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

[Changedusernameforthis2]

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

Wow @LadeOde - do you have some racist preconceptions?

I'm not bleeding my heart out but it was a nasty example of overt racism that I don't want to standby and watch in future- I want to be braver in tackling it

I won't be gaslit- comparing foreign people to vermin is a well known racist thing

Also, I was there and could see tone, facial expression etc

How do you work that out?

op - you can’t police other people’s speech. Try to be more tolerant. Maybe the man had some sort of racist intent or maybe he didn’t. The woman was clearly out of order. The man made a fairly mild comment not even to you. Why are you being so puritanical that you’re worried about it days later?

Was the woman foreign?

yes she didn't speak English and wasn't white, or dressed in a western way

That doesn’t make sense. What did he mean about “giving them everything” if he was talking about people rudely going behind the stall? Who is he giving things to in that context?

I agree she was rude, and he’s justified in being annoyed. But he has expressed that in a racist way. If the person going behind the stall had been white, I imagine he’d still have shooed them away and still been annoyed, but wouldn’t have said anything about “rats” being given everything.

Yes it is, I knew actually what the stall holder meant.
It was obviously a comment on the narrative that all the "illegal immigrants" get given cars, phones and houses.

I'm shocked at the level of faux innocence in this thread, I've never noticed how either naive, stupid or plainly racist some pp on mn can be.

Just because the woman was going behind the stall doesn't give licence to be racist either.

what about the comment about 'giving them everything'

I was there and it was DEFINITELY about her ethnicity

If you want to tackle overt racism op, there are weekly hate marches full of antisemitic slogans and speeches in every major city in the uk. We Jews are attacked and intimidated on a daily basis just for going about our business. My daughters are told to cover their uniform as it shows they go to a Jewish school and girls have been violently attacked by antisemites.

Join one of the organizations that stands with us against violent racism. Protest the hate marches and all those who support them (like Gary Linekar who actually posted something calling Jews rats). That would be much more effective than telling off a man who made a comment that you don’t know is racist or not.

I really doubt it was an Orthodox Jewish woman in a headscarf going behind the counter…

Racism against Muslims is being gradually normalised now.

As a Muslim, it just makes me avoid people and stick with my own kind as much as I can.

That doesn’t make sense. What did he mean about “giving them everything” if he was talking about people rudely going behind the stall? Who is he giving things to in that context? @JoyousEagle

The comment "it might help if we stop giving them everything" is refering to the belief that we as in the UK government gives immigrants/illegal immigrants (asylum seekers) "everything" such as phones, cars, money and houses.

it;s not puritanical to want to do better next time this happens

@familylawyer01392 Because SIL is from.the community. How do you know they werent? The eagerness to find a racial slur in a simple observation of intolerance.

Bigotry and intolerance works both ways.

The reference to rats to me was the same as the term tip rats. Not a nice terminology but not one applied to a person's race but a person's behaviour.

Why do you say that?

I do know it was racist, and I can do both surely? I can march and also tackle at a smaller level when I personally hear it?

it was not tip rats

How do you know? How do you know the man’s intent?

No I know that.
I was asking the poster who thought that it wasn’t a racist remark what that bit meant if it wasn’t about race.

because of his tone and his facial expression

Does she know them then?

RE the rats term, cannot tell if you are ignorant or being deliberately obtuse... its also the use of the word 'them' which is racist and othering.

I did a boot sale with a friend, our first time. We lost quite a bit of stuff as the minute we opened the boot of the car there were hands going everywhere. It was almost impossible to keep them away.

The next time (the last time) we did one, we sat in the car and read the paper and drank a coffee until the locusts had moved away, then we got out and unloaded the car without too much hindrance.

The only mental gymnastics and comprehension problem I can see is this post and others like it.

Unless you live in a very multicultural city I.dont believe you could have never heard anyone use a phrase like "They're like rats, it might help if we stop giving them everything"" in relation to migrants/asylum seekers etc