To be worried about Norfolk holiday as an ethnic minority?

[Faffandahalf]

I’m from London.

Going to north Norfolk in the summer. It’s been booked. Research showed it was a beautiful part of the UK. Want to do more UK hols.

We’ve been to Cornwall which seemed ok, the Cotswold we were openly stared at.

But now I’m doing some more reading and turns out Norfolk is horribly racist.

We are Asian. Me DH, 2 young kids. My sister is coming too...she wears a headscarf but very modern dress...jeans and hoodie etc. I don’t wear a headscarf. But we are all brown!

Are we going to get trouble? We’ve booked a cottage in a lovely little village which I imagine doesn’t see many brown folks.

I don’t venture out of London much and forget it’s a different world out there sometimes.

I just want a nice holiday without being gawped at.

The Cley marshes walk is nice, being brown is a plus, you won't get as sunburnt as we did.

Just because an area is not 'diverse', does not mean it is racist or that hate crimes will occur.
Not read the thread then...

I think most rural, predominately white backwater areas can be racist, I’m sure it’s not particular to Norfolk. My father in law was Suffolk born and bred and he was one of the most unpleasantly racist people I’ve ever met. I even had to shut him up whilst he was watching football in my house and swearing at the black players in front of my young children. 🙄

ladybird

that's basically my attitude. Frankly, I think it's rather self centred to go to place that isn't London and expect it to act like London in this particular way. There aren't a lot of Indian/sub-continent people there or muslims. People will look, and a second glance or two won't kill anyone.

They might meet their first muslims and have a nice chat. Those people aren't get to get used to brown people if we all avoid it.

That being said, I don't remember even that happening. We aren't talking about somewhere in Siberia here. It's a short drive from London.

W

MsAdorabelle I am sure there are lots of racists there too.

Jesus ladybird

gilead
I have read the thread
I stand by what I said. I hate the assumption that just because an area is predominantly white it will be automatically be racist and backward (I repeat the stat that the UK is majorly white (nearly 90%) so white people will be the majority. Would you go to Africa and expect to see huge numbers of white people in rural villages?).

White people living in areas where they have lived all their lives and their family before them will not be BACKWARD or RACIST or committing hate crimes. Any evidence of this other than anecdata from people you know?

Jeez - mumsnet appalls me sometimes.
You are the ones being judgemental and snobby.
OP - do go to rural areas of this country and enjoy them - meet the lovely real country people who live in these areas.

dreary. I live in the area, and the newspaper reports I put up are not anecdata. I have been subject to racist comments, as has my dd. We live in the area, we experience it. Which bit of that and the newspaper reports are you choosing not to believe?

Which bit of that and the newspaper reports are you choosing not to believe?

I didn't see in the thread. Which reports?

I just looked.

I saw two articles, one on an attack of a butcher, and one about shops being vandalized.

Literally anecdotes. Neither article had statistics. you can just as easily post similar articles about London.

I don't know who said that Norfolk was asshole or racism free, but it's clearly not. Also, given that you live there (for how many years? 10? 20?) the odds of something happening in a long span of time is quite high.

Yeah, marchin, do you want to have a chat with dd, who got called names all the way through school, and I mean, all the way through.

I live in North Norfolk and I actually live right next to some of the places you want to visit and I can say, whilst it's not "culturally diverse" here, it's not racist!

During the summer where I live is inundated with tourists from all areas, cultures, ethnicities, etc. There is rarely any trouble other than the odd drunken tourist and stag weekend making too much noise.

I think it was you who said you were sixty, so likely I am the same age as your dd (or close to it).

I also got called names throughout school, and I am from a place much like London. But that place, along with London, and I imagine Norfolk, have changed a lot in 15-30 years, and changed for the better. But not just that, the OP isn't planning on sending her kids to school there. It's a holiday, in likely touristy places.

I am not trying to minimise your experience, but I don't think that is answering the question for the OP. That schools were bad 10-20 years ago doesn't say much about visiting Norfolk today.

Is Norfolk so much worse than the rest of the UK?

Fuck me! How many assumptions there.
Dd is 21. She's in her second year at uni, so not long out of the school system. That would be the school system that I also happen to work in occasionally.

I have no idea how old your dd is. Yes, i was absolutely clear I made an assumption about your dd's age because I didn't know. I was very clear about that.

So, the schools are bad there. Let's assume they are bad today. Would that make a holiday likely to have a racist incident?

Can you tell me if Norfolk is much worse than the rest of the UK?

Norfolk, Cornwall., Northumberland, rural Wales will all be better not worse than the rest of the UK for racism. It's actually easier to live in harmony with others when you ahve a lot more space and for those few who have problems with people from other cultures and backgrounds in areas with very few non whites even the few racists tolerate them more as the incomers they may not like are few and far between.

marchin,

1. I apologise if you made it clear. I'm Autistic so don't always 'get it'.
2. Of course I can't tell you about the rest of the UK. I've not experienced it. I can tell you we're moving to a more cosmopolitan area though, although that isn't all about the racism we've encountered, but when looking to move it was a factor. Funny thing is we're not even that dark, and we're actually mediterranean. I got asked the day after Brexit by somebody in the village if we were going home now, and by somebody else if the little brown girl was going to be sent home.

I rather felt that op was musing as to whether or not their family were likely to be openly stared it, well yes, they are in some parts of Norfolk. Comments too, in some parts.

I know this is old.

But op where have you moved?
I'm considering to move out of London as a muslim family and keep looking..

Why are people so defensive? I am white and grew up in the countryside(not Norfolk) and get why the OP is asking the question. If the same question was asked about the area I grew up in, I would just answer truthfully that yes, some people will stare and some are racist. It’s up the the OP then to make her mind up, it’s not her responsibility to be some kind of race relations ambassador or bury / get over whatever unpleasant feelings she experiences so that other people can feel more comfortable.

Ah zombie thread 🙈

Openly gawping? What kind of kids do you have? At the very least, they must have seen non-white people in films? Cartoons? Books?!

But Norfolk is clearly backward and racist. They voted in Rupert Lowe, a character too nasty even for Reform. Which is saying something.

How on earth did you stumble on to a thread that is 8 years old!