to be thinking wtf when it's difficult to walk down a street in town these days?

[LolaTheShowgirl]

The town I used to live in and grew up in is very multicultural. Some areas of the town are majority populated by the Asian community. Now the other day myself and 2 friends were walking through a particular area trying to find somewhere. None of us had ever been in this area before, but as it was a nice day people where out and about and we did not see one non-Asian person at all. The majority of our walk was on a main road and all the people in the cars were even Asian. This itself was not a problem. The problem was the hostile stares we recieved. People looked really angry that we had dared to be white and go in their area.

One of the people who was with us looks Pakistani (although is Iranian) and apparantely one of his friends saw us and said "it's lucky those white fuckers where with you, otherwise they'd have had a good beating by someone or other"

Lola has been posting for a long time as far as I am aware, maybe she is being deliberately provocative, maybe not, not seen the baby name threads. Hostile stares received - "People looked really angry that we had dared to be white and go in their area". How can you possibly know that was the case Lola? it could have been absolutely any reason they were looking at you, or maybe you just felt uncomfortable yourself and misconstrued whatever attention you received.

However having said that imo Mumsnet is to a large degree guilty of Reverse Racism. It is not possible to discuss race issues intelligently on this forum. The minute anyone posts even slightly negatively in regard to someone of another ethnicity, it is immediately construed as racism and any chance to explore race issues is lost, which is sad really considering the multicultural society we nearly all of us live in. It really is a no go area on Mumsnet and it shouldn't be. If should be up for intelligent discussion like anything else. This pitchfork waving and labelling of racism just prevents people from being educated on the subject matter. It is a real shame because this is one area that we should all be able to discuss honestly and have our minds opened on.

It was'nt a planned killing this was proved through witnesses and the other members who testified against the gang leader.

Baldy had seen someone white looking at him funny, decided to have an argument and left it, then he jumped in his van deciding he wanted to mess up a white boy, Kriss was at the end of a street with a friend, the van pulled up and he was grabbed and pulled inside, they called round friends to see who's house they could take the "white kid" to mess up. Noone answered.

This is a total random and racially motivated case!

I was not asked to provide any information I was pointing out one case which I know well I have no interest in finding out about every case all I know is that this case messed up a lot of people and caused a lot of trouble in the area and to this day there is stil racial slurs everywhere about "whities".

I don't care who jumped on the band wagon at the time, does'nt make it any less horrific. Then again it's just a white kid what does it matter.

Noone would question it if it were a black child, makes me sick to the stomach to think thatanyones life is worth less than another especially when it comes to a bloody colour!

There are some very nasty asian thugs in that area Mamadiva. There are also some very nasty white thugs in that area. My friend lives there and gets a lot of harrassment, poor soul.

The decent majority (of all colours) who live there would just like to see the back of the thugs (of all colours).

I'd feel a bit nervous walking around there, and I certainly wouldn't live there, but don't think it would be because of the colour of my skin.

Miflaw, I can't agree that there are very few places in the UK where whites are in the minority. Within London, in Tower Hamlets 15% of primary pupils are white British vs 63% Bangladeshi ; in Newham 12% are white British, Brent 7%. In Birmingham 43% are white British and Leicester 41%. There are heaps and heaps of other examples.

I think the OP is nonsense, but equally I think it's nonsense to suggest that if the figures above applied to a cities like Lahore and Mumbai etc (obviously with the indigenous being in the minority) that there wouldn't be an outcry.

Personally I think that what has happened to the East End of London has been apallingly managed.

The BNP are twats. I thought the way they tried to use Kriss's death to stir up more racial hatred was disgusting.

I totally agree Smallchange to an extent we have that everywhere and that place is not nice for anyone to live but i honestly could not walk around those streets again infact I don't think I ever did after that.

I am also sticking up for Tooting!

I lived there for 5 years back in the 90s. Never felt threatened, loved the Asian shops and restaurants. Still go back there regularly to shop and visit some of the best Asian restaurants anywhere. Especially the Kastoori which I love for the amazing food and lovely staff (the owner always remembers my DHs name and has a chat every time we go in).

And again agreed Thunderduck, but what I am saying is MIF tried to somehow turn the debate by stating about the BNP it does'nt make it any less horrific and it certainly does'nt make it any less racially motivated.

Mamadiva

I quote from my own post

"Of course it happens to whites too, of course that's wrong, of course the perpetrators should be punsihed - but this is a small gang of clearly deranged men."

It might not have been a planned kidnapping, but driving 200 miles while looking for somewhere to commit the act makes the killing itself very much planned, I would say. I do not dispute that it was racially motivated. I strongly dispute that this is representative or even normal.

It certainly was racially motivated I agree about that.

I was working across the road from the bowling green where he was abducted, at the time it happened.
I must say though that even after his murder I never felt that I was in any danger when walking the streets. And I spent most of my lunch hour going for a stroll in that area.

Talbot

You name 5 districts of the UK. By the time you get to the fifth one, the white "minority" is only a minority by 14% (assuming there are no other gorups at all, just white and Asian). So I would stornlgy contest that there are "heaps" more. I bet you'd be hard pushed to name another 5 where there was a significant imbalance.

And I have lived in one of the 5 you mention (Tower Hamlets) and, yet again, had no problems and felt no hostility. Maybe life in primary schools there is difficult, maybe it's not, but that's surely an entirely different issue.

Look MIF I am not getting into an argument, I should'nt even have brought it up to be honest just upsets and pisses me off even thinking about it, tears a flowing here

But it does irritate me when people sit and say that they don't care because they are not in the minority!

We are all human beings and on the most part innocent, when something like this happens to either race and yes I accept it probably happens more to different ethnic groups, we need to pull together and sort it out no political party should jump on the wagon to use it as campaign, a murder is not for advertising it is done through evil!

Anyway I am going to have to leave this thread now.

well spice monster if you are happy (or at least happy to ignore it) for a group of people to perpetuate racism as long as they are in the minority and meet your own personal agenda of what is acceptable racism then you are quite simply an ignorant racist in my view and no better than the BNP.

No one at all has said it doesn't matter or that they don't care.

Well actually based on current trends, it is estimated that within 20 years Luton, Slough, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester will all have an overall minority white population as well as many parts of London.

I never said or implied there was hostility in those areas, just pointing out the facts. As a guess, I would say that around 3 million or so people currently live in areas of the UK where whites in the minority. I just don't think that fits into the definition of "very few".

She hasn't been getting much mileage out of the baby names threads recently (probably as she's done one too many!) so maybe she's just trying a change of venue for a wind up?

MQ agree with your post. Racism is racism.

How bizarre to think that Tooting is a rough area. I've lived here 10 years and never felt remotely threatened. In fact it's a really friendly place and I always feel safe. That said, I think more women are covering themselves fully or wearing head scarves than a couple of years ago, if that is at all relevant.

If your guess (based on what, incidentally?) is at all accurate then about 5% of the UK population are British whites living as a minority. While not "very few" it is not massively significant.

I would also be interested why, even if the whole country was minority white British, that in itself would matter? Isn't the important thing that everyone feels safe and well and happy and not prejudiced against?

Which, to judge from this thread, is how most of us who have lived in just such situations have felt.

The guess is based on the populations of the areas named together with the myriad of other London and metropolitan boroughs where the same applies. The prediction is the broad consensus. Personally I don't think it matters as an issue per se. But I do think it requires acknowledgement and discussion.

If it's a consensus then it's already acknowledged.

talbot- I have noticed that it is very hard to discuss anything to do with race without the odd nutter shouting racist before too long.
We should be able to discuss, debate and express ourselves freely, then we all learn and evolve and come to respect each other rather than thinking we are not 'allowed' to talk about our experiences in a multicultural Britain.

I meant a broad consensus of the people who make these predictions, in other words some say soner, some say later.

I am quite comfortable discussing race, but that could be because I was brought up in a multicultural London and we all just got on with it.
We lived in the same street, when to the same school. Everyone just got on with it.
I find that many people who were brought up in all white middle class suburbs/villages and move to London/go into politics/work for the BBC assume that everyone has the limited experience that they do therefore need to tell us all how to behave.

"We should be able to discuss, debate and express ourselves freely, then we all learn and evolve and come to respect each other rather than thinking we are not 'allowed' to talk about our experiences in a multicultural Britain."

Isn't that what we ARE doing? And most of us on here, talking about our experiences in a multicultural Britain, have found that we do not feel the threat that the OP did recently.

Meanwhile, the OP has vanished without a trace and without ever naming the area she was talking about.