This happened to me at the weekend and I feel ashamed I did nothing - Racism

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I was at a car boot sale at the weekend and there was a large stall there- that was a man and wife- selling 'fill a bag' type stuff - they were a house clearance company avoiding paying dumping fees I think

There was a lady there who was wearing a headcovering, she kept going behind the stall and they kept shooing her out
The man said in a sort of 'I'm muttering but loud enough for everyone to hear' way - he said "They're like rats, it might help if we stop giving them everything"
I was really shocked and just walked off but I feel really ashamed I didn't tackle it

What can I say if I find myself in this position again? I do not want to stand by and let it happen- I feel embarassed of being a coward

So if the person at the car boot stall was Jewish (given you have raised anti-Jewish racism within this thread) and they were referred to as vermin and it was said that ‘they’ were being ‘given everything’, would you not believe that to be racism? I certainly would.

dont be silly- lots of posters have given alternative explanations. It’s was an ambiguous comment

Hahahahaha, don’t think I will waste any further time on this, it’s like trying to have an intelligent conversation with a toaster

I could ask how, but I really can't be bothered. Note - I talked here about the expression of racist views. That's not name calling.

Aren't words evidence?

Lots of posters have made alternative excuses, but you think I'm silly, yet you can't see how stupid it is to excuse this as anything but racism.

Yeah, regardless of the woman's behaviour my gut instinct from what you've written says that was a racist comment. I'm surprised how many people on here are dismissing that; you're the one who was there, and there's no reason to doubt your judgement. Even if you did misjudge, you still know more about the situation than anyone on here making unjustified inferences on a comment they didn't hear.

I'm afraid I have no idea what I would say in that situation, but I would be avoiding that stall and stallholder in future at the very least.

I think you do clearly have your own preconceptions about Jewish people. Important to challenge them

The woman may have been Jewish- I know some who do wear headscarves. Again, as I’ve said I think it was an ambiguous comment and not necessarily racist. As I’ve said, we face explicit abuse on a weekly basis- we haven’t got time to worry about ambiguous comments

"It might help if we stop giving them everything" was quite clearly racist.

He should've just told her to bugger off, the second time she went behind the stall after being shooed out.

But these threads irk me when someone witnesses something like this, does nothing and then starts a thread for what looks like sympathy because they couldn't bring themself to speak up.

Your question "What can I say if I find myself in this position again?" is pretty pointless because if you couldn't bring yourself to say "Oi, that's racist", then what's the point in asking Mumsnet?

Either do better or accept that you can't or won't.

You've enjoyed a good bit of "whataboutery" on this thread, haven't you, suggesting that antisemitism is a bigger concern than anti-Islamic sentiment? So what if the person in question was clearly Jewish? Would that count as "actual racism", or would we still need evidence?

Not of racism when there’s nothing in them to indicate racial motivation.

Racism is not a matter of fucking opinion. It's hate and is not covered by 'free speech'

I haven’t said any of that. I’m going to disengage now.

challenge your own preconceptions.

Calling people rats and saying 'they' get too much is clearly racist. It's dehumanising to refer to people as animals and there's a lot in the press about immigrants getting too much.

It might-or might not be- a stupid question but is certainly a question which seems to puzzle the "I see Racism Everywhere Brigade" as they don't answer it!

Do tell: what is the answer to this stupid question?

I'll start shall I, in order to lead by example.

I think it is worse for someone to invade personal space because in this instance, the stallholder was trying to watch his stall and keep a potential thief out of the area she was not allowed in, after he had told her to leave several times.

Your go!

Begin by writing, " I think it is is worse ......" and then give your choice. Then write "because" and then follow it up, with a reason to justify your choice.

That's pretty basic but I'm sure you-with all your brains-can construct a more elegant and refined way to actually answer that question rather than just call it stupid.

Help the OP! She is struggling with an image of herself as a coward, a racist enabler and, might at any moment, implode with the weight of her conscience!

There won't be a right or wrong answer-just to encourage you- but there might be differing opinions.

lol, yeah resort to silly name calling when you’ve lost the argument

Challenge your racism and bigotry 👍

It isn't ambiguous to call anyone of any minority a rat.

What on earth is ambiguous about saying "they're like rats" and saying "we" have given "them" everything? Does Mumsnet have anything to say about this thread? Anything about not tolerating justifications of blatant racism?

Your patronising faux-intelligent response isn't doing you any favours. The question is stupid because it's irrelevant, unless you think that when people are rude it's OK to be racist to them.

So we wouldn't need evidence? And do you mean my preconceptions of what counts as racism?

I would have taken it as a racist slur but he also could have meant people that rummage around behind the stall are like rats going in and out of all the bags.

Yet you called people on Pro Palestine marches Hamas supporters, and the protests themselves, hate marches.

I am sure that you believe anyone against what Israel is doing to Gaza, is anti-semitic, but what OP has stated is open to interpretation?

Surely you see your own hypocrisy? and racism

She shouldn’t have kept on going behind the stall. Rude behaviour. Not everything is racism you k ow, sometimes it’s because they are behaving in a certain way

YABU

And the other bit? About us giving them everything? How do you explain that?