To expect my white dd not to be an ethnic minority in her own country

[squatchette]

First of all i would like to make it clear that i am in no way racist.My childrens father is half asian (although he is also an irish catholic too).
Anyway today i was late dropping DD2 at pre school and i got to see her whole class for the first time.This is when i was shocked to realise that she is the only white child in her class.
I think i was shocked as we don't live in a particularly ethnic area or so i thought.I read in the schools ofsted report that 40 % of the kids in the school speak English as a second language.
At first i thought it would be good that she can mix with children of different races and i am all for a diverse society.However something about the fact that she is the minority has worried me.AIBU?

I meant to say they was no minority in my last sentence. It's shocking how rascist people can be, especially when started with 'I'm not racist but....'

UD - The orginal discussion was about people coming to this country and not trying to intergrate and it was implied that Britain didnt have any culture to intergrate in to, this country has traditions etc which anyone could join in with, if they wanted to.

of course other countries have holidays,etc, etc, but they would be different from this Country.

Im sure the orgins of every Countries traditions etc can be traced back to somewhere or the other, but my point was this Country traditionally celebrate etc, at those times, if you wanted to join in.

St George - Germany etc. he was a Roman soldier who protested against the Romans' torture of Christians and died for his beliefs and is our patron saint.

Three cheers for HB! I second that emotion.

Hurlyburly, how does this spoil the forum? You don't have to read this thread, you could just simply egnore it and not click on it??

@choccybuttons.

I hate that response. HATE it.
Why should HB, or anyone of us, ignore racist comments? Why?

What i ment was, if you know your going to offended by a rasism thread then don't read it. This is a major subject in this Country now and you are going to get people who are for and people who are against because that's human nature.

Wanting the thread deleted because you feel unfortable is unreasonable because lots of people want to talk about this and get their views across. If it makes you that uncomfortable then don't click on and read a rasism thread.

I have not had time to read the whole thread.

I think its a good thing that we are a multicultural country, I think that more than anything- our next generation ( ie - our own children) benefit from it.

so if i were to say that i am white and british and proud of who i am would that be considered racist?????

I think everyone has a right to their opinion. I also think if a thread starts to become seeriously offensive to some people, those people are within their rights to complain. Its up to MN HQ what happens from there.

But why not just not read the thread anymore? Deleting it isn't going to make the issue go away. There are plenty of other threads to choose from that are less offensive to some people.

I have made this comment to mumsnet:

'There are some legitimate and interesting issues on this thread, despite it's possibly racist origin and some possibly racist content, BUT Please could the thread title be changed. It's offensive and its constant appearance in active convos is very disturbing and unwelcoming to many members.'

HurlyBurly: these things need to be discussed. It is not racist to think that multiculturalism has been a flawed reaction to a diverse society. I am not even arguing against immigration. I am just saying we need to respond to it in a more useful manner.

Shutting down debate is a pathetic and dangerous reaction. If 70 per cent of British people (in a recent MORI poll) say they are concerned about immigration it does not mean they are racist. But we need to evolve as a multiracial society.

I am not saying slavery should not be discussed. But it should be AS WELL AS not INSTEAD of more conventional history.

Message withdrawn

TheDullWitch, she's off and started another thread which for someone who doesn't want rasism discusted, aint half drawing attention to the subject!

there is a thread on here called 'mumsnet little italy' its a perfectly innocent thread with normaly discussions obviously set up for itialian people to converse on, but because the title excludes other nationalities, does it make it racist?????

If a thread was started for people from Britain to converse on they would be hung, drawn and quartered??????

Probably.

discussed, if you are going to spout nonsense at least have the decency to do so with correct spelling.

law3, of course not, provided the discussion was open to all.

Dullwitch

"that is what the majority of immigrants want: they want to be British, they want their kids to be British, that is why they chose to settle here"

Um, no I don't think so. I am British but have been living in Germany for 15 years. I don't want to be German, I am living here because my DH is German. I have friends here who are both English but just like living in Germany. It doesn't mean they want to start wearing Lederhosen. I am proud of my heritage, and would never give up my British passport.

Also, to your point about history lessons in school. When I was at school we were taught very little about British history, and nothing at all about Scottish history. That doesn't mean that I don't know anything about my country, or the traditions.

Surely the Tudors and the Victorians can be as interesting as apartheit and slavery if taught well.

How can you say that black kids don't mix with white kids. That is rather a sweeping statement to make. Sounds, dare I say it a bit racist!

Start a thread about being British by all means. But understand this: British does NOT mean white. It is a matter of citizenship, not colour.

just to clarify, I'm british but live in italy and have posted occasionally on the little italy thread. I've been made to feel more than welcome.

personally i think kids will play with eachother no matter what colour or race they are. It's only when adults interveen and point out the differences of colour and race that kids notice.

As someone who wrote a quick rather snippy response v early on in this thread, I think it has covered useful ground.
It's a complex issue.
Many people were able to identify with the feeling that we have good reason to be cautious when in any minority position...based on the treatment of racial minorities. The way the OPs concerns are framed in the thread title does seem fraught with very dubious assumptions and xenophobic thinking - which is why i responded snippily instead of in a more constructive dialectical way. I regret that - because that is the way we should debate and challenge stuff. Years ago MNHQ declined to delete some downright racist slurring by a poster called Wiltshire because they deemed the debate had challenged her nonsensical views...fair enough, really (and that's from me - who was apoplectic on the thread! Though not incoherently so, I think)

Blu, I suspect your response was based at least in part on the thread title, and the OP did subsequently come back and apologise very fully and frankly for that.

I too think it's been an interesting debate.