Mother's racist comments

[Gothicnightmare]

Visiting parents tonight and they were watching Coronation Street later on and my mother kept going on about the new black family on the show. Saying things like "They're everywhere!" and "They're taking over this country" and all that kind of crap. I told her to stop it and when she didn't I said I was leaving. Then I calmly got my stuff together, said goodnight and left.

She'd given me something to try when I was over and texted a short while ago saying she'd have given me it away with me. So I replied about 15 mins later and said ok but I was upset and embarrassed by her racist comments and if she does that again when I'm over, I'm leaving. It's her choice. Got a text a minute later from my dad saying she'd "gone to bed early". Hmm.

So frustrating! She does this all the time - saying stuff like "Go back to your own country" to black people on TV as if they can hear her ffs. She voted for Brexit too (as did my father) so that's a bone of contention.

@SwordofGryffindor

The black community is a massive community in the uk

Not were my family live it's not, it's overwhelmingly white British.

How odd shes only saying this now ?

That's what I thought. Maybe she has a brain tumour or is developing dementia.

Racism is a big overused stick and people who don't agree with the current immigration policy are lumped in with the Ku Klux Klan white supremacists.

This used to be a problem with my grandmother who has been dead now for over 30 years. I had to try and understand what made this otherwise kind and lovely lady say such things; and I came to the conclusion that it was fear. She lived in a large London terraced house and gradually over the years, after she was widowed, all the houses around her were turned into flats and most were rented or bought by black families or individuals. So, a whole new culture opened up around her and she felt out of place in what had been her lifetime home. She was old and on her own and felt adrift and frightened. Having tried to understand what motivated her in her racist comments, it was possible to try and challenge this in a way that took account of her fear.

The world has moved on beyond recognition now, thank goodness, but we still loved our gran for all the good things that she was.

There was a fascinating programme on Radio 3 yesterday - it is on every week and is called "Words and Music" - it does what it says on the tin and this week examined the Windrush immigrants' experiences through music and poetry - it was excellent and insightful. I learned a lot from it.

OP - do you know what has triggered your mother's comments and views? Might be worth digging a bit deeper maybe?