To ask those who are not white brittish how they feel about the flags?

[PicaK]

Birmingham and Tower Hamlets are having St George England flags put up by privately funded groups.
I'm horrified by the implicit racism. I've seen a lot of white people applauding this and "time we took back the country" comments.
I haven't seen many non white people commenting. My feel is that they are too intimidated to do so. Am I right? Or is it indifference or is it that you're dealing with racism on a daily level and this is just one more thing.
Please don't post if you're white.whatever you feel about the flags. I want to hear on white viewd

The flag isn’t racist. Flying it isn’t racist.

It’s, on occasion, been commandeered by weirdos. It’s bigger than that.

Maybe if you only want views of none white people, this should have been posted on Black Mumsnetters, and the other none white British boards? That you’ve decided to post on here, on AIBU, to be goady? I appreciate the other none white boards, which were demanded and provided, are very (very!) quiet, but probably you would have the views from people whose opinion you’re looking for. I’ve been on quite a few trips in the last few months, in the UK, and have found it refreshing to see Union Jacks and English flags flying outside homes and businesses. People are no longer prepared to be bullied and shamed into not displaying their patriotism, because if we do allow ourselves to be forced to hide our patriotism, we will have situations up and down the country like those that are occurring in Birmingham, where our country’s flags are being removed, yet Palestinian flags are allowed to remain, for fear of retribution and violence towards the authorities forcing the removal. I give not a fig that none white British people don’t like to see our flag. If they don’t like it, it comes under the heading of ‘too bad’….

I think it wax in response to the Palestine flags being allowed initially but then all flags were to be taken down including the St George’s cross.

I agree, but sadly, I think it’s too late.

This with bells on

Flag flying is a shit idea because it starts to demark areas as being one thing or the other, one idea or the other.

However, it is now a bit late to say this after Ukrainian flags, Palestine flags, Star of David flags. None of that should have been tolerated, because you give a sense of grievance now to those who want to fly the St George cross outside of the football. And in a way that would be justified.

People are bloody stupid in the UK. Flags are okay for sport. Every other time it’s a no, unless you want a division from nowhere.

It's part of a campaign, Raise the Colours:

https://conservativepost.co.uk/operation-raisethecolours-sweeps-the-nation-a-patriotic-uprising-in-red-white-and-blue/

I think it’s a real shame that Brits don’t fly their flag with pride! I love seeing it in the streets. It’s one of the things I liked when we immigrated to Canada years ago - so many Canadian flags everywhere, people wearing them on T-shirts, baseball caps… people had a real civic pride and joy in their country that was quite infectious and made me very excited to be there, and be part of that community 🙂

And this is a phrase used by the minority. Conveniently jumped on by people justifying us not being allowed to display the flag. I know many patriotic people, none of whom use the phrase ‘getting our country back’. More likely the reason is that the UK is currently going through a lot of crap, and to come together in flying our flag is reminiscent of VE days and similar, when we all came together to celebrate being British.

I’m 1/4 non white British.

OP, would you like to hear my view?

Shan’t post if not to keep the thread on topic.

Please let me know.

Better than the Palestine flags they refused to take down for 5 months

Always causing problems 😞

I’m not a white British person and I agree with you 100%. There’s nothing wrong with being patriotic and loving your country. In fact - if I’d immigrated to a country that was ashamed of itself and it’s symbols and culture, I wouldn’t have been very keen to join in and it would have made integrating much harder. After all, if Brits don’t like their country, why should anyone else?

You are as likely to have racists in Wales or Scotland or NI as you are in England though with all their flags as well.

If a pub/bar has the St Georges flag outside and it isn’t a big international sport thats a sign it isn’t safe to go inside, however I still wouldn’t go inside if it was a football tournament.

The UK isn’t really a flag flying nation like many others, so when the EDL etc decided to use the St Georges flag as their symbol, rather than do something about it, everyone just let it happen. If it had been like the states were flag flying is common place, it wouldn’t have been left as just a racist symbol. Where as the Union flag is flown more, so there wasn’t such a strong impact when the national front used it as their symbol in Great Britain.

An ex neighbour in Lincolnshire used to fly the St Georges flag and the confederate flag, he also wore t-shirts with the St Georges flag on and EDL, or as I preferred to call them the erectile dysfunction league.

It's a flag it's is a symbol for a country.

Any other BS meaning someone wants to attach to it is really down to the individual. That's their choice. But it doesn't mean that others see the same BS, they just see it as intended: a symbol for a country.

He was ethnically Cappadocian Greek, I believe? The name would suggest so too, as George is the anglicized version of the Greek name. The Seljuk Turks arrived in the region in the 11th century from Central Asia, centuries after his time.

Anyway, St George is the patron saint of quite a few countries, including Serbia and Russia. The St George cross is on the Georgian flag alongside Jerusalem crosses, and I’ve seen it flag flown in parts of Italy too.

I lived in the UK for a few years as a white immigrant. I only really saw it flown during the World Cup, so I associated it with football more than anything else. Context does matter though, so it’s very possible that it I’d lived in an area where there was tension and rioting over immigration that I would have made different associations.

And have you deliberately mis-spelt British in your subject heading? Hard to take someone’s concerns seriously when they can’t even spell the Country’s inhabitants correctly….

"The UK isn’t really a flag flying nation like many others"

Erm, Wales is in the UK last time I looked and we fly our flags all over the place - go to Pembrokeshire - they fly THREE different types! Your sentence could not be more factually inaccurate if you tried...

I’m not Black and OP, if you want the views and feelings of Black MNers, there is a section.

To answer this, growing up in South London, pubs with George crosses were firmly National Front, used by skinheads. My Black and Asian friends couldn’t go in them for fear of being beaten up, not served, or worse. I didn’t go in them because they were properly racist enclaves. In the 1970s and 1980s the flags (George and Union) were taken over by the far right.

The Britpop/Spice Girls/designers mostly retrieved the Union flag in the 1990s but the George cross remains troublesome.

That isn’t the fault of the Black people who point it out. And it is the fault of the people who put it up FOR THAT REASON. Because many people still use it in a hostile way. Some of them pretend it’s not, but it’s not rocket science.

Possibly on a country church in the Cotswolds it’s sweet and English countryside-y and old fashioned. In South London it’s still an issue.

Our High Street has the Union Jack on every lamppost and the Ukrainian flag on the castle keep. I don't think anyone has raised objections.

Or are we just talking about the St George flag??

LOL x-posted about pubs.

My son outlaw is non white British. He is incredibly wary of the St George’s flag-he and my dd have had some very unpleasant experiences as a mixed race couple from flag draped thugs and he hates the fact that his presence makes her vulnerable. Anyone denying this is burying their head in the sand.

Not really, in many countries it’s common place for virtually every home to have a flag, that isn’t the norm at all in Wales. In many countries birthdays, weddings etc part of celebration includes flag flying by guests, again, not the norm in Wales.

I am white but I personally do think of St George’s flag as racist. Which is a shame as I am Welsh and can display my flag with pride. Not everyone who displays one is racist, but they have been taken over by racists.

My DC are mixed race, Asian and white. As I say, I wad born and bred in Wales and my Ex DP born and bred in North London, but is of Indian heritage. DC have grown up in England their whole life (21 and 17 now) but both identify as Welsh / Indian and DS supports those sports teams. It’s a shame they don’t identify as English, given they’ve spent their whole life’s here. I might ask my son actually. He has spent school holidays in Wales all his life, and one trip to India, yet identifies with that side of his heritage more than anything. I personally associate myself as more English now as i’ve spent half my life in England. But i’d be embarrassed to put a St George flag in my window.