to object to other parent's vile racist remarks in the nursery playground?

[grimupnorth]

We recently moved to a new area and dd (just 3) has started at the nursery attatched to the primary school round the corner. Its on a council estate that has a bit of a 'reputation' but tbh that doesn't bother me, the school is lovely nd small and the staff seem excellent. DD loves it there and is making friends, but I'm having problems with the other parents.

Basically they refuse to speak to me. Its not paranoia, they really do and have done since the first morning when I dropped her off. They just give me dirty looks and don't reply when I say hello. Only one of them acknowledges me, and she runs the local shop so isn't going to be rude to the customers! Its a close community and they all know each other etc etc, and I'm an outsider with a posh accent, pink hair, and a faceful of piercings. I can live with being ignored, but...

Today when we were waiting to go in to drop the dc's off, two of the women started having a conversation about a recent trip one of them had had to make with her ds. She was basically bitching about how carp the treatment was, but then these comments were made:

"The place was full of Asians pretending to have heart attacks so they'd get seen first"

"Next time I go I'll be boot polishing our faces to get better treatment"

"The bloody Arabs want to piss off back home and stop bleeding our hospitals dry"

This was in front of children, and I was furious. I picked up dd and carried her to the other end of the playground to look at the daffodils, and I could feel them (the mothers not the daffodils!) watching me. I felt really uncomfortable, I wanted to say something but tbh I was worried about getting smacked - they are pretty tough aggressive women.

I'm quite ashamed of myself for not having the guts to stand up and say something at the time but didn't want dd to see me get into an argument, or to do it on school grounds. I'm going to put in a complaint to the head tomorrow - is this OTT?

...?

.....Same as "Oh, i know it's not ALL black people, of course not..."

NiftyNanny, I think that was my line and if you read the post you'd realise that we were trying to think of a sentence that started "all black people" that was NOT racist. That was all I could come up with ( I considered "are vulnerable to sickle cell anemia" but I don't think that is ALL black people)
Also surely you don't think I believe that no black child has ever been born in this country? that would be silly. Clearly I meant (for the sake of an example sentence)that black people originally (as in one or more generations ago) came from another country.

As for the immigration thing. My position is that anyone born here has as much right to be here as I have and I think deciding anything on the basis of skin color is not only wrong, it's incredibly stupid.

I don't blame people eager to come here when it's better than their own country - I'd do the same thing if their position, but I do think unrestricted immigration is foolish when you're on a small island with limited resources.

Oh and voting mostly doesn't help since all parties need a steady influx of workers to undermine british workers (of any color) and keep wages low.

Most WHITE people have ancestors from another country, if you go back a few generations.

By the way, I've moved to another country in the EU and worked there in the past - not because it was better than my own country. I had skills that could be put to good use there and I went for the adventure. I paid taxes, as do the majority of immigrants here. Taxes should be put back into the country in a way that benefits everyone fairly - and with the points raised by Lulah about the immunisations, this is again something we should be questioning. It doesn't make the unfair distribution of our resources the immigrants fault. It's the politicians!

Saying "Voting doesn't help" is quite defeatist. If you feel strongly about immigration, talk to your local MP about it. Find out what the opposition parties are willing to do about it.

British workers IMO are undermining themselves. I know many people who are about to reach 30 never having had a job - they are living on benefits. These are people I grew up with, went to school with, lived across the street from and got similar exam results to. While it's hard to find affordable childcare, while teenagers have so little pride and belief in themselves that they think getting pregnant and living on a council estate is a good option for them, then I'm sorry, I'm all for the Poles coming and working at minimum wage because believe me, the British aren't. They should go out to work and complain about working conditions and demand better pay, if it bothers them. But until they're out there doing a good job, they're not really in a position to do that, are they?

When I moved back down to London having got a certificate in Child Care, I had to work so many part time jobs just to make ends meet. Even when I was studying and Mum'd said I could live with her rent free I made sure I worked 3 jobs so I paid a fair chunk of the mortgage. It's this whole "The world owes me a living" attitude that drives me bonkers.

Sorry, this isn't related to racism but I think a large majority of the people who are not challenging their attitudes to people's skin colour are also the same people that don't challenge the other issues in this country that bother them and they are falling into a "knee jerk" reaction of blaming something such as ethnicity or immigration.

here here nifty! it's the government's job to provide more resources - economic migrants pay taxes and contribute and are entitled to services just like anyone else. the strain on resources is not their fault, it's just bad planning

there was a great show on the other day called "the poles are coming" where the reporter went to the job centre and said the the various unemployed white british kids "I've got a job for £7.50 and hour, starting tomorrow, are you interested?" - when they found it was picking butternut squash for the local farmer they all laughed in his face and said they'd rather be on benefits.

immigration is what has made britain great over the years - the problem is the media misrepresenting the issue. if the daily mail and the express aren't moaning about house prices falling they're on the attack about immigrants. it's no wonder people who are fed this day after day end up feeling negative - we need positive stories about immigration, that's what

Niftynanny,

"Most WHITE people have ancestors from another country"

Yes, I have said this myself in the past. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. That makes me an immigrant from a bit further back and makes nonsense of the whole 'go back where they came from' rubbish we hear from the BNP etc.

"It doesn't make the unfair distribution of our resources the immigrants fault. It's the politicians"

Absolutely true, though we are getting to the point where even fair distribution would be inadequate (water and power rationing has begun regardless of what they call it and will get worse). I believe that the politicians are making matters worse by encouraging immigration while not making enough of an effort to increase the resources.

"British workers IMO are undermining themselves"

Indeed they are. People say they can't afford to work because they'd be worse off than on benefits. They struggle to stay on those benefits when the questions they should be asking - LOUDLY! are:

"Why CAN'T I get a job that pays more than benefit does?"

"Why is it that even with a couple both working that's still not really enough for a mortgage?"

"Where DID all the wealth go?"

It's not going TO the immigrants really (most of whom have a better work ethic than we do, if I'm allowed a slight generalisation), though as I said above that's not helping. What wealth there is goes in the hands of a select few and the country is run so badly there is not enough to go around anyway.

We've allowed ourselves to get stuck with two politicial parties both of whom have the same self serving agenda and instead of outrage the most you will get from most British people is "tut! oh well"

There! see what you did! you got me ranting

Still more people leaving the UK than coming in so I fail to see what the problem is. We are a rich county, by comparrison to most.I agree that that the country needs more organisation though but there's enough to go round if we were all considerate and respectful.