Is this racist or am I being sensitive,

[NotGaming]

Just saw on my local reisdents Facebook page, Chinese restaurant has posted to say that they’re shutting for a month to allow family to travel home for Chinese new year. Most responses are people saying to enjoy their well earned time off. Then someone has posted ‘make sure you don’t bring anything home with you 😷 🤢’

i think this is really inappropriate, but loads of people have posted laughing emojis and liked the post.

I’ve reported to page admins who have said it doesn’t breach their rules and left the comment up.

What's racist about it is the context and what's been happening over the last 3 years to Chinese communities in the UK, i.e. the massive increase of violent and non-violent racial hate incidents since COVID began.

Racism isn't just explicit attacks. It's often subtle, goady 'jokes'.

Definitely racist and really embarrassing. Like ‘don’t bring back the foreign lurgy from your foreign country and infect my takeaway…’ :-s
As if we haven’t got plenty of covid here!

I think it's a joke in poor taste but not necessarily racist IMO. If there was a UK city with high CV numbers or another infection then I would guess they would make similar "jokes". I'm assuming this is the UK.

Also I vaguely remember that people travelling nationally and internationally for the Chinese New Year celebrations helped speed up the spread of CV originally so that could be another connection for them. Ha ha (sarcasm obvs).

In what way is it racist? Covid rates in China have been in the news a lot recently. If a lot of Chinese people go to China for Chinese New Year we could potentially have a repeat of what happened in 2020 all over again.

White people crying 'racism' at any remark made to anyone who is not white is often probably far more damaging than the remark itself. People are beginning to avoid interacting at all for fear of unintentionally causing offence.

You'll find a lot has changed with regards to what's acceptable, still happening, things you thought weren't racist then are so glaringly obviously so now that you'll inwardly wince and cringe

I actually think it was quite clever and satirical.

It's really, really not.

Quite. What on earth was 'satirical' about it? Or clever, for that matter?

Not funny and mildly offensive. This kind of thing is the reason why I don’t do Facebook.

Well I actually explained in my post. 🙄

Exactly. All this does is encourage division.

If I went to China right now, I'm sure a small number of people would make the same joke. It's not funny, but it's not racist.

Were there not a massive Covid crisis going on in China right now, then it is far more likely to be racist.

As @starFro says, it would be racist if China didn't have a huge current COVID problem. As even the CCP has admitted there is 'a lot of it going around' then it's a reasonable quip. And according to the news this evening, possibly a new variant.

Of course it’s racist.
You’ll get people on here saying it isn’t though.

I laugh when I remember how offensive people found the ‘english variant’. After that, we’d go use the proper variant names.

It’s racist and up there with the comments on Chinese diets.

The number of covid cases in the UK isn’t exactly low, is it? What is the restauranteur going to bring that they couldn’t catch here? If anything, he’ll probably be more cautious.

If you saw a sign outside a Chinese shop in a UK town stating they were off to China the next day for a month and a Chinese person was working inside would you walk up to them and say

'Make sure you dont bring back Covid with you?'

and then just walk off

Are we seeing this as racist, rude or what exactly

I'm genuinely interested and I respect whatever people's opinion is on my question.

Quite. Did they write they were going to China?
I'd argue everyone assuming they're traveling to China is racist and/or making biased assumptions, i.e. nearly everyone on this thread!

My Chinese Dil doesn't think its racist.

As it's a local facebook group then it's fair to assume that those commenting are customers and know the family in question. If they weren't going to China then they could correct wrong assumptions.

OP, many people refuse to acknowledge or would rather die than admit that something is patently racist or prejudiced. Weighting on whether it is racist goes to other Chinese people first and other ethnic groups. IMO people who dismiss things like this as a joke are enablers of racism and prejudice, which feeds racism. They, like the other deniers like to make many ill informed and poor arguments as to why it is not racist thus creating an environment which fosters more racism and prejudice. I would be very surprised if the restaurant owners found it anything other than racist.

White people crying 'racism' at any remark made to anyone who is not white is often probably far more damaging than the remark itself. People are beginning to avoid interacting at all for fear of unintentionally causing offence.

Who said that the people saying it’s racist are all white?

All I see are a bunch of posters (the majority of which aren’t going to be Chinese) who are getting offended that some people are offended, just because they don’t personally find it offensive.

I can guarantee that if this was a post with a sexist undertone or something that affects you personally then you would find it offensive.

But no carry on having a joke at others people’s expense.

The restaurant owners will not correct racist comments, they know they will be the losers if they do.

@ImaginaryDragon Well said.

I have to admit I smiled when I read that.

Racism - "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution 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."

Racist would be to have made the comment purely on the basis of someone being Chinese saying they were going on holiday and people assuming they were therefore going to China. Some people (who happen to be Chinese) have stated they are travelling to a place which has very high levels of Covid infection.
The same comment could have been said to anyone going to China at the moment.

Racist? How??!! God - it’s a reach op, do you just want to find something to be offended about?!

There's a danger though. Being super clinical about defining exactly what does and doesn't constitute discrimination may be of academic interest, but it also plays into the hands of some fairly unpleasant agendas.

Technically, the way Brits talk about ginger-haired people meets all the criteria for discrimination and there is a strong case for it to become a protected characteristic. But, the more characteristics you protect, the greater a proportion of the population becomes deserving of protection.

But in reality - ginger haired people aren't stopped and searched twenty times more often by the police than blonde haired people. Young black men are. That is a tangible, pervasive, oppressive way for them to have to live their lives, and is a function of the systemic bias and discrimination that that still permeates the police, criminal justice system, education system.

All that is achieved by crying 'racism' at every opportunity where intent to harm is barely apparent, and the harm caused is trivial, at best, is to create a culture in which everything is 'problematic'. And in a world where everyone is a victim, no-one is a victim. All this does is provide an alibi and a fig leaf for those with an interest in perpetuating the status quo - which actually hinders the cause for greater justice and a less prejudiced world.

So ... still not racist. And really not helpful to keep banging on about how it could be.