would really fear for my safety. I would be scared the people there may turn against me, I would be scared that I would be accused of being involved, and I would be scared the security services may do both of these things too.

It got me thinking about how I would feel in everyday life in Britain. I just wondered whether you all feel safe here, or if it changes through various regions and depends on where you are?

If you don't feel safe, or there are times when you don't feel safe, what can I do that would make it better? I live in London if that helps.

*the way

There's a white woman wearing blue behind the young woman on the phone, also walking past.

To be fair to those photographed leaving the scene, if emergency services are on the way and casualties are being attended to - what else is there to do? Getting out of the way is probably the most helpful thing so people can get on with their job.

JustAnotherYellowBelly

It's the twisted stats I was arguing about as opposed to if it happened.

A single incident is a travesty but abusing the facts to make a point (BBC, Grauniad) is insulting to those who have experienced any kind of racial attack.

25bottles - exactly.

So someone walking away in some sort of shock is vilified for not helping..but no remarks (most places) about the person taking the photo?

I'd disagree enormous. I think a lot of what makes Muslims easy target is that the majority are brown. If not you wouldn't get cunts on British first banging on about "burning turbans" etc in reference to muslims. Islamophobia is a wonderful way to express your hatred of dark skin.

Why are we expecting her to make more of an effort to help than the 100s of people around that did nothing?

It says more about us than about her.

Tbh, if the injured were already receiving help, the best thing to do is get out of the way, and do us the police are saying. And you are right, there is a lot of fear in the Muslim community about being wrongly accused of something, so most people will stay away from limelight/police.

Quite a lot of jews when they came here deliberately changed their names to Anglo ones and adopted British customs and tried not to appear jewish to fit in. That actually worked rather well.

Wow. I can't even believe you've suggested this.

I reported this to fb when it popped on my feed yesterday and blocked the person who shared it. It's disgusting to take a disaster and turn it into an opportunity to create hate and division. That poor woman has done nothing wrong.

She isn't a saviour and I think asking what she could do was patronising (unintentionally) in the exrteme.

I think that's very sad indeed. If everyone took the attitude they can't make a difference as they are just one person so they shouldn't even ask, no one would do anything. What's that saying, all that's necessary for evil to triumph is good men do nothing?

Plus it's not about her being just one person, plenty of people will be reading this thread, even though they may not post. It could be literally thousands. And if even a small percentage of them are thinking like the op, then that can only be good.

@EnormousTiger what a jolly good idea!

Would you like us to take tea and cucumber sandwiches in the garden while we're at it?

I have great respect for the Jewish community but I think that it is something to be ashamed of that many felt they had to do this, not a source of pride.

In any case, there will always be people who are quite identifiably from a particular ethnic or religious group just from the way they look. Bigots aren't going to stop being bigots just because we're all called Smith and have a roast for Sunday lunch.

I've been in the vicinity of traffic accidents and people collapsing in the street and walked on because other people were already helping.

A crowd of people wringing their hands and staring helps no one and gets in the way of the emergency services.

Why are we expecting her to make more of an effort to help than the 100s of people around that did nothing?

It says more about us than about her.

Who are 'we' and 'us'?

That photo and the criticism of the woman in it, is being circulated around the internet by racist cunts.

Please don't use the words 'we' and 'us' when talking about normal, decent people.

If that was me and no one else was there I would have at least gone over to talk to them and be with them and comfort them until someone medical could come.

If I was going to be in the way of lots of people who were medically trained and people were there I would have got out of the area.

I think she was probably feeling scared BECAUSE A FUCKING NUTTER HAD JUST GONE ROGUE AND STARTING KILLING RANDOM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND POLICE.
Basically just feeling how I would have felt.
Ignore the scarf for 5 minutes and think this through.

I'm Muslim, no longer in the U.K but I don't think I ever felt unsafe when I did live there. After the 7/7 bombings I didn't really go out much for a few days, that was more to stop my Mum worrying though. When 9/11 happened I was still at school, some insults were thrown around but nothing major. I refuse to be scared of terrorists or thugs, I would feel like they had won if I was.

I don't think that walking past when injured person is already being helped is significant, headscarf or not.

There was a car crash outside our house one night, someone had gone too fast and overturned their car. By the time we got outside there were already people helping so we went back inside, was that the wrong thing to do?

Having seen signs by the tills in some of the shops that abuse will not be tolerated where the assistants are wearing scarves I don't blame the woman for not stopping.

She may well have come from another country to escape conflict and having it replay in her head when she saw what had happened.

I had this shit pop up on my Facebook last night and didn't hold back. That poor woman has just witnessed an horrific incident and the next day has to face the fact that racist scum is circulating her photo online. You know what makes it even sadder, I bet some of her workmates/friends will give her all the sympathy in the world but follow that up with "but why did you walk by?" 😕

There will if course be the comments about 'Muslim' terrorists, "but not you of course, you're not like them" 😠

I'm Muslim and wear headscarf too. I feel sorry for the lady photographed, she hasn't done anything wrong and looks upset in the photo - to be there and then have her pic spread around to be vilified is awful, poor lady!

But generally, yes I feel safe walking around with hijab as a Muslim. I don't notice stares. We're in outer London and I haven't ever had a racist comment here whereas when I lived more central London I did get them more regularly, and up north I used to get comments and a lot more looks too.

I used to wear Niqab covering the face and got a lot of hassle from people when I had that. After a few years I stopped wearing it (I had enough of all the comments etc but the main reason was just that in my heart I didn't want to wear it anymore) when I took it off, I did feel a huge difference - like suddenly everyone was not staring at me anymore and I felt much more anonymous and left alone, in a good way

If you see muslims in religious clothing and you feel worried if we're going to be badly treated by other racist idiots, just give a smile or a friendly word as you would do to anyone else - it's always appreciated. We're no different than anyone else

She may well have come from another country to escape conflict and having it replay in her head when she saw what had happened

I know this was well meant but constantly casting Muslims as other, foreign, oppressed, victims really doesn't help.

To respond to the op's original question - in addition to the sadness and fear (as Muslims are also hurt in terror attacks), as a Muslim I also think about the implications of whatever happened on how people might feel towards Muslims in general. I try not to think too much though, as I'd rather just take everything at face value.
I don't think it's at all patronising to ask how you can help, I think it's lovely that you are able to put youself in our shoes and imagine how we might be feeling.
I just really like it when people strike up conversation. It breaks down the barriers that might be created by appearance (very English headscarf wearer here, perhaps I could carry a Union Jack flag with me to offset it enormous, as I like it too much to take it off?).
I've had a handful of bad expereiences of people making comments etc, but far more people going out of their way to be nice.

There was a car crash outside our house one night, someone had gone too fast and overturned their car. By the time we got outside there were already people helping so we went back inside, was that the wrong thing to do?
Apparently the answer to that question depends on the colour of your skin and whether you wear a scarf on your head.

It is interesting -the intergration, the jewish point I made above etc. I would never ban women or men covering their heads or whole bodies but if your religion does not require a head covering then why not just try to fit in? Isn't that why the UK has worked - most people who move here fit in and become like us. The hindu doctors who treat us wear normal clothes, the Jamaicans do. I don't agree it's about skin colour at all.

Obviously this poor lady has been picked on and she might have been on the phone to call the police. Muslims like atheists and all humans usually want to help others. It is within us all and it does not need an invented God for us to be compassionate.

I was thinking about this yesterday and as a muslim woman in full Islamic dress I am pretty confident that I would have been shot dead if I had rushed to help the policeman.

I saw nothing wrong with the OP's words. We live in a London borough and my DD attends a school where 50% of her class are Muslim, Hindu, Sikh etc. A couple of the mums said to me after 911 how devastated they felt that people had committed that atrocity at all but also 'in the name of Islam' and that people were referring to 'Islamic terrorists' rather than just terrorists. They felt it set them apart when they have lived in the UK all their lives and are well integrated.

One of my Sikh work colleagues went to Rome after 911 and said how hostile he and his wife found the reaction towards them, even though they are clearly not Muslim! He threw a sandwich packet into a bin and said about 20 people scattered in all directions, at which point his wife burst into tears and said she just wanted to go home (to the UK).

I think fear makes people retreat to the safety of who and what they know and this does give rise to a hostile environment for people who don't outwardly look like they 'belong'.

Muslims do look like they "belong" though. It's a multicultural country.