To be tired of the ‘racist UK’ remarks?

[AGermFreeAdolescent]

By that I mean people talking down the UK and say that it’s a racist country since Brexit. I appreciate everyone has their own experiences but I dislike when people say Brexit has made the UK more racist and make out it is more so than its EU counterparts when I, as a non white person, feel WAY more safe anywhere in the UK as I would compared to any other country in Europe. Can’t help but feel that the people that denigrate the UK for racism because of Brexit are white and have not visited countries in Europe as, or with, a person that isn’t white. Started this thread mostly because of the ‘shock’ about the racism that Bulgarian fans displayed to England and my first thought was ‘And this is a surprise, because...?’

Sadly I think brexit has given racists the confidence to be more vocal. It is going to take a long time to heal from this. I am ashamed of elements in this country.

@AGermFreeAdolescent, I imagine you are a british person living in the UK? Not an EU citizen? Or maybe not a muslim woman wearing a headscarf or burka?

The fact you are feeling safer in the UK doesnt negate other people experiences.
It doesnt negate my experience as an EU citizen (and f** yes the way british people as a whole has changed! This is a country I was seeing as 'my' country. It was home after 30 years lving here. Now its just where I live. Because I have been made to feel I dont belong here).
It doesnt negate the experience of muslims women who have been on the receiving end of MORE abuse, told they were looking like 'letter box' etc... And I know quite a few of them.
And it doesnt negate the rise in hate crime in the UK since the referendum (look at the stats - remembering its just the tip of the iceberg, most peopel dont go to the police to report said crime)

I have to say, Im really not sure who you think you are to negate other people's experiences and to think your experience is somehow more important/relevant than others.
You feel safe in the UK. Great.
Dont tell peope they should feel like this too or that they are wrong in feeling they feel LESS safe than before.

Btw the fct that the UK MIGHT be on the top 3 of the most welcoming counties doesnt mean that intolerance and hate crime hasnt increased since the referendum. Its not incompatible.

I was disgusted at the story calling the Bulgarian fans racist.
How dare they call out another country on their racism, when their is HUGE racism in the UK.

In the last two weeks alone in the U.K,
An Indian man told me how he receives abuse all the time.
I was at a book club, and the speaker was talking about Boston, and he said "and at that time - there were many Irish people in Boston". Another man in the group said " ah they needed to send somebody over to clean the toilets hahahaha".

I was in a Costa coffee, and I heard a couple speaking at the next table to me. And she said that she had just watched "In the name of the father". The man then started making animal noises to immitate the Irish.

A woman told me that she was asked if her child was hers, because he was too white.

I have honestly seen such shocking, shokcing things in the U.K. It is almost unbelievable.

How can we fight against racism in this country?

I don't think there's anything wrong with decrying racism in the UK - it's important that we do so, and the fact that we have made some progress doesn't excuse racism where it still exists. However, I do roll my eyes at people who say that they want to move to Europe (esp post-Brexit) to get away from English small-mindedness and prejudice. Ironically, I can only imagine that people who say that haven't spent much time in Europe -- I can't think of any European country that isn't blighted by racism, sexism and homophobia at least as much as England.

How did we get to be a country where we only like people from the U.K, and hate everyone else?

That is such a horrible attitude to have, and I know where it stems from.

There is a terrible attitude in the U.K of "British is best", and " England for the English" - similiar to Nazi Germany.

And we all know that thinking that we are better than everyone else, never works

My impression from BAME friends is that the UK has better race relations than most countries, but still has a significant racism problem (as well as disablist, as another poster mentioned).

I don’t see much racism now because I’m a white British person living in a white British area. Doesn’t mean it’s not happening - and from what I understand it’s happening a lot.

Awful. Other than arguing against it when I do see it, what can I do to help stamp it out? (Genuine question)

@mauvaisereputation I have just come back from an Eastern european country, where I had a dinner with twenty people from everyone around the world- everyone appreciated each other.

I am in the U.K right now - and the level of violence and racism is absolutely shocking.

We are FAR worse than any other country.

It is like a hell here.

YANBU- I'm not saying the UK is perfect but we are way better than most other (particularly European) countries.

I myself am white, but married to a black man who grew up in Italy - my brother in law is black and grew up in the 80s/90s London when racism was particularly rife/ institutional.
I think the UK is far from perfect but you are grossly ill informed if you think we are as bad as places like Hungary/Poland/ Bulgaria!!!!

@FriedasCarLoad good question. You could challenge racism: by

• anytime anyone makes a comment about foreigners - challenge their thinking. Tell them that it is wrong

angell84 are you Caucasian?

@OnlyFoolsnMothers I think that the U.K is far worse that many other European countries for racism.

And I have to say this:

Do you know that abroad: British people also have a terrible reputaion everwhere for being:
Arrogant
Racist
Thinking they are better than everyone else.

Do U.K people on here, know that U.K people are very, very disliked abroad?

@OnlyFoolsnMothers yea I am caucasian. I am not speaking about racism to myself.

I am speaking about racism that I have seen happening to other people in the U.K.

I think the UK is far from perfect but you are grossly ill informed if you think we are as bad as places like Hungary/Poland/ Bulgaria!!!!

Nobody is saying that.

But are we really going for "it isn't as racist as other racist places" as a recommendation?

The UK has a growing problem with racism.

How do we change the attitude in the U.K of

"We are better than everyone else?"

Because it is there. And it is ugly

I have travelled around alot in the last two years - all over the world. And everywhere I have been, people have told me that they do not like British people, due to us being:

Rude
Arrogant
Racist
Thinking we are better than all other races
Cruel
Nasty.

We are very unpopular in other countries.

So isn't it time to look at ourselves and think that we need to change?

The weekend following the referendum saw a flood of abhorrent racist graffiti, notes on cars and through letterboxes in the Polish community where I live. It was as though pent up racism had been given a free pass. This is a small town where a black face is a rarity in a county in which every single member of one town council was UKIP at one point. There’s plenty of bloody racism here.

Caucasian doesn’t mean white, it refers to people who originate from the caucaus region, the majority of caucasians are brown skinned.

I have heard that hate crimes have increased since the referendum. And when you have the PM making blatantly racist comments (letter boxes etc.) it's not surprising that people feel emboldened to sound off with their gross views.

Even if other European countries are more racist than the UK, that doesn't mean the UK hasn't become more openly racist since Brexit.

Just because someone is worse than us doesn't mean we should stop caring about racism here

Why do people think that other European countries are more racist than the U.K?

I have been to countries all over Europe this year,

And the U.K is the worst BY FAR for racism

@angell84 - the fact that you went to a nice dinner in Eastern Europe doesn't really prove that there is no racism there does it? I don't go to dinner with racists either, whatever country I happen to be in!

Again, I want to ask the posters on here, "are you aware that our reputation abroad is very bad".
So many countries that I went to, they said that "the worst people that we ever meet are British". And I think that those people are entitled to say that, because they told me that British people treat them like s"&t, when they go to visit there.
We are known as
Rude
Nasty
Arrogant
Cruel.

Do we want to keep going on like this?

Can we change?

Like I said the UK is not perfect but as my husband and my brother in law tell me (from their experiences), there is no where in Europe they would rather live as black men.
In addition most of my husband's younger family members are moving to the UK as there are little-no possibilities for black people in Italy climbing the career ladder.
Me and my husband have only ever been stared at in Italy as a mixed couple.
My brother in law has been asked by many Eastern Europeans "where are you from" and when he says London "no where are you really from".

Hungary, Crotia and Poland's treatment of non Christian refugees/ immigrants is appalling- the EU fined them ! The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Europe needs to be “safe, civic, Christian and free”.

We need to keep striving to improve the UK- but lets not pretend other counties are perfectly tolerant and integrated. They arent!

I'm not white and I have not experienced anymore or any less racism than normal.