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.

Tiger do you actually believe that your view isn't offensive or incompatible with harmonious multicultural life???

Why should we try to fit in though and why are you assuming that all muslims come from a different culture?
I didn't give up being English the day I put my scarf on.

The bloody Queen wears headscarves frequently, ffs! Perhaps she should try to fit into British society?!

This is a v good article about that photo and the meanings being ascribed to it

linkis.com/gspellchecker.com/ZwIZz

KangaRrroo Me and my husband were talking about this last night, He said the exact same thing. I'm medically trained and my first reaction would be to try and help : (

tiger

Why on earth should muslims do what you're suggesting? They aren't hurting anyone with their names or clothes. My DS is part Iranian and has an Iranian surname so some might think he is Muslim although he's Christian and looks white - he certainly won't be changing his name
Also what are 'normal' clothes? Do you mean western clothes? There's lots of different 'normal' across the planet. I think you need to widen your horizons.

I'm a Muslim woman with a headscarf
Yes we do feel extra wary and cautious when out and about after attacks like these .
Upthread it has been mentioned that the Britain first mentality is minority but in my lifetime
-I've been spat at and told to go back to Pakistan twice . Once by a lady and once by two school boys who chased me down the street and spat at me till all my clothes were covered in their saliva ( not from Pakistan btw)
-had scarf ripped off my head

• been chased down street and called Bin Ladins wife etc
• had 'terrorist cunt ' shouted at me in front of my children

Those are a selection of my experiences. Not once did a member of the public breathe a word or come to my aid . I also sense the hostility on mumsnet although there are so many great people here too that I try to turn a blind eye to the venom and remember the good things about this site .

I work in the city.

Was sent home earlyish after we got word of the attacks and security gave us the all clear.

I have never felt more vulnerable in my life I'm Asian, wear a head scarf and I'm seven months pregnant with SPD so can't move fast. I was worried about my safety as was dp (he's white and you can't tell from looking at him what his religious affiliation is). I worked from home the following day on DP's insistence (he was working away and was worried for my safety in the aftermath, not from terrorists but any fall out from angry people).

It feels like a double pronged attack to me personally, I'm not allowed to feel sorrow and grief and the natural fear of what happened as I'm told I'm lying and don't care about what happened. Any way I want to help eg donating money I'm told I've got a guilty conscience or I should keep my filthy money (all things being said to Muslims).

And if I express concerns for my own safety and my dc's I'm told I'm making it all about myself.

If I could I would certainly go back to where I came from. Except I come form Hackeny my grandparents are buried here my dad was brought up in England we have four generations of family here my dc speak English exclusively.

And to be honest I've lived and loved England all my life. I've visited other countries but England has always been home.

There is a lot of anger within our community against the terrorists we don't support them we do not condone their actions and we are just as much at risk from their actions as everyone else and on top of that we suffer the fall out.

I told dp I hate the world I'm bringing our baby into.

He said we as Londoners have been thro a lot worse, and this won't beat us. I'm hoping he's right.

Fuzzywuzzy

You asked how you could help. Here are my ideas...

1. I have heard the best thing to do if you see someone being verbally abused/hassled is to start a conversation with them. About anything-isnt the weather chilly? What time is it? Does the next train go via Bank? Etc. This makes them less isolated without you directly involving yourself in any argument.

1. If you are a parent, teach your kids to respect others. And model this behaviour too - talk to all the parents at the school gates, not just the ones who look like you. Challenge racist/xenophobic comments that friends or family make.

1. If you see someone share that photo or similar on your social media, call them on it.

1. Do something positive like join a local community group or help with a charity that will get you out of your comfort zone and meeting new people who are from different backgrounds to you.

And some ideas that 38 degrees sent me (i will be back with links as they won't copy and paste immediately)

Donate to London's Air Ambulance. Their advanced trauma team were some of the first on the scene yesterday. They are funded by donations so every pound given today could help save lives.

Donate now

Donate to the Metropolitan Police Benevolent Fund. Police officers put themselves in the path of danger every day. Sometimes, they pay the ultimate price as Keith Palmer did yesterday. This charity supports police officers and their families who have been affected in the line of duty.

Donate now

Write to your MP. We don't always see eye to eye with our MPs about everything. But yesterday's horrific events are a reminder that the work they do is incredibly important and extremely tough. Most MPs work very hard and they don’t always feel safe.

Your MP and the staff in their office probably feel pretty shaken - lots of them spent hours in lock down in Westminster. So some 38 Degrees members have decided to send their MP a message, thanking them for their work and letting them know it's appreciated. If you'd like to send your MP a nice message letting them know you’re grateful for what they do, please click here:

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.

It is not something I constantly do, in fact it is the first time I have ever posted on this subject, anywhere, ever.

I accept I am not the first to do so, and I did so because I know someone that is from such a place which is why it crossed my mind.

We do not know her background, it is possible, just as it is possible that she has family elsewhere that she is phoning to tell them what has happened.

Sorry to hear from those headscarf-wearing posters who are receiving abuse in the street. Shocking.

The irony is that not one of these attacks has been carried out by a woman.

Cross posted with a lot of people then. So sorry to hear you have been made to feel like that fuzzywuzzy

Sorry i can't update the links as i can't work out how to get versions that are not personal to me but Google might help anyone interested in doing the actions

I think there's an awareness that terrorism could turn into an othering and scapegoating of Islam and a real determination that this shouldn't happen. At the Trafalgar Square vigil last night there were Muslims in tshirts saying 'I'm a Muslim ask me anything!' I can't imagine that happening in Nice last year, or Irish Catholics feeling comfortable doing that in the 70s/80s/90s

however I think the photograph doing the rounds on FB of the aftermath of an IRA bomb and the caption along the lines of "we didn't blame all Irish or Catholic people back then - we understood it was just a tiny group of twats and should be taking a similar view now" is pretty apt.

I'm not on FB, so don't know what photo you are referring to, but unfortunately, the statement simply isn't true. I was an Irishwoman living in England through several of the most 'high-profile' bombs, and I assure you that I got intermittent abuse from strangers from 'Fucking IRA cunt' (from a man on the number 29 bus once he'd heard my accent) to a well-dressed older man in a shop who, after the Savile enquiry hit the news, said 'Well, your lot must be feeling pleased with themselves today' and blamed Cameron for kowtowing to terrorists...'

And I've in fact had a couple of comments from people in my village since Martin McGuinness's death people with whom I work on a local campaign issue and who know me as a neighbour assuming that Martin's McGuinness's armed republican past represents my worldview.

The difference of course is that I'm white and need to speak to be identified as Irish.

I have enormous sympathy for Muslims feeling vulnerable in the wake of the Westminster attack, but I do refute the cosy idea that most people in this country were able to distinguish between specific violent IRA groups and Irish people in general when NI was the flashpoint in terrorism. In my experience, they weren't. Quite apart from getting pulled over in airports and at ferry terminals, I was clearly suspect to a lot of people because of my nationality.

An old lady fell down near school today, banged her head, covered in blood. I looked a bit like that photo. There were about 6 people already helping so I just walked past with a worried face. I am not Muslim. It is scary, shocking and saddening to see any accident or people in pain/ hurt, in particular if it is very serious.

Sorry on behalf of fellow Britons to anyone who has suffered harassment regarding their skin colour or clothes. Vile vile vile.

Does anyone remember the terrible case of the 16 year old girl kicked to death for dressing as a goth?

Ignorance and evil. enormous pehaps my teen dds should not wear mini skirts to stop men raping them? Ffs!

The lady in the headscarf did what any sensible and decent person would, seeing the poor casualty well tended she was clearing the area for emergency staff to help and not gawping at or filming the injured.

She was probably also checking in with her loved ones. Poor lady.

Utter cunts.

Everyone knows the overwhelming majority of the population are not like this. But the sad fact is a small percentage are. It only takes one doesn't it.

Very true. The majority of the population knows that not all Brits are racist idiots, its just a very small minority.

Likewise The majority of the population know that not all Muslims are terrorists. Its just a very small minority. And everyone knows that these are not true muslims.

But that small minority from both groups mentioned above has a bigger impact on peoples emotions because both are infused with hate. If everyone saw over that, the majority would be heard better than the minority.

I agree that the woman has been totally and unfairly vilified. There were plenty of wankers around just filming everything, doing nothing to help or even move away to let the emergency services do their job.

enormoustiger does have a valid point about integration generally though. It's the elephant in the room. Correctly or incorrectly, there will be a perception of "other" if communities are visibly cut off from integration and become ghetto-ised. Which is why, for example, there is a programme to help teach (women especially) English language within more cut off communities. Extreme visible signs of a religion (not just Muslim but obviously that's the topical one) are certainly not going to be an aid to foster cohesion.

hackmum ironically the most wanted female terrorist in the world is a born and bred British white woman from Chatham in Kent.

The photograph is shit. I know that, I knew that from the start -that wasn't my point at all.

Driving thank you - that's the type of thing I was looking for.

To everyone on this post who has received racial abuse, I am so sorry you've experienced that. I do get that I am only one person, but I genuinely would like to know how to make you feel more comfortable on our streets, or what to do if I witnessed something like that aimed at someone to make them feel more comfortable.

I told dp I hate the world I'm bringing our baby into. I've said similar. Which is why I would like to try and do something to change it.

Also - I am starting to feel that many people think it's ok to ask Muslims what they are doing to stop terrorism, and how they are tackling it in our own communities. However, it seems a large group of people (far larger than the group of racists) think it is not ok for us to ask ourselves how we can tackle the racism and bigotry in our communities and make Muslims feel safer.

knifegrinder I also remember an atmosphere of anti-Irish in the 70s/80s. Not so extreme as the islamophobia there seems to be now though.

But whoever took that photo was also standing around doing nothing to help. Someone doing nothing taking a photo of someone doing nothing.

bialy integration is nothing to do with dress though it's attitude, education and socialisation.

I would ban all faith schools myself, we had no choice to send ours to a C/E school as it was our local and we are atheists. Personally I would also ban home schooling but I know that's very controversial.

It starts with the kids.

doyouwantabrew yes I agree, education especially is crucial, and how you dress shouldn't be relevant, but rightly or wrongly, it's undeniable that extreme religious dress is a visible signal, and, again rightly or wrongly, is 'othering'. I couldn't agree more about religious education btw.