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

You don’t know it was racist though. My point was that there is plenty of real racism (including public unprecedented violence and threats towards the Jewish community) without worrying about some comment a random man made, not even to you.

I agree OP his comment was vile. Reminiscent of Nazis labelling Jews as vermin. Sadly quite a few PPs seem to think blatant racism is ok if an immigrant is a bit rude.

Maybe it was a comment on the leniency of the justice system if he was worried about someone going behind the “counter”.

why was she going behind the table - surely it’s a well established norm - customers one side, person taking the money the other side.

This was real racism - sadly there is more than enough to go round

My apologies, yeah I get you now!

You are allowed to criticise people of all shades and religions.. It is not racist.

Did you think that she should have been given a free pass? Well, do you? Why do you think she ignored him? Was she arrogant as well as ignorant?

He had to keep telling her? Why didn't you step in and tell her to come out from behind the stall? Do you think she had a right to harass him in this way?

Did she eventually fuck off? Did she pinch anything? You wouldn't know. She may very well have been a thief-she certainly played the part well.

What do you think would have happened to her if she had behaved in that manner at in a market in Saudi Arabia? Go on, have a guess.

Next time, help the stall holder against a potential thief. Do not waste your bleeding heart and fat tears on anti social behaviour, whether they are wearing a head covering or not.

This doesn't relate to the point of the thread, but a friend of mine who is an experienced car-boot seller says that when you park up, either stay in your car when you are surrounded by these "punters", or get out of your car, lock it, and walk away. Doing either of these, especially the latter, usually results in the throng getting fed up waiting and moving on. Genius!

god this is hateful in so many ways

The best course of action in the moment is usually nothing - escalating a situation doesn't help anyone.
If he was a racist twat, he'll deny it and turn on you.

It’s puritanical to spends days ruminating on a throw away comment a random man made because you think it might have been the wrong kind of speech. Leave him alone. You don’t know for sure what he meant and he didn’t hurt anyone.

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.

You must be new here...

Be brave in tackling a potential thief-that would suit you better.

That's exactly what I was wondering!

Well, OP, your post’s words made me think that “giving them everything”, in the context of a car boot sale, meant that the punters were all being ridiculous in the prices they were offering for their (probably very good) stuff! As was my one and only experience of going to one to sell stuff.

It goes to show you, that there is more than one way to interpret most things: exhausting yourself on here over the possibility that the stall-holder meant one of very many interpretations over the others, is pointless.

Next time say “Did you make that comment just because she’s Muslim? Or are we all rats to you?” And then you will know…

Whilst we're discussing isms and policing what people say op....Man and wife?

it was racist speech that I do not agree with

Stop trying to make me look strange saying I've spent days ruminating. I haven't, Ive been considering what to say if it happens again.
The bullying and hectoring on this thread is unbelievable- totally understand different viewpoints but the way they have been expressed has been with a real sense of barely held in rage. scary

Don't hector and bully instead of having a proper conversation

Apparently, if it looks like a shit and smells like a shit, some MNers will still insist it’s a rose in full bloom.

I think you are trying to make something out of nothing and being professionally outraged. What has having a headscarf on got to do with poking around the back of the stall. Even if you didnt speak a word of English hand signals would show you that you shouldnt be behind the table.

And yet she came back again and again. I did a boot sale once. Agree with PP, they are swams of people around as soon as you park up.

Start with the most serious then. The weekly race hate marches and protests supporting a racist terrorist organizations called hamas. Go protest their behavior. They even do it outside of Jewish schools and community groups and insist on going past our synagogues to harass us. These are genuinely violent racist extremists and I haven’t been to the town Centre on the weekend for over a year because of them.

If you genuinely want to stand against racism- start there.

I think you need to calm down. No one is bullying you. People don’t have to go along with your narrative or opinions. We can disagree.

your opinion is that it was racist speech - mine is that it wasn’t or at least you don’t know if it was.

And stirring it to cause someone to look bad to millions who weren’t there, have turned some other MNers into masters of their art.