Sick of the lie 'It's just illegal immigrants people don't like.'

[Slightyamusedandsilly]

This is just not true.

Reform, the flag flyers and protesters are racists. All of this 'It's just the illegals we want gone.' is a lie to excuse their racism.

Totally agree. Loads more flags have gone up round here since Farage said he wanted to rescind ILR.

I think it’s the speed and scale of change in communities that unsettles some people. It’s a lot more nuanced than just calling people who don’t like this change racist - that’s not helping persuade them to your side of the argument.

Erm, no.

it’s possible to have a conversation about immigration without being racist.

some of them will be racist but it’s not a given.

Yes it makes me so angry! My partner is an overseas worker, we’re both nurses and he pays more tax than most of us, he works here legally, providing a better life for his family back home and has come from genuine hardship and is too afraid to go outside to get food shopping tomorrow because again most protests in our city and is afraid he will be targeted from people thinking he’s an illegal immigrant due to the colour of his skin. He’s an honest hard working person who’s working damn hard for what he has

People are allowed to dislike the speed and scale at which their culture and communities have changed. You can’t force people to like these things, you know.

Yeah it’s like we’ve rolled back to the times of the skinheads, sickening

I concluded a long time ago that it isn't possible to persuade racists not to be racist. Pandering to them just encourages them. Better to call it out for what it is.

I’m concerned about immigration. I’m not racist, I’m part of a happy multicultural family.

Our country is far too small to keep allowing net 900,000 immigration every year. I value green spaces, food security, a lower flood risk, wildlife, clean air. I don’t want the country ultimately becoming a large city state with the odd park where gardens are for the rich, and I don’t think we are obliged to do so in order to accommodate people from other countries who feel it is their right to live here. We need farmland, importing more and more produce is hideous for the environment and leaves us vulnerable. Our roads and infrastructure are barely coping as it is, and we’ve killed off hundreds of species of native wildlife due to pollution and a lack of habitat.

It’s about so much more than politics and skin colour. In fact those things barely register with me.

This. Although the racism denial is off the charts atm as well.

”I’m not racist but… (insert racist thing)” 🙄

But - nothing happens.

You’ve accomplished nothing. Your calling them names won’t change their feelings on the subject, will it?

I think it’s a mix. Lots of racist people, and lots who are not, who need to be able to ask the questions about immigration and if they want it at current levels. I personally feel we benefit from immigration far more than we lose. But I understand people having concerns when the nhs is already so stretched, etc and disagree with those that try to silence them.

Completely agree.

The thing I don’t get about racists is their unwillingness to own it - they all deny being racist. They don’t even have the balls to admit it.

Yes they take great offence to it, lots of huffing, puffing and protestations.

If you don’t want to be called a racist, don’t be one.

No, but wasting my time trying to reason with them won't accomplish anything either. So what's the point?

To anyone who feels that sting of shame when they’re called a racist.
It’s okay to feel hurt, angry or frustrated about your life situation.
But it’s not the fault of everyone who isn’t white.

Some people are just past caring about the name calling.

People aren’t ‘past’ racism.

Oh well. Racists don’t mind creating an atmosphere of fear, of creating the conditions where people are violently attacked based on skin colour. I’m sure they can deal with being called a few (very accurate) names online.

Past caring if they’re called names, is what I said.

Key point here is "how are you defining racist?"

I tend to think of racist as being the hard-core ones of my childhood, who wanted me to leave the country because of the colour of my skin. I think we're calling them ethno nationalist now.

as opposed to the civic nationalist type. I realise that some people think the latter are just pretending.

Other people will have different definitions

Some of those definitions make me and my mum racist. I think we've both just accepted the fact that Keir Starmer probably thinks we're far right racists.

I keep thinking back to Gordon Brown and that lady in Rochdale and how different things could've been if people weren't shut down all those years ago.

No problem with anyone coming here to work.

It’s the boat migrants that concern me.

And all the reasons people want to come here rather than stay in France.

And the mass emigration from countries who need these people to improve their own economies.

And the traffickers who make so much money.

The list is endless.

You’d probably call me racist.

Lots of racists get very angry when being called a racist, so they certainly seem to care a lot otherwise they wouldn’t get so angry.

It isn't name calling, it is simply calling it out for what it is. We know that lots of people don't care. That is really beside the point. Some things need to be said anyway.

Yep, it’s the new ‘Oh, we don’t mean you’.

And when BAME people naturally withdraw into their own communities for a sense of safety, they’re accused of not integrating.

This poster is very transparent.