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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think Brexit has shone light on a really unpleasant racist underbelly allowing it to flourish?

346 replies

KennDodd · 15/04/2019 14:03

I know, I know not all Leavers are racist, really, I do know that. But the (lovely, non racist) Leavers must be able to see this, they really cant be blind to the unsavoury characters and groups promoting Brexit for all their worth. I don't know what can be done about this, if there's any way to put these groups back in the box?

OP posts:
lovinglifexo · 15/04/2019 14:06

YANBU

SinisterBumFacedCat · 15/04/2019 14:07

Yep

M4J4 · 15/04/2019 14:09

YANBU. I think talking about it, with threads like this, with threads like will help.

And challenging the views wherever we find them.

M4J4 · 15/04/2019 14:10

oops sorry for repetition

Kko1986 · 15/04/2019 14:10

I'm a leave voter, I get called all sorts of names I am not a racist and I'm sick of the horrible people who call me that. I'm just a plain ordinary person who believes a change will be better. However I can bet someone will have a go at me on this thread for daring to have my own opinion not born from anything on the tv but from my own research.
If people continue to lump everyone together and brand us racist there isn't much we can do I won't change my vote.

NoBaggyPants · 15/04/2019 14:11

Racism and more general abuse in football has become far worse, at matches and on social media. It's like we're back in the eighties.

But then you've still got people denying its existence because they've never seen it. Said people tend to be white and male.

NoBaggyPants · 15/04/2019 14:13

@Kko1986 Do you deny that racism has become far more prevalent since the vote?

Also Kenn was quite clear that not all leave voters are racist.

M4J4 · 15/04/2019 14:14

@Kko1986

Have you actually read the OP?

No one is having a go at you for voting leave.

If people continue to lump everyone together and brand us racist there isn't much we can do I won't change my vote.

No one has branded you a racist. And you can't change your vote even if you wanted to.

Stop playing a victim/martyr!

ilovesooty · 15/04/2019 14:16

I think there were always racists in our society. Brexit has legitimised racism.

AutumnCrow · 15/04/2019 14:18

If people continue to lump everyone together and brand us

Kko isn't that the opposite of what the OP is doing?

loobyloo1234 · 15/04/2019 14:18

There's a Brexit forum on here ... I think this thread has appeared a thousand times now Confused

Itscoldouthere · 15/04/2019 14:19

The saddest thing s it has brought out so much division, on many things, race, poverty, values, identity.
It’s never going to go away.
We will always identify as losers or winners whatever side we are on 😢

FriarTuck · 15/04/2019 14:20

People have been racist for years. And will continue to be so. Just as they've been abusive to all types of minorities. It's an attitude thing not a Brexit thing and not even a racist thing. People are getting more and more selfish and think that they're the most important in the entire world. And they think they're entitled to be complete arseholes. It comes out in racism, in CF neighbours, in road rage, all sorts of things. If people tried to be decent to each other then the world would be a better place. But they won't. Mumsnet can be a great example of that. (Equally it can reflect the fact there are still, thankfully, some decent human beings).
Not allowing arseholes to reproduce would be a good move.

Cafelatte2go · 15/04/2019 14:44

To me it's better that they are open about being racist- at least we can see people clearly for what they are now, rather than racists with a veneer of niceness.

Although I will say, going off on a tangent in answer to the original question, that there are many things which people feel they cannot say these days as they are labeled as 'extreme' or right wing and therefore not pwoke or modern or left wing. The left seem to have a view these days that their view is the only acceptable viewpoint. This in turn has led to a rise in people becoming more extreme as they feel unheard. Brexit is a symptom of this and I feel if we cannot debate things sensibly then the rise of the far right will sadly continue :(

Kko1986 · 15/04/2019 14:53

If that came across as me being rude I apologise that wasn't my intention.
As other posters have said it's been around for a long time and there are people who really I wish were not leavers as I hate their attitude. I don't agree with certain people who have become part of the face of brexit I won't name them as they disgust me.
I just think it's highlighting people who I wish would sink in to the background and forgotten as I really don't want to be associated with them x

rosie39forever · 15/04/2019 14:56

YANBU one of my closest friends is from Poland but has lived in the Uk for 35 years, in that time she has worked for the nhs paying her taxes and national insurance, being a good neighbour and contributing to the local community through voluntary work. She still has slight accent but feels more British than Polish, she had never experienced racism until after the referendum, she now gets told to fuck off back to her own country and other charming things on a weekly basis and is considering leaving.
The referendum has Legitimised the far right and given your every day racist permission to proudly verbalise thoughts that they would have previously kept to themselves as society deemed the unacceptable.

M4J4 · 15/04/2019 15:02

I find it funny how the people who have researched and voted leave say that they thought a change would be good, like it's a weekend in the Cotwolds.

But for millions of Brits it means an increase in exposure to racist behaviour. I wonder how many people realise how soul-destroying it can be to be treated differently because of your colour/race/religion.

OutInTheCountry · 15/04/2019 15:10

YANBU - not every Leave voter is a racist but you can bet every racist is a leave voter. I don't think it's just Brexit though, Trump has enabled this too, most racists used to be too worried to admit to it but that seems to be changing. I think it's unleashed some dark forces and it makes me really worried. Still, at least it will be a change eh?

Firstworddinosaur · 15/04/2019 15:14

YANBU.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 15/04/2019 15:15

Just popping on with my usual...not every racist voted for leave

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 15:15

Why isn't the UK doing more for asylum seekers then?

Windowsareforcheaters · 15/04/2019 15:30

Not every leave voter is racist.

However, UKIP is a racist party. In case you think that is just a lefty liberal perspective Michael Heseltine and NF also think that UKIP is racist.

Tommy Robinson advises UKIP he used to be the leader of the EDL - that's the English Defence League - a facist party.

If you work with, vote for or support UKIP you are working with racists.

Heseltine compares UKIP to Le Pen in France and the far right populists in Hungary.

It is far more than simply legitimising racism the far right is rising in the U.K. we should be very scared.

Leave voters need to clearly and specifically condemn the racists in their ranks and distance themselves.

ChilliMum · 15/04/2019 15:37

Yanbu. Racism has existed all the time in the UK but Brexit has magnified it.

It is brought out into the light after any event that promotes fear.

I grew up in Manchester and after the IRA bomb an Irish friend of mine was told to go home.

Following the twin towers another friend who has brown skin was racially abused.

Both these friends are British.

Unfortunately Brexit was sold on an agenda of fear and so again racism has come out of it's dark corner, unfortunately this time the victim group is larger as anyone with a different accent or non white skin is a target and that's a large portion of society.

Fear suits those in charge as it can be used to manipulate us to focus on a percieved outside enemy and distracting us from the cuts and destruction our own government is forcing upon our health service, education system, housing, benefits, local government, leisure facilities and anything else they want.

I don't think all leavers are racist by a long shot (although Farages poster will forever tar the leave vote with racist undertones) but this narrative serves to keep us divided and while we remain divided the government / people with power and money are free to do as they want.

bellinisurge · 15/04/2019 15:40

You may be sick of horrible people calling you racist, I'm sick of people sending messages to children calling them Polish Vermin.
Lie down with dogs and get up with fleas.
Spend the time between now and Halloween, slagging these twats off loudly and repeatedly and putting them back in the fetid box of shit they belong in. Your enemy and my enemy is those bastards.

rosie39forever · 15/04/2019 15:42

Anti immigrant white supremacy all wrapped up in nationalism and pride in your country was how the third reich rose so quickly and quietly and is plainly happening again right under our noses but hey as long as we "take back control " Brexit means Brexit"etc who cares.