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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:
BollocksToBrexit · 15/04/2019 16:31

YANBU but they won't see it. I know quite a few leave voters, a lot of them family members, and I believe that every single one of them is racist. They however would deny it to their dying breath. They don't believe their views are racist, they think they're normal. Just like members of the KKK don't think they're racist, they think their views are entirely justified.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:32

Not everyone voted based on immigration for one

Oh? I thought all Leave voters were racists.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:33

So Leave voters are the KKK now? Nice comparison there.

rosie39forever · 15/04/2019 16:33

Whyinstigate totally agree brits will work and do work hard and absolutely everyone no matter where they come from should be paid a decent wage in fair conditions but unfortunately it isn't like that and if you care about it you should vote for a party that will deliver that which at the moment none of them do.

The point I was trying to make was you asked why brits won't do those type of jobs is because there are comparably paid jobs which offer better benefits and conditions.

I don't particularly think the EU is left wing all of the 27 members have the same rise of the right problems that we have here.

BollocksToBrexit · 15/04/2019 16:37

So Leave voters are the KKK now? Nice comparison there.

Yeah, because that's exactly what I said isn't it. And leave voters complain about being labelled thick. Hmm

VladmirsPoutine · 15/04/2019 16:37

Yanbu. It's now acceptable to be openly bigoted and racist. And this is in part - a very large part - thanks to the rhetoric of politicians and the media throughout this whole Brexit debacle.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:38

Not thick

What you said is this:

Just like members of the KKK don't think they're racist

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:39

@VladmirsPoutine

What rhetoric is that?

bellinisurge · 15/04/2019 16:41

There was a time when I would stoutly(ish) defend Leave voters against accusations of racism. But now they spend so much time having a go at me for calling out racist scum, it makes you wonder who they think the enemy is. We are supposed to be on the same side against racist scumbags.

Hithere12 · 15/04/2019 16:41

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

It isn’t better for people on the receiving end of this racism

rosie39forever · 15/04/2019 16:43

Fjfs Farage standing in front of a poster of brown refugees and stating that we will be overrun by 20000 Turks.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:43

Well when you call Leave voters Racist Scumbags you're going to raise a few heckles.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:44

I don't think anyone actually listened to Farage in fairness.

Noname99 · 15/04/2019 16:46

Oh how many times is this going to be regurgitated over and over again - it a thinly veiled excuse to abuse leave voters.
“Leave voters should unequivocally condemn...... ”
“If you lie with fleas .... etc”
There was a thread a few weeks ago from a Muslim woman utterly fed up of being expected to continually apologise for the small minority of extremist/terrorist element that have highjacked her religion as their ‘cause.’
Fed up of being expected to ‘unequivocally condemn,’ fed up of having to justify her belief and being expected to ‘prove’ she wasn’t / didn’t think like this small group.

So no, it’s not leave voters job to condemn or apologies for the fact that a small extreme minority have joined their wagon to the leave voters call and more than feminists should have to condemn or apologise for the fact that some of the biggest supporters in the current trans debate are ultra right wing either!

Hithere12 · 15/04/2019 16:47

I voted leave. I’d have absolutely no problem with immigration from Europe if the Government built housing / hospitals to support this, but they never will. So the issues re NHS and housing would get worse and worse. And it’s the poorest people that suffer with this huge demand for housing.

I wouldn’t have voted Leave if the government actually had measures to cope with the amount of people who want to live here but they just don’t care.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 15/04/2019 16:50

Oh? I thought all Leave voters were racists

No one said that

bellinisurge · 15/04/2019 16:50

Absolutely is leave voters' job. Otherwise they enable these scumbags even more.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:50

I personally think that people voted based on actions they observed on the ground, rather than on any campaign 'rhetoric' from either side.

Actions speak louder than words.

Rufusthebewilderedreindeer · 15/04/2019 16:50

So Leave voters are the KKK now? Nice comparison there

No one said this either

DeeCeeCherry · 15/04/2019 16:51

YANBU.

Blatant racism has increased since Brexit as racists see it as a licence to display their ugly xenophobia and prejudice.

People harassed on transport and in the street for speaking their own language - sometimes not even speaking, just looking different is enough - and nasty right wing media fuelling it all.

I do think all Brexiters are racist. They saw leaving EU as a chance to hit back and keep the foreigners out. Even though, thats not how it will be.

Ive never heard a Brexiter admit the increase in racism nor denounce it so, theyre all racists to me.

Son in law is Spanish and sly comments have been made to him. Im Caribbean and had a woman shout racist abuse to me on way to work, a man on bus making racist remarks aloud. I gave as good as I got. But I shouldn't have to. It's like being back in the 1970s.
.
Brexiters voted on immigration. They wont understand. the folly of their silly little empirical attitude until theyre faced with shit meat from America, crappy vegetables, skint farmers bawling over loss of EU subsidy money, job losses when large companies get the hell out of here, and a whole lot more than that.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:51

No one said that

Oh they didn't? Care to read back through the thread?

BoneyBackJefferson · 15/04/2019 16:51

Fjfs
London is multicultural as are most cities. Cities voted to Remain.

Yes they did they have a large indigenous population of different cultures.

Yet rural areas voted to Leave, where they would be least affected by immigration.

It has been explained about the agricultural work gangs that are part of this. Not every area has to have an indigenous population to be affected by immigration.

And for those that seem to need a quantifier, I abhor racism in all its forms.

But it doesn't stop me from seeing where there are problems that people ignore or shutdown discussions with cries of racism.

Windowsareforcheaters · 15/04/2019 16:54

There are two separate issues.

Racism in everyday life, this is worse than it was a few years ago but not as bad as in the 1970s.

The rise of the right. Extremist right wing political parties like UKIP are very worrying. They normalise racism and bring it into the mainstream.

Leavers need to utterly disavow the racist elements and make it clear they have separate arguments. Unfortunately, far too many are happy to stand under the racist umbrella to get the Brexit they want.

Fjfs · 15/04/2019 16:55

I'm not sure whether Remainers were ever asked why they voted to Remain? Knew what side THEIR bread was buttered with little concern for anyone other than themselves I suspect.
Everyone is entitled to a vote and entitled to a secret ballot.
But Leave voters are vilified daily and called every sort of racist scum under the sun.

JenniferJareau · 15/04/2019 16:55

I think this change started before Brexit tbh.