to be sad at the casual racism I see everywhere?

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

Yesterday I was queuing for petrol at Asda. All pumps closed apart from two so long queue. There was a van stopped at the pump, with nobody in it, or at the pump. I got out after a while to find out what was going on. Asked the man in car in front if he knew why the van was stopped there, he gestured to a woman over at the payment bit (It was a self pay pump) and said 'that traveller woman doesn't know how to use the pump and the staff are all on their tea break.'

I know it's not awful in the scheme of things, but really, why mention she was a traveller? How did he even know? And why did nobody offer to help her use the pump? The subtext was clearly 'she's too stupid to use the pump because she's a traveller and I'm not helping because she's a traveller'.

Oh and travellers/roma/gypsies are a recognised ethnic group so that is racism, before people start talking about travellers being thieves/troublemakers!

There are other examples all the time. People mentioning a person's race for no reason, and implying that their behaviour has something to do with it, it's so prevalent and gets me down.

I completely agree with Hecate.

HecatesTwopenceworth

Where about's in Kenya, I love Kenya, been there a lot of times but not in the last couple of years.

firstly I come across alot of casual racism -and not so casual when house hunting on 3 occassions people when we asked them what the neighbours where like told us that we weren't Paki's .

Secondly, I know many travellers (both new age and Irish and a few romany) and I can tell you that out of the 100 plus Irish travellers I have met not one of then has had dreads. In fact they tend to be pretty disparaging of dreadlocks. So therefore I would be really surprised if the woman in question is an Irish traveller. She sounds like a new age traveller and therefore not an from an ethnic group just someone making a life style choice.

In that case, it wouldn't be racist but prejudgist.

and lastly referring to someone as a traveller is not racist, as it's not racist to refer to someone as white or asian or black, unless the intend is racist.

Mangu. Do you know it?

No, have stayed and travelled around Ukunda, Diani, Kikambala. Have friends who live at the foot of kilimanjaro