Common racist comments you hear in 2023?

[SleepDreamThinkHuge]

Compared to 30 years ago, how is racism different today?

For me, racism terms such as the n word p word are less used than they were 30 years ago. However, people have looked at other avenues. See comments below.

1. "You have a chip over your shoulder" every time someone mentions racism or their lived experience it goes straight to denial mode. You are blamed for your lived experiences and told to get over it and how UK is not racist.

2. "The UK abolished slavery. slavery was a long time ago." Every time someone tries to put forward a view of reparations of people who are still suffering from the effects of slavery they are shut down. "that was a long time ago we have changed and evolved."

3. "I feel like a foreigner in my own country." Which is probably one of the most stupid statements considering that over 80 percent of the population is white. I always answer if you feel like a foreigner how do minorities feel?

4. "name the racists" commonly said for Megan Markle that she should name the racists she claimed in the Royal family. But lets be honest if you did that the other person in whatever circumstance would just deny it and ultimately you will not be believed and be called someone who plays the race card and tarnishing other people's careers.

5. "Why do black people have their own spaces if white people had it we would be accused of racism" This is commonly said by the same people who are not as vocal when other groups have their own space e.g. women, LGBT groups etc.. It just seems like whenever black people have their own space people have to put them down. Take Ngozi Fulani the media made it seem she was the bad person people argued why her charity helps black people suffering from domestic abuse. Sad how she was forced out Sistah Space due to the abuse she faced but the media never mention that and the racism she had to face.

6. "Racism exists in all communities" this is another common one used and is a whataboutery technique. We have seen this with people like Kanye, KSI recently but what people forget there was a lot of criticism from the black community with their actions. So to suggest the black community or any other community does not do anything about racism is for the birds.

7. "My best friend is black" This is something you would hear from the EDL or Britain First. But you would be surprised how often you hear this by a lot of people. Just because your friend or relative is black, Muslim, Asian etc does not mean you cannot be racist. Even if you are a white mother and your child is mixed race does not mean you cannot be racist. It is baffling how a lot of people seem to forget this and think that my saying I cannot be racist because of this automatically means they cannot.

It is ridiculous. Pleasant surprise- I reported the response of the poster back to me accusing me of being a racist for saying “toxic white feminism” and MN deleted it. :)

(I’m under a different user name, it’s the woman denied cancer treatment for transphobic views thread)

They just don’t get it. It’s gone down the whataboutery motorway.

The threads which Black women are explaining their experiences of misogyny + racism which makes us therefore in certain contexts more vulnerable, yet people ask for concrete proof are one thing, but what really gets me is the very casual conversation which is so clearly racist but brushed over as though it's just a completely normal perspective or view to hold - without discussing specific threads it's always evident in threads where the state of the planet is discussed and more so solutions to solve this crisis which involve wiping out entire populations on Earth.... Ummm wtf!

Another type of thread I've noticed recently is "are we invisible after middle age?", "are people always rude to middle aged women" etc. I'm sure they're exclusively populated by white women because women of colour experience all of this long before they hit their 40s!

I’m so glad you mentioned this! I wish I was brave enough to post in the AIBU forum something like “To think it is hard to be black woman?”

I don't think MN moderation could cope with the amount of racist comments you will unleash so the thread would be taken down.

That honestly would throw the cat amongst the pigeons

I got short shrift on the thread about the book Hags when I asked if it explored the origin of the Karen nickname (as the other posters seemed to think it was up there with the n-word as an insult) and mentioned that WOC have always been treated badly.

@PinotGroggio Same when I point out that the suffragette movement and more generally women's liberation movements were anything but liberating for Black women at the time

Oh dear god, the thread on "explaining" race to a toddler, why do people think it's funny or useful to share stories about how their brother/sister/cousin ran up to a Black man and asked if he was a chimney sweep etc?

I saw that thread. It was amazing how it was just mentioned in passing

• too many people on the planet
• yes, yes, we should leave Asia, Africa and the Americas for the animals only let humans live in Europe,
• all the rest of the humans should just die off

And questions like who gets to live in Europe and why Europe and what happens to everyone not in Europe what do you mean everyone else just “die off” were sort of brushed off…felt dystopian.

Yep, and that poster doubled down on saying that, when a couple of posters made comments about it. Clearly unable to see why that was offensive, and totally unnecessary to retell years after it supposedly happened.

It's @babdoc what do you expect? she has form

I know some people live sheltered lives and not all parts of Britain are diverse but really, have they never even turned a TV on or watched a film that they've never seen a Black person? And has their child never watched CBeebies?

If it happened it would be due to a racist adult setting up their child to run over and ask the question “hey Tommy go ask the Black man if he’s a chimney sweep (chuckle)” “ok dad” it is done as a racist joke and then they act all innocent and be like “what my kid just watched Mary Poppins, you obviously have a chip on your shoulder…how dare you accuse a 4 year old of racism” if you call them out on it.

Even if that happened, in what world is it right to repeat it? It wasn't funny at the time and it sure as hell isn't funny now. I can't believe MNHQ have left that comment as I'm sure it's been reported.

I did think the same thing to be honest@PinotGroggio . But then I remembered this is MN where the mods seem to have difficulty seeing, or dealing with racist posts, and posters. And that poster is racist, I have seen posts from them before, so I was not surprised to read that rubbish from them, which may, or more likely did not even happen.

I agree with you@magim42447 , and @HadalyEve .

FrenchandSaunders
People who I regard as close friends, or did, referred to the London Mayor as 'pi Khan' at a party at the weekend. We were all talking about ULEZ. Whatever your views on that are .... I was stunned to hear this.

An acquaintance I've known for 10 years, White Woman, we're friendly enough have gone to some events together. She watched one of those stupid Yardie type films and said it was a real insight into how all Black men are thuggish, sex mad gangsters. I was incredulous at her racist stupidity and that she felt this nonsense was perfectly OK to say to me. Not to mention, her longterm partner is Jamaican. I gave her a detailed commentary as to why it was an unintelligent thing to say, and I've not spoken a word to her since. All calls ignored. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised really as I've come across women like her before.

Wow@DeeCeeCherry . That was a tactless thing for her to have said. Is that how she views her second half I wonder. Or is it a case of him not being like the rest of them. If she had meant that is how they tend to portray black men, then that would be a different thing altogether. But if that is what she was trying to convey, then she would have said so, wouldn't she? It would seem that her internalized racism revealed itself.

Majority of ones with this type of attitude are strangely married to black men.

Some of the people with the most stereotyped and racist views of Black people are married to Black people. One of my friends white relatives was married to a Black man, and had 6 or 7 DC with him. She doesn't consider her DC to be anything to do with Black people, despite their heritage (her DH was from an African country). Whenever she comes across Black people, she's very clear to reference her DC, GDC and GGDC as "not like them", or "not one of them".

I asked my friend, whose Dad is Black and considers herself to be Black, what it was like to have a close relative so openly racist, and she just shrugs and says that's just how the relative is, and the relative would never consider herself to be a racist.

The relative is now in her 80's, so going out and marrying a Black person was scandalous in her day, however I've heard this kind of view from the younger generation too.

I find this mind-blowing. It makes me both angry and sad.

As white South Africans, both DH and I have occasionally had people say racist things to us in a sort of "oh well, you're a white South African living in the UK so you MUST agree with this because that MUST be why you left South Africa" kind of way. It never ceases to astonish us. For people to say things like this to people of colour is 10000x more mind blowing.

Although, people are wankers so not sure why I am surprised.

And they police us -

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/former-met-police-officers-charged-racist-whatsapp-messages/

Yes they do@Reugny , with force!