To despair at the growing level of racism and xenophobia in this country?

[AlexaShutUp]

I have just been told by the security guard at my local shop that the coronavirus is a "good thing" because it will stop people from traveling and it will therefore "keep them foreigners out". I am ashamed to say that I couldn't think of a good response quickly enough, and just muttered something disapproving but pretty incoherent back to him. Have so many much better responses going round in my head now, and I am annoyed that I didn't challenge him in a more articulate manner.

I know that there have always been racists and xenophobes, but I'm sure that there was a time when such hideous views would not have been expressed to a stranger in public. Over the last few years, it seems that there have been more and more comments of this nature, and it makes me so sad to see the ignorant, unwelcoming little nation we have become.

What sort of fuckwit thinks that a global pandemic is good news? And what sort of society makes people think it's ok to voice such opinions?

Read "me and white privilege". It is out now. Elizabeth Gilbert (eat, pray,love) , is heavily promoting this book, and she is saying that she is doing white privilege work on herself (challenging her own thoughts).

I have to chuckle. Elizabeth Gilbert is only a decade or so late in questioning her 'white privilege', having achieved great fame in reducing India to a white person's spiritual journey.

Not every white person a void of self-awareness like Gilbert, who you have inexplicably offered as a good exemplar.

You should really do some deeper thinking about this.

I guess the BBC are very 'woke' and were very pro brexit. They must otherwise be right wing but being woke is pretty left imv.

You only need to read this thread and the thread about plasters to see the blatant racism on MN, racism that MNHQ allow to happen.

As a brown person racism is sadly an almost daily occurrence. That’s before you even consider white privilege and the damage it causes.

I find threads like this very depressing - and it echoes my experiences in real life. So many white, British people will completely deny that anything is ‘racism’ - they have an allergic reaction to the word. And they see it as their right to define what is and is not racist. Just as in history, white people gave themselves the right to define who was and was not white and as a result who did and did not have rights.

I’m a British citizen by birth but am brown and was born in another country. It has been so bloody exhausting over the past few years - watching the tone of the country change and realising how many people genuinely seem to think they’re being reasonable when they’re saying offensive (and yes sometimes racist) things. I have literally had someone try to defend the use of the n word to next!

Whether or not someone starts to understand their privilege late is not an issue for me - society creates white privilege and all I ask is that people try to see through it. My own DP has only really come to that through being with me - I’m his ‘black friend’! And until you have one it’s easy not to see the reality of the situation. would recommend White Fragility - great book.

I think it could be due to social media. I would say sexism, misogyny and other isms are on the increase too.
Also tabloid headlines eg about muslims.
But if you aren't on the receiving end of it then you don't notice it and hence claims that others are exaggerating.
After all the discussion and publicity about equal pay Samira Ahmed had to take the BBC to court! Unbelievable from a publicly funded body. Blatant sexism.

7.35 minutes in - Gina Yashere on exactly that - everyday racism and the white denial of it:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=zhslr_hGRSg

I find threads like this very depressing - and it echoes my experiences in real life. So many white, British people will completely deny that anything is ‘racism’ - they have an allergic reaction to the word. And they see it as their right to define what is and is not racist. Just as in history, white people gave themselves the right to define who was and was not white and as a result who did and did not have rights.

This!!!

Like I concluded earlier even blatantly racist comments actions are defended to the death by white people coming out and saying "A is a nice person, he doesn't have a racist bone in his body", "it's a misunderstanding/miscommunication/ill advised comment/people are too sensitive (my favourite blaming the victim for being offended)". The list is endless, but oh so quick to label non-white people racist for the same or milder comments or actions. They define what racism is and completely discount the lived experiences of black and brown people in this country.

Racists do not exist in the UK, they are like unicorns or big foot or Nessie.

MN is absolutely depressing for it as thread after thread and blatantly racist comments abound and are allowed.

Gina Yashere on exactly that - everyday racism and the white denial of it

I watched the clip - what was Gina Yashere wearing on the train though? A white woman [or man] wearing the same outfit: black leggings, black t-shirt, torn denim jacket, jazzy black and white sneakers, neck chains - with a 'London' accent may well have resulted in the same response [this is the first class carriage] - as would a white man wearing a football shirt. Gina Yashere's reviews refer to her 'brash', 'loud' and 'bolshy' charm - i.e. she's funny, loud and a 'bit common.' A woman of any colour wearing a smart outfit (and who isn't loud and bolshy) would not receive the same prejudice. I would say the reaction was more a 'class prejudice' than racism.

Yes respectability politics it couldn't possibly be race..sure

I would say the reaction was more a 'class prejudice' than racism.
Bollocks.

Another issue is the increase in black/asian people in tv programmes and particularly adverts. Good to see adverts and programmes with different races and different faces. However there will be many who see the increase as being representative f teh UK, or, representative of how "Them In Charge" are wanting the country to be.

The UK is around 87% white, 4% black, 5% Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, 2% chinese and 2% mixed race (2011 census).
allowing for some chage in the last 10 years, it is not likely to be hugely different.

I wonder if many people who did not know the above data, even updated would agree that the proportions were such. Certainly looking at adverts on tv it is NOT the case. Obviously there are parts of the UK whjere the proprtions are hugely different one way or the other, but the UK as a whole is very very white.

@Prudemaybe Thanks for the link, she was hilariously honest. 🤣😀 I enjoyed it.

@Clavinova that is exactly - exactly!! - my point.

Gina Yashere perceived it to be related to race. You were not there. Perhaps it was, and perhaps it wasn’t - but why is the immediate reaction always to find a way to make it NOT racist and to view it under a different lense?

Also the wording in reviews reviews about Gina are racially coded - they directly reflect how many black women are described: loud, brash, etc - the two are intertwined in cultural discourse. Finally, black and brown people wearing smart outfits DO get treated like this - multiple examples of black people at events being asked to hang up coats/fetch drinks - they weren’t wearing ‘jazzy sneakers’ then...

@Frothybothie i think it was 2018 when there were talks about overrepresentation of minorities on TV. It was actually quite interesting from what I remember. Is that what you mean?

@LaLaLanded

My brother works in the City, always extremely smartly dressed (high profile job) and happens to be black. Absolutely no way can you mistake him for a train conductor. Not a rare occurrence but one day a white lady came up to him and asked when the next train to Bank was coming (at the DLR Canary Wharf) and being a nice guy he looked up to check and tell him it said 2 minutes, she then proceeded to ask how she would get from there to another location and that she thinks she forgot to tap out if another station prior so what should she do? At that point he realised she thought he was a TfL employee and was about to point her in the right direction when her partner pulled her aside and whispered something to her and apologised on her behalf.

This is not something that happens to well dressed white men that people just make assumptions about them. It does not matter how well you dress or behave people still treat you as less than. And I hate the excuse that people wouldn't treat you that way if you weren't dressed/talking/ acting like x. Just another way to excuse racism. It's how typical dress of young black men is labelled as looking like a "thug" and how Trayvon Martin got shot but was put at fault for causing his own death by dressing like a thug.

@ProgrammableMagneticStorm I don't think that Elizabeth Gilbert is a perfect example of a person.

What I do admire hugely about her, is: she is a famous, white person, talking about racism. And admitting the privilege that she was born with.

I don't see many other white, famous people, talking about racism anywhere, do you?

Also the wording in reviews about Gina are racially coded - they directly reflect how many black women are described: loud, brash

Did you watch the video clip?? I enjoyed it as well but she is loud and brash - that's part of her selling point surely?

One of the reviews I read was written by Shazia Mirza (stand-up comedian, actress, and writer); "Gina Yashere is great when she appears on Mock the Week, but then there’s nothing like a funny brash black woman to make a white, slightly repressed middle class Cambridge boy nervous.They wouldn’t dare interrupt." Shazia Mirza was being racist here?

Gina Yashere describes herself as having "a strong cockney accent" and she used to work as a lift engineer.

but why is the immediate reaction always to find a way to make it NOT racist and to view it under a different lense?

I formed my reaction after watching the video clip, no other reason.

Sorry I disagree OP. I'm black and went to school in the 80s and I do not see Britain as being more racist now than then. Not by a long stretch. I cannot see how anyone who lived through the 60s,70, or 80s could come to that conclusion.

The UK is around 87% white, 4% black, 5% Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, 2% chinese and 2% mixed race (2011 census).
allowing for some chage in the last 10 years, it is not likely to be hugely different.

Interesting stats. I'm actually really surprised that mixed race only accounts for 2% of the population - I wonder if this will show an increase in the next census?

@angell84

My problem with your post is that you seem entirely unaware of the colonialist overtones of Gilbert's earlier book, but here you are telling us to read her mindless naval gazing so we can better ourselves.

Let me guess, does Oprah think it's a really excellent book too?

Not by a long stretch. I cannot see how anyone who lived through the 60s,70, or 80s could come to that conclusion.

Someone else made a similar comment, and I think it's a fair point. My perspective (as the OP) is based on the last 25-30 years at most. I didn't live through the 1960s and was a child in the 1970s/1980s, so I wasn't really aware of stuff back then.

My DH first came to the UK in the late 1990s, and then we moved back here in the early 2000s. Our perspective is that things have definitely got worse since then, but I appreciate that others will have a much longer perspective on this.

It's how typical dress of young black men is labelled as looking like a "thug" and how Trayvon Martin got shot but was put at fault for causing his own death by dressing like a thug.

I have just googled this case - Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Florida (not the UK) - by a man of mixed race heritage himself who doesn't look white in the slightest.

Absolutely no way can you mistake him for a train conductor.
Why a train conductor and not a station supervisor? I used to be a lawyer myself and I have been mistaken for a shop assistant on many occasions.

I am pretty confident that train station situation can happen to any person. I was asked like this in National Express bus station, numerous times in various shops, in few pubs etc.
Apparently it's something to do with how confidently you carry yourself around that particular place and how approachable you are.
I did have a lady who was very insistent in the ASDA once that I help her shop as I am obviously an employee. I had a trolly and wore flowery dress🤷 nothing remotely similar to asda...

@ProgrammableMagneticStorm what exactly were the colonialist overtones of her earlier book?

She went to an ashram in India for three months.