To be worried about the apparent acceptance of racism

[user1499291455]

I'm of indian heritage but born and raised in the UK and married to my white British husband. We have 3 children and I'm worried about racism towards them. I have had racism directed towards me when younger but it seemed to be getting better but now I'm being sucked into the rabbit hole of flags and alternative messages and people having p**i (edited by MNHQ) etc shouted at them by school children. I've always promoted how accepted we are and how this is our home and I feel so anxious and upset. I don't know what I'm expecting just feel sad overall.

I think you should focus on what you’re actually seeing in real life, vs what is apparently happening online…

I find online there is all sorts of hysteria (particularly on Twitter) which doesn’t seem to translate into real life.

YANBU I'm white British, and can't imagine how hard it must be for people who aren't right now in the UK, racism definitely seems to be on the rise on social media and in RL. Don't really know what to say but YADNBU and hope you know we're not all like that, there's a lot who are disgusted by it too. Social media is toxic at the minute, best taking a step back I find.

I think there’s a lot of confusion about racism and immigration. I don’t care what colour anyone’s skin is, or where they come from. But I do care that we have thousands of immigrants coming illegally.

It's been awful, especially with the rally two weeks ago and not enough in the media naming and shaming the racism.

I'm white, so are most of my friends and family, but we've all noticed and talk about how frightening and upsetting it is and feel we need to do more, whether that means attending counter protests, talking to our children more about racism and news coverage, whatever we can.

I'm white British and am absolutely horrified about the apparent rise in racism. In the circles I move in, everyone I know is equally as horrified.

Unfortunately, it's a case of the loudest shouting being heard. There are an awful lot of people (the majority) who abhor these racist views. Cling on to that!

I'm very, very concerned as well. All my Asian friends are saying that if reform wins the next election they will leave. I didn't grow up in the uk but I have been for 20 years, have British nationality, my kids consider themselves to be British and i consider this my home but as I said on another thread once your home becomes abusive you need to leave.

@MidnightPatrol I wish that was true and I think the media have got a lot to answer for but the fact that reform is getting so many votes, the fact that Labour is becoming more and more right wing and populist and the fact that more and more flags are popping up everywhere I look tells me that a large part of the population does not want my family and me to be here and they will make our lives miserable.

Glasgow used to be a really well racially integrated city.
I've been perturbed by the number of racially motivated incidents being reported from there recently.
And I've just watched a horrible video clip of an Indonesian woman, who is married to a Scottish man and has been resident in this country for years, being racially abused and harassed in Glasgow city centre. It was a group of young guys, drunk on Buckfast, and so cowardly that most of them took care to cover their faces. It was even more horrendous because the people passing by didnt intervene at all. They just hurried past.
So yes I understand how worrying it must be for you OP. And I think all this flag waving and faux patriotism is just an excuse for racism.

It’s not the immigrants per se that most people are objecting to (nor their skin colour), it’s the amount of money being spent on housing them, giving them medical treatment, the taxis etc, when there are British people who are, or who have been, paying taxes but who don’t get the same treatment.
eg- my DH recently had to visit a hospital over an hour away by car every day for a 6 week course of radiotherapy. No funded taxi for us. We had to foot the travel costs. In our case we could afford it but there are many who would struggle with that. No free taxis.

(The free hospital transport was pants. It picks people up from several villages over a wide area so you could be the first pick up in the morning and the last drop off at night, hanging around in the hospital until everyone had had their treatment).

Yes, same, as I said upthread there's lots of us about, I know it's not much of a comfort if you're getting racist abuse but I hope it is a little.

This would be true if white immigrants were treated the same. They aren’t.

I want to do more too, not sure how I can help though. Health been a bit dodgy lately so not sure how up to going on protests I'd be but want to start in some other ways like you mention

Racism works all ways. Asian people are racist too towards white oeiple, as are back people. It’s not fair to say it’s only white people who are racist.

all racism is wrong.

Nobody's said "only white people are racist" where are you getting that from? 😕
Of course all racism is wrong.

I dont know how representative mumsnet is of the wider public but we are still on the first page and we have already got people complaining about immigration rather than addressing the op's concerns. I mean how many signs do we need before we can say it's just a tiny racist minority thst we don't need to worry about?

I wonder though- how much of what the OP is seeing is people being frustrated by high levels of immigration, rather than racism.

I think people can express frustration with very high levels of immigration and how they feel that is changing the country, without it being racist per se.

Yanbu op.

At least 50% of the posts on here will deny racism, or say that white people are also targeted by other ethnic groups.

It's abhorrent, and those who choose not to see it are just as racist as those spitting this vile shit.

It's not just about immigration, the protests about that have simply emboldened the racists to shout louder.

I'm sorry you're experiencing these feelings and concerns. They're valid.

If it helps : I genuinely don't think most decent people have any objection whatsoever to different skin colours and hard working immigrants that contribute to our society and become our friends and families in some cases.

Unfortunately we do have a problem in this country with mass illegal immigration (sone people will swear until the death that these people are refugees: we must stop being blinkered and sticking our heels in: they're economic migrants ) it needs tackling for everyones sake - because unfortunately, innocent people of different heritages are getting caught in the cross fire. It's dangerous.

I feel that if we don't listen to the valid concerns regarding economic migrants en masse : racism and division will grow and breed and it will of course end up affecting innocents. Including British born people with different heritages.

I will add that the biggest problem we have in our area is from white eastern European migrants that live in a large "ghetto" in town that's pure filth. Large alcohol addiction and TB incidences and most of those are not working or contributing.

Conversely, we have amazing eastern European healthcare staff nursing these very people at our local hospital. I really do think that level headed people can see the difference and don't make it about race or "foreigner's". It's just remaining balanced and accepting we do need to sift the core problem out and tackle our over lenient laws on non beneficial immigration and go from there.

I find the left have lost all balance and will just shout "racist" at anyone that has concerns re: the above. Which breeds stamping feet and waving flags about.

Get the balance back : it's all that needed. From someone who loves our wonderful fellow immigrants of all nationalities that I work alongside daily, but also does not want mass African men turning up on our shores, leering at young girls and sticking their middle fingers up at us all by ripping up their documents. And no, it won't apply to my feeling on African drs etc funnily enough ! It's called realism !

Anyway, I'm so sorry you feel the way you do at the moment. My point it: we need to address the root cause so people like yourself are not unfairly and cruelly made to feel the way you do. It's unacceptable ❤️

I appreciate that immigration is an issue that needs discussing but those emboldened by the current rhetoric of violent, mainly coloured migrants hurting our women and taking our jobs is a worry for me as a person of colour with nephews who are brown skinned and children who look different too. No one will ask us where we're from before launching racist jibes no matter how integrated we are.

It does help to hear that the majority of people responding are appreciative of this viewpoint. Thank you x it helps

I think theres a difference between concerns about immigration and racism. I do think racists feel more emboldened but I don’t think that should be confused with those who have genuine and reasonable concerns about numbers, integration and contribution of migrants. Ido think it speaks to a complete and utter failure of successive governments to get a handle on immigration.

The reality is there are pretty regular reports of sexual assaults by migrants who then can’t be deported. It’s frustrating that we have a system that thinks more of the perpetrators than it does of victims. I’d deport every single white predator if I could before the “but white men are predators too” crowd start hollering, unfortunately we can’t get rid of those ones. So it’s not straightforward, there will be crossover in some of the sentiments expressed by the anti-immigration rallies and what other non white british citizens believe as well. You should be reasonably self sufficient, you should be deported if you are a criminal, you should behave in a way which indicates you actually wish to be a contributing member of society.

I’m asian and literally no-one in my family is talking about leaving the UK because of this stuff. It is causing anxiety though, I can well believe that some people are taking the opportunity to be fucking horrible to anyone who’s not white.

If you haven’t directly experienced it OP I think step away from your phone, it can cause anxiety before anything has even happened. It’s not a way to live.

Their travel costs to hospital are paid for because they can't afford it themselves, the alternative is that they don't get medical treatment, is that what you want?
The government spend the minimum amount of money possible on housing asylum seekers, they are most definitely not living in luxury
I think it's naïve to think that it is not about the colour of people's skin. It seems to have become acceptable to be racist in some circles fueled by the daily mail etc and politicians, starting with Boris Johnson.
If my children weren't white I would be very worried for their safety.
It is really sad that this is happening