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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is this racist

244 replies

postitgirl · 23/06/2021 18:52

So DS says some boys at school are picking on him - he's Year 8. Today they had to move places in the classroom and he's ended up beside these 2 'mean' boys. They said to him 'just shut up and go back to Ireland to eat your potatoes'. I think that's racist - or what do you think.

YABU - not racist
YANBU - racist

OP posts:
SchrodingersImmigrant · 24/06/2021 19:02

Irish are ethnic group that would actually make it racism even without the semantics, wouldn't it?

wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:08

I really wouldn’t make a big issue of it though as it could equally interpreted differently.

Say what now?

OchonAgusOchonOh · 24/06/2021 19:15

@SchrodingersImmigrant - Irish are ethnic group that would actually make it racism even without the semantics, wouldn't it?

Some dictionaries include ethnic grouping in their definition of racism, others only refer to race.

Pixxie7 · 24/06/2021 19:15

I was responding to accusations that Ireland was not part of the uk, I agree it is racist but may be viewed differently by some. For it’s worth I am part Irish and actually love the country and it’s people.

wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:17

I'm just not sure how They said to him 'just shut up and go back to Ireland to eat your potatoes' can be interpreted differently

OchonAgusOchonOh · 24/06/2021 19:22

@Pixxie7 - I was responding to accusations that Ireland was not part of the uk, I agree it is racist but may be viewed differently by some. For it’s worth I am part Irish and actually love the country and it’s people.

Ireland is not part of the UK. Hasn't been for 100 years.

And the only way it could be seen differently is if the person doing so is racist. Many english people are very racist towards the Irish. However, they don't see themselves as racist because, in the main, Irish people are white. Describing incidents like this as not racist allows them to convince themselves that they're not racist.

Wakemeuuuup · 24/06/2021 19:25

Definitely racist. The anti Irish sentiment is alive and kicking and Britain. Report to the school

Spandrel · 24/06/2021 19:25

@Pixxie7

I was responding to accusations that Ireland was not part of the uk, I agree it is racist but may be viewed differently by some. For it’s worth I am part Irish and actually love the country and it’s people.
But Ireland is not part of the UK. Your love of the country doesn’t make that less factually incorrect.
3Britnee · 24/06/2021 19:26

If go back to India and eat your curry is racist, this is racist. How is it not? ConfusedHmm

TheoMeo · 24/06/2021 19:31

I would tell him to speak up and clearly tell them ' that's a racist comment'- I would think kids that age will know they can get into trouble for making racist comments and not do it again. If it happens again report to school.

MathsyUsernameGoesHere · 24/06/2021 19:33

@Pixxie7

I was responding to accusations that Ireland was not part of the uk, I agree it is racist but may be viewed differently by some. For it’s worth I am part Irish and actually love the country and it’s people.
Ireland is not part of the UK. Confused

No one mentioned NI, OP is from Ireland.

Even if they were Irish from NI, it would still be racist as their nationality and ethnicity would still be Irish. Northern Ireland's constitutional position is completely irrelevant to this thread.

Pixxie7 · 24/06/2021 19:34

all Spandrel @ I am going round in circles here Northern Ireland is part of the uk, it’s under sovereign rule which makes it part of the uk.

MurielSpriggs · 24/06/2021 19:36

[quote OchonAgusOchonOh]**@CoralSparkles* - but this isn’t racism. It’s xenophobia (aimed at a specific country).*

You've been referred to the equality act multiple times where discrimination on the basis of nationality is defined as racism. While it might be xenophobic from a semantic perspective, it is racism from a legal perspective.

@Emmylou1985 - the same point applies to your comment.

Focusing on the semantics rather than the content comes across as minimising the incident.[/quote]
You've been referred to the equality act multiple times where discrimination on the basis of nationality is defined as racism.

The Equality Act does not define racism (or even mention it)! Racism is a long-standing concept that long predates 2010, and has nothing to do with UK law. In fact it seems rather arogant (and possibly racist) to say that it does!

CoralSparkles · 24/06/2021 19:38

@OchonAgusOchonOh racism is saying “I hate white/black/Asian people,” not “I hate the Irish/French” etc. The former is to do with race, hence the term racism. White English and white Irish are both Caucasians, the same race. It is bullying, but not racism. Are you white? If so, then you probably don’t know what it feels like to face racism. To you it’s just a term, to me (as a mixed race woman) it’s a horrific experience.

wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:39

I was responding to accusations that Ireland was not part of the uk

Ireland is not part of the UK, it's a separate country.

NCwhatsmynameagain · 24/06/2021 19:46

[quote CoralSparkles]@OchonAgusOchonOh racism is saying “I hate white/black/Asian people,” not “I hate the Irish/French” etc. The former is to do with race, hence the term racism. White English and white Irish are both Caucasians, the same race. It is bullying, but not racism. Are you white? If so, then you probably don’t know what it feels like to face racism. To you it’s just a term, to me (as a mixed race woman) it’s a horrific experience.[/quote]
It is racism @CoralSparkles. Racism is prejudice or hostility towards a person's race, colour, language, nationality, or national or ethnic origin. (And I’m mixed race too).

Pixxie7 · 24/06/2021 19:48

wowhie@ check Wikipedia.

MindyStClaire · 24/06/2021 19:49

@Pixxie7

wowhie@ check Wikipedia.
Um,I think you need to check Wikipedia...
wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:52

@Pixxie7 for what?

SchrodingersImmigrant · 24/06/2021 19:54

You know anyone can change wiki so withing about 2 minutes, anyone here can make it say that Ireland is part of UK😁
Same way like someone could make it say that Lukashenko is a cowardly man

wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:55

@Pixxie7 I'm genuinely confused as to what you are talking about

HermioneWeasley · 24/06/2021 19:55

I’m baffled that anyone could think it isn’t racist.

wowhie · 24/06/2021 19:56

Just checked Wiki

"Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom."

So I've checked & yes it confirms my factual post 😂

OchonAgusOchonOh · 24/06/2021 19:57

[quote CoralSparkles]@OchonAgusOchonOh racism is saying “I hate white/black/Asian people,” not “I hate the Irish/French” etc. The former is to do with race, hence the term racism. White English and white Irish are both Caucasians, the same race. It is bullying, but not racism. Are you white? If so, then you probably don’t know what it feels like to face racism. To you it’s just a term, to me (as a mixed race woman) it’s a horrific experience.[/quote]
Yes, I'm white. No, I have not experienced racism in the same way that a person who is not white will have experienced it. Equally, you will not have experienced it in the same way that an Irish person in Britain will have experienced it. It is very much not just a term to me. Having lived in England in the 80's, my experience as an Irish person was, at times, pretty horrific.

That said, I do think people who are not white tend to experience racism in a more extreme way than someone who is white as, until I open my mouth, it is not obvious that I am from a different ethnic group.

The oxford dictionary of racist is: Characterized by or showing prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. Other dictionaries (Cambridge for example) just refer to race and don't include ethnic group.

OchonAgusOchonOh · 24/06/2021 20:03

@MurielSpriggs - The Equality Act does not define racism (or even mention it)! Racism is a long-standing concept that long predates 2010, and has nothing to do with UK law. In fact it seems rather arogant (and possibly racist) to say that it does!

You are correct, it doesn't. However, according to www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/race-discrimination#act, it does state:

The Equality Act 2010 says you must not be discriminated against because of your race.

In the Equality Act, race can mean your colour, or your nationality (including your citizenship). It can also mean your ethnic or national origins, which may not be the same as your current nationality. For example, you may have Chinese national origins and be living in Britain with a British passport.

Race also covers ethnic and racial groups. This means a group of people who all share the same protected characteristic of ethnicity or race.

A racial group can be made up of two or more distinct racial groups, for example black Britons, British Asians, British Sikhs, British Jews, Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

As racism is defined as discrimination on the basis of race (and in some dictionaries ethnic grouping), and the equality act states you should not be discriminated on the basis of race (which it defines as above), it is reasonable (in my opinion anyway) to use racism to describe the behaviour it states is illegal.