Is anyone else getting quite tired of being called a racist?

[Peppatina]

I know it can't just be me.

It doesn't matter what carefully thought out reasons a brexiter has for wanting to leave (I've seen some very articulate and reasoned ones on mn itself) we are still all getting lumped into a stereotypical group of closet racist idiots.

And Lord forbid any of those reasons might just involve any concern over levels of eu migration!

I've been told that I'm essentially imagining the three week waiting list for my GP or that this is nothing to do with eu migration. If I say I know it is because of the names being called out I become the equivalent of Enoch Powell.

The same goes for a certain local estate very much being a no go area, especially for young girls. After braving this street once with my children and being spat on and shouted at by a group of very hostile Romanian men/boys I've been told I imagined it.

When I had my son a few week ago my I was the only English speaking person in my ward. A polish man was shouting and being very aggressive to staff as they were struggling to find an interpreter.

I absolutely know that not every migrant is aggressive and that they should build more schools and go surgeries but I believe I'm right to be concerned about a high number of migrants who are not intergrating with their local community and the unsustainable strain on services.

I'm sick of being told that my experiences don't matter. That to even mention that this is what life is like in our town means I am a racist or little englander.

Bertranrusell Tired of being called a racist, you say? I can help you with that.................

What is that meant to mean?

I'm Irish BTW.

I have extensive experience of rowdy Irish drunkenness.

See this is what annoys me.

Ok, you think what I've said is racist.

Instead of just calling me racist or some pa commenting could someone explain to me why it is racist to describe my own experiences? Is it because I simply mentioned a nationality?

I was the only one on my ward that didn't speak with a local accent. Made me feel shit. It means nothing other than I felt like shit.

I don't think it's racist. I just don't understand your point about the Polish guy. He shouted at a nurse. In Polish. Throw him out of the country then?

'What's that got to do with Brexit??'

It is to do with immigration which is uncontrolled for EU citizens.

'When I had my son a few week ago my I was the only English speaking person in my ward. A polish man was shouting and being very aggressive to staff as they were struggling to find an interpreter.'

She was worried about the fact that she was the only English speaking person.

' I just don't understand your point about the Polish guy.'

She found it frightening

And? Maybe he had only been here a few weeks

Frightening because he was Polish

Peppatina i can assure you from experience they don't :p

I don't know you or what type of comments you normally make,but the ones i see as racists and xenophobes are the ones that generalise a lot "they are stealing our benefits" "they only do minimum wage jobs" "none of them can speak english(this is my personal favourite)" "just wait until you are all raped/blown up,then you'll wake up" "romanians are pick pockets" and so on and on on. Even your anecdotes i don't consider them racist or whatever,but you need to realise they are not representative of all Romanian men/people. I saw two english guys shout at a black lady on a bike "go home you fucking monkey" and threw a can of beer at them. Should i take that as a representative? Should i say britain is unwelcoming and racist?
If you debate the lack of space in schools,gp's ,social housing etc then that's different,but even then you can't blame it all on migrants. They shut down all the secondary schools in my village and the one next to us...now all the kids have to go to the nearest town which will have to cope with their children plus ours. That is not an immigrant issue that is a poor decision making issue.

But if someone had shouted at a nurse in English that wouldn't have Ben so bad?

That's super sensitive of you then lavender, but at least you could understand your neighbours on your ward and converse if you wanted to.

'Frightening because he was Polish'

Frightening to be in a ward where a foreign person was being aggressive and where the other people were not Engish speaking. Concerned about what is happening

"I believe I'm right to be concerned about a high number of migrants who are not intergrating with their local community and the unsustainable strain on services."

Actually op didn't say anywhere she found it frightening.

Crystalgall I used it as an example of how I felt immigration had negatively affected me personally.

In that case it was relevant that I was the only English speaking person on my ward, it was very isolating. It affected my care as the poor nurses were scrambling around trying to placate a very angry man in the middle of a postnatal ward as they had no translator available.

Ironically the people who accuse me of stereotyping are often doing the same to me. Amazingly I'm not a white ukip voter!

Well I will be happy when some people will stop making me feel unwelcomed in this country....
Not when I have been living here for more than 20 years, that I be paid as much taxes than everyone else but aren't 'allowed' the same benefits.
Not when my DH is British and so are my dcs.
And that actually I'm in the process to acquire the British citizenship.

The worse bit being that, of course, when I will have said citizenship, I will still feel ostracised by the huge number of articles telling people that I shouldn't be here. Because, even after 20 years, I will still have an accent.

Peppatina no I don't think you can explain it in a way that any sensible person would accept.

This is how it usually goes:
A: I am concerned about xxxx
B: 'that's because you're a racist. You don't know you are, because you believe you're merely exercising your democratic right to express an opinion on government policy that has had an impact on your life/region/school/waiting list, whatever. But you're not. Your actually spewing disgusting racist hateful xenophobic bigoted and illegal thought and you should scoop your hideous thoughts out with a rusty spoon.'
C:

Unless you are B or C, you should probably kill yourself, you racist.*

• I don't actually know you are, but magically if I call you one, you are rendered speechless and I grow angel wings and everyone thinks I'm fabulous.

'Actually op didn't say anywhere she found it frightening.'

Yes, I am extrapolating, possibly incorrectly. Most of the feeling of too much immigration is due to concern and fear for the future.

How is it racist to state a fact of the people on the ward and the behaviour of those people?! Really?!!! Fucks sake.

Peppatina In my experience the group that is NOT integrating and never has, in the British society are people from India/Pakistan. See what happened years about in Bradford etc...

Are they the people you want to see out?

Or is it the French, the Italian, the Spanish etc... That are living here?

Nope, not those either.

Just the Polish of course.

If that isn't 'racist'.... What is then. A rejection of specific citizenship?

Well, actually I struggled to myself understood. All the Poles I know work hard at their English. Hospitals are stressful places. You return to your mother tongue when stressed. The shouty man you saw was obviously horrible to hear if you couldn't understand him. He doesn't represent all Poles.

Why do you think the polish man was aggressive or was he frustrated and worried. Did you not think about how he was feeling or is he aggressive and mad.

Do you agree with English people living in Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Jamaica, Africa and so on.

enthusiamdisturbed Islington is the 5th most deprived borough of London. With a higher proportion of social housing than rented or privately owned.

Most of us speak from our experiences. IMO Polish are reliable builders, the Chinese are hard workers, Japanese are super polite, Scots are hospitable and so on. Am I being racist?