so last night i was out working and witnessed something that shocked me to the pit of my stomach and made me feel genuinely ashamed of what i saw.
a car full of lads drove past me down the road and then i heard them shout "fucking paki cunt fuck off home" at a young lad walking down the street by himself 50 yards on from where i was stood. it took me a minute to actually realise what had happened, partly due the fact i was concentrating on sending a text at the time and partly cos i just didnt think things like that actually happened anymore.
by the time i had realised what had happened the car had sped off round one corner and the lad had scurried off in the other direction clearly upset. i was left stood where i was working in total shock.
i'm aware as i'm writing this what i have said already may sound a little naive but i think that is more the way i am putting it across. i know things like this happen, just i didnt expect to see it.
i have become aware recently of how much the far right is rising in this country but this was my first experience of it happening in front of me. i know that the bnp and edl and other far right organisations have gained much more support over the last few years. i am a member of a couple of facebook groups that are against racism and these parties and have lost many hours reading through posts of what racists have said and believe on these pages and i have become angry and get more and more wound up to the point that my only argument to them would be "fuck off!", i have tried joining in debates and always found my arguments falling on deaf ears...
i've heard people having racist conversations and have at times interrupted and tried to put them right, and shamefully on other occassions i have not interrupted and thought there is no point as they wont listen anyway.
i have seen racist comments made when drunk people are fighting and things come out in the heat of the moment. its wrong for them to say that, most of the time the people saying it know its wrong, its said when tempers are lost or to provoke a reaction. this is not right and should not be tolerated but its hard to get involved when tempers are lost and fists are flying.
but this is the first time i have seen grown men racially abuse someone in a totally unprovoked attack.
it made me so angry. there was nothing i could do at the time, as i said, those involved were gone before it had actually sunk in what had happened. i couldn't tell the people in the car they were wrong, that they were ignorant and offensive. i couldnt tell the lad that he should ignore them, that most people disagreed with what they said.
its just i feel i should be doing something though.
it winds me up so much. the stupidity of what they said. i just rant about it, i dont make my point well. i mean telling him to fuck off home, he was a young lad probably a teenager at the oldest he was in his early twenties, more likely than not born in james cook hospital and living within a mile of where this happened all his life and his parents or grandparents may well have come from pakistan, but whats that got to do with anything, they could have just as easily come from india or any other fucking country in the world it actually doesnt matter.
i'm struggling to make my point here, this is the problem i have. there is so much i find wrong with this that i dont know how to articulate it.
it baffles me so much why people are like this. i have throughout my life judged people on the things they say and do. everyone is individual. you cant judge one person on something someone who has the same skin colour or religion does. thats like people staying away from me cos someone else called dave was a rapist "gotta stay away from those daves, they're all a bit rapey" that is the level of stupidity!
so at the minute when times are harder than they have been for a while. you get groups like the edl or the bnp (look them up if you dont know much about them) spreading a racist message in the guise of protecting this country. i could talk all day long about the points i disagree with them on but i'll save that for another blog.
they twist stories and statistics and they lie, they highlight certain things while hiding others ( i know this could be for any political party)
the trouble is they give an easy answer, its easy to blame someone different. "its the muslims fault", "its the immigrants fault", "its the blacks fault", "its the jews fault".
they are all easier answers to why times are hard at the minute and through ignorance and a lack of information and education people are buying into it.
it starts with the extreme views of the horribly racist, they manage to give it a political meaning and then people start buying into it cos its easier than the truth.
and the problem in these situations is how vocal the far right are. i strongly disagree with everything they do but i dont speak up enough. i will disagree with it when it is right in front of me but i'm not vocal enough to start with. i'm white, my closest friends are predominantly white. i am educated to a decent standard as are the majority of my friends. racism is not often evident in the places i work and socialise.
so i dont come face to face with racism as often as others
and when i do, the opportunity isn't always there for me to do something about it. last night for example.
so has this blog got me any where?
well i believe racism is wrong. i dont think any body should be judged on anything other than what they say or do. i feel like i should do something about it. the hardcore extreme racists are beyond me at the minute, they need people a lot more knowledgable with a lot more power to fight them.... police, lawyers, politicians
i should be able to do something about the people who are buying into their ideas though. i honestly believe that the right is on the rise because they give easy answers and i should be there to point out they are wrong.
i'm not sure how to do this though?
