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Brexit

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

684 replies

Peppatina · 13/06/2016 18:54

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.

OP posts:
crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:34

Sorry. I still don't get it. Immigration has not affected you negatively in this example.
It was one guy shouting at a nurse. In Polish. Nurses are always scrambling around for some reason or another.
You felt isolated because yu were the only person who spoke English is not true. The nurses and doctors spoke Emglish. You could speak to them clearly about your health care.

Imagine for a second how isolating it must be to really be the only person to speak Romanian/Polish/Urdu. Whatever. And you can't explain how you feel. And you can't understand anything about your healthcare.

That's isolating.

Chalalala · 13/06/2016 19:35

a deep-rooted dislike of white British people

so, the people who call OP a racist do so because they are in fact, themselves, racist?..

my head is spinning a little bit here

parmalilac · 13/06/2016 19:35

Agree that many people use the word racist without actually knowing what it means. Poles are a nationality, not a race. Neither are immigrants.

ExcuseMyEyebrows · 13/06/2016 19:36

I'd be bloody terrified if I was in hospital having just given birth and in a very vulnerable state, and a strange man started shouting in a ward full of women and I couldn't understand a word of it.

Ridiculous to call an observation like that racist.

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:37

I will
Repeat. You're not racist. But your opinion that you will vote out because a Polish man shouted at a nurse is ludicrous.

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:38

Yes I would be terrified too. I wouldn't use it as an anecdote about failed immigration and decided I don't want polish people in the country any more.

nonamenopackdrill · 13/06/2016 19:38

Last time I was in a hospital with my elderly mum, not a single one of the staff were British.

Collectively, they saved her life.

Take the 'immigrants' out of the NHS, and it will collapse.

Peppatina · 13/06/2016 19:38

Aristotle I am not racist and I am not targeting polish or indeed any specific people as the source of all my problems.

If the very angry man and families in my postnatal ward had been French, Romanian or Italian etc, didn't speak English and was aggressive because if a lack of translators due to demand then I would still use that experience as an example of how felt immigration had affected me personally.

OP posts:
ThroughThickAndThin01 · 13/06/2016 19:39

That wasn't the OP's only example crystallgall

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:40

What are you talking about???
Immigration has not affected you personally in this example. It was ONE man shouting on a ward.

RebelRogue · 13/06/2016 19:40

I have integrated very well her (so much so that someone told me she thought i look british whatever that means) but i'll give you some reasons why i might have not
-the english boss that tried to sleep with me and told me to stop playing coy,cause he knows how romanian girls are.(probably he meant desperate enough to put up with it,for a pay check. I wasn't)
-another boss that referred to me as cheap help
-the midwife pretending she couldn't understand me
-the men that beat a black guy to a pulp for wearing an england tshirt on st andrew's day. I admit i do not dare go i to that pub. It is a no go zone for me,especially on my own

  • the ladies at work that cannot comprehend why my english is so good. Must be bcs my partner is english
-the weird looks and the almost disappointed "oh..." And then silence when i say i'm from Romania when asked where i'm from

I could go on...

mountaintoclimb · 13/06/2016 19:41

Crystallgall we can vote for who we like and for whatever reason we like, whether or not you find it ludicrous. Thank heavens for the secret ballot, otherwise we are truly descending into witches of salem country.

CarlGrimesMissingEye · 13/06/2016 19:41

Yes I am. Because I'm not a racist and my reasons for voting out are not based on any immigration issue.

Sunshineonacloudyday · 13/06/2016 19:41

That makes you small minded.

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:42

Fair enough through.

I just think using one man as an example of what is wrong with immigration is just wrong. It gets my back up.

When my nan was in hospital she would often revert to her native tongue becaus she was in pain and it was easier and she was frustrated
And her English would come out properly.

LuckySantangelo1 · 13/06/2016 19:42

The reason you have a three week wait to see the doctor is because the Tory party are woefully underfunding the NHS. The immigrants who come here come to work. They pay taxes. These taxes pay for things like the NHS. It suits the powers that be to starve the NHS of funds & then have the right wing press blame the immigrants.

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:44

I didn't say you couldn't mountainConfused
We can all vote for whatever we like no matter how ludicrous the reasons yes.

Sunshineonacloudyday · 13/06/2016 19:44

Tories hate the NHS they are aiming to privatise it.

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:44
  • her English wouldn't come out properly.
nonamenopackdrill · 13/06/2016 19:44

RebelRogue That sounds really shit, I'm sorry you have had that experience here.

My husband has been here 25 years, paid tax all that time. And gets treated like a terrorist.

SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace · 13/06/2016 19:44

Where I live there are no Romanian or polish immigrants in large numbers. That must be why I've never witnessed hostile or aggressive behaviour on the streets or in hospitals, and waiting lists are never a problem.

Except .....

crystalgall · 13/06/2016 19:45

Lucky is right.

Don't we all
Know this??
The NHS is underfunded. That is the issue. The govt won't put money into it. Don't we all get this?

Peppatina · 13/06/2016 19:46

I don't know if you've been in a postnatal ward lately but the nurses and duct it's don't really have the time to stand and chat, let alone to stay and reassure me when they have their hands full.

Yes I did find it frightening. I can also imagine the man was frustrated about something, but he was yelling and aggressive and the nurses couldn't do anything.

Afterward the nurse who came in to check on me apologised and says they were struggling with the translator due to demand.

I'm not a knob. I am not even slightly suggesting that because if this and my other 'anecdotes' all foreign people should be magically carted off.

But I am using my own experiences to gone to the conclusion that the current level of immigration is unsustainable and causing intergration problems in my community.

OP posts:
claig · 13/06/2016 19:46

'I just think using one man as an example of what is wrong with immigration is just wrong. It gets my back up. '

'When my nan was in hospital she would often revert to her native tongue becaus she was in pain and it was easier and she was frustrated'

Waht is your aggression towards the OP 's concerns based on?

HermioneWeasley · 13/06/2016 19:46

Lots of posters here proving the OP's point.

Having any questions or concerns shouted down as "racism" is stifling debate. Because people weren't able to express frustrations or feel listened to is how UKIP have gained so much ground. It's also why so many people were surprised by the conservatives winning the last election outright - social media in particular had become an echo chamber.

There are many positive impacts of immigration, but it's ridiculous to think there are no downsides for anybody.