Is a St George cross an underlying sign of passive racism?

[ThatCyanJoker]

Walked past the house of a relatively new friend today and was surprised to see they’ve put up a huge flagpole, complete with St George cross flag flying high. I am generally patriotic , and put out the bunting for notable occasions without a second thought. I would probably be pleased had it been a Union Jack, but the St George has an undertone of racism to me, unless it’s flown for the football World Cup or something.
AIBU to reconsider friendship?

Arguably someone from the Basque region might feel intimidated by a group of people wearing Spanish flags. It’s about nuance and context.

Had a really interesting chat with an American once who couldnt understand why the Brits were so ashamed of their past (and ofc other people who shame Britain for its past)

...and said but yet no one really talks like that about The Spanish who were just as brutal (and powerful) historically.

😦 << me. "Oh yeah. Good point. I never thought about it like that."

Was it the “hard left corbynista types” who devoted themselves to lining the streets with St George’s flags and storming migrant hotels?

Or maybe people just reject the nasty slurs and connotations put on to our flag and pride in our country and don’t really care what you think?

When was the last terrorist attack on British soil perpetrated by men wrapped in England flags?

Lol no, it's because of all those years when it was the symbol of the Far Right. Remember the National Front?

Are you coming back to the thread OP or Is this just to stoke fires?

You can assume whatever you want and end a friendship for any reason, but why wouldn’t you just bring it up in conversation and get their views first then you’ll know for sure?

Eg. Say you hate Farage/Reform/the daily mail and see their reaction. Simple.

Vulgar, tacky, and also very probably racist.

Yeah there’s a lot of faux outrage and naivety about this.

Unless someone is an immigrant and didn’t grow up here they must know why some people are wary of the flag.

I did get a sinking feeling when I saw someone had painted them at a local roundabout.

i'm another person from another country who finds it very sad that people can't fly their national flag with pride. history is in the past, learn from it and move on.

Is this referencing the incident where 5 men broke away from a protest at a migrant hotel and tried to enter it, scuffling with police in the process?
Is your view that all people flying or wearing an England flag approve of such behaviour?

30th October 2022

I don't think the poster meant a Union Jack is racist in Scotland more likely a Rangers fan.

What is more sad is people failing to have empathy for those who grew up in the 70s,80s and 90s being intimidated and terrorised by those waving that flag. Not to mention we have all witnessed ugly scenes of racist mobs in the past few years where the flags are everywhere.

I am by no means saying everyone who displays that flag is racist but I don’t get why you can’t understand why some are worried by it due to its past and present use by racists.

You say you’re an immigrant, well just to give you some context, being hypervigilant about the flag being displayed in certain neighbourhoods and redirecting yourself was literally a way a lot of Black and Asian people kept themselves safe from the national front and BNP in some areas of England as recently as the 90s.

No-one wanted them or their children to end up as the next Stephen Lawrence. And if you’ve not heard of him he was a young Black boy killed by a gang of racist white men in south London back in the early 90s.

Flagpoles in gardens are really cringey and naff though. I'd much rather see garden gnomes.

Ooh another "wind em up and watch em go" flag thread. 🙄
Where did the OP go?

Oh, I think they're well aware.

It's all about context isn't it? A union flag hanging from a lamppost in a loyalist estate in Northern Ireland has a different vibe and communicates a different message from a union flag displayed at a British embassy.

This is absolutely lunacy & it's attitudes like this that are driving reasonable people to the right wing parties.

Utterly pathetic, grow up!!

What on earth are you going on about? Who is “the left” that you are comparing to Pol Pot?? Have you been to the killing fields?!
The “Raise the Colours” campaign only highlights how the George Cross and Union flag have been co-opted by right wing groups. Can I have my British identity back from them, please? All this faux outrage that “British identity is gone” “not allowed anymore” is pathetic. Blame Tommy Robinson and his forebears for many of us not wanting to be associated with symbols that they’ve tainted.

That’s absolutely not true where I live. When the flags started going up around the UK it was Welsh flags here, not a Union Jack in sight.

Don’t be so ridiculous. Why is displaying our own flag being racist? So every human being in any country who flies their flag is a racist?

I assume most of the people who raise these flags do so thinking, "I'll put up a St George flag so that the lefties will call me racist, then I'll say "No I'm not," and call them a snowflake."

Sort of interaction that makes some people's lives feel less empty, I suppose.

It completely depends on the context and timing. If it goes up for a sporting event and then comes down, probably not racist. If it goes up shortly after a known racist in the media encourages you to put one up, racist.
People can pretend to be wide-eyed and claim that their flag has absolutely nothing to do with the sudden spate of racist flags that went up about a year ago but the rest of us aren’t buying it.