Print Story 9 years 11 months exactly.
Diary
By Tonatiuh (Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:17:58 AM EST) (all tags)
The time it took for me to be racially abused for the first time in the UK.

All the juicy details inside.



First of all I would like to thank my company for relocating us to a, how can I put it?, area with lots of potential.

No more Canary Wharf, no more expensive meals, no more gorgeous pretentious PAs.

Welcome to Chavland, capital Gangland, favorite music: rap. Population: pensioners, the disabled, single mums, boyz from the hood and chavs. Lots of them.

So. I was hurrying to my train stop, I could hear this group of charming teenagers shouting mouthfuls of profanity, unfortunately there was no way around them to get to the train station.

There were 6 of them, 3 boys, 3 girls, and once I have passed the group one of the boys screamed something that included the dreaded "Paki" epithet.

It would have not helped to explain that Islamabad is not the capital of Mexico, and frankly I didn't feel like being knifed. So I carried on and then the 3 girls, on their way home, continued the abuse. That is how sure they are of their impunity.

Then I remembered I had my camera, I stopped, turned around and began to walk resolutely towards them while making for my camera in my belt.

Needless to say they ran faster than the times it takes to say 50cents.

After this incident and the general anti immigrant feeling in this country, sometimes I question wtf I am still doing here.

I feel so much rage and anger. No wonder some people are turned completely against anything that this country says it represents. Subjected to this kind of abuse regularly, anybody would go mad.

As you can imagine I am not looking forward to going to work today. Will they be waiting there, perhaps with some of their "mates"? Are the completely innocent or not? (in the sense of racial abuse being a mild diversion, some thing they just do once in a while to have great fun).

Don't know. The only think I know is that nobody should be subjected to this nonsense.

< 2008.01.16: Yes, it's Wednesday. | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >
9 years 11 months exactly. | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
I have been racially abused recently by anonimouse (4.00 / 2) #1 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:05:09 AM EST
I was called a bald, fat, white c**t.....

I get the impression you were just generally abused; there wasn't genuine racial intent. Still not a pleasant experience.


Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL


Fear by Breaker (4.00 / 3) #3 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:07:40 AM EST
Is what allows them to get away with this.  Fear of being stabbed, mobbed, shot or whatever.

I find shouting and closing distance quickly helps, and they collapse like a house of cards.

And watch if they are putting their hand in their pocketses, though.


[ Parent ]

Bullshit by theboz (4.00 / 1) #11 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 08:24:15 AM EST
They called him a "paki".  You can't get much more obvious than that, unless he were darker skinned and they used the "n" word. 
- - - - -
That's what I always say about you, boz, you have a good memory for random facts about pussy. -- joh3n
[ Parent ]

they do have a point by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 2) #13 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 10:39:40 AM EST


[ Parent ]

Chin up me old China... by Breaker (4.00 / 1) #2 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:05:22 AM EST
The scum around here (Camberwell - still looking for the carrot) like to call me middle class.

Which, if you ever make it to a LHusibeer, you will find I am most decidely not.

Nobody should be subjected to this nonsense - it is not the Engerlandland I want to live in.  I am fully prepared to accompany you on your train to offer a little assistance should that be required.




Class by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #5 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:22:53 AM EST
..is largely a matter of what you regard yourself.

You're a working professional, presumably with a degree, which in adspeak makes you a C1 or a B, which is decidedly middle class. If you're really trousering loadsamoney you may even be an A.


Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

I refuse to be pigeonholed! by Breaker (4.00 / 1) #6 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:29:42 AM EST
Is class really about the money, or about speaking English correctly and remembering to say please and thank you?


[ Parent ]

That depends by anonimouse (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:33:45 AM EST
...on what type of "class" you're talking about. :-)

Social class is a mixture of factors. You can be rude and upper class, rich and lower class, poor and upper class. Its a mixture of who you know, what you do, how much you earn.....


Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

class? Isn't that where you go trawling for by Imperial Mince (4.00 / 1) #12 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 08:42:21 AM EST
new girlfriends?
--
This space reserved for whining like a little bitch and being sanctimonious.
[ Parent ]

No by anonimouse (4.00 / 1) #16 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 12:25:34 PM EST
I wait outside the gates with a bag of sweets.

Girls come and go but a mortgage is for 25 years -- JtL
[ Parent ]

Got any cola cubes mister? by Imperial Mince (4.00 / 1) #17 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 03:54:05 PM EST

--
This space reserved for whining like a little bitch and being sanctimonious.
[ Parent ]

Do maternity wards have gates now? by Driusan (4.00 / 1) #22 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 09:37:23 PM EST

--
I needed a new sig. And now I have one.
[ Parent ]

education by Merekat (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:44:32 AM EST
Once you go further than GCSE, you're doomed to be middle class. Sorry.

Also, being an arsehole as those guys clearly were is not a class thing. How it is expressed otoh, does vary.

[ Parent ]

Ouch by TPD (4.00 / 2) #4 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 06:07:40 AM EST
/pint?

Sounds like it's time to look for another job!

Not sure about a general anti immigrant feeling in this country. Certainly the general anti immigrant stance of the media is pretty bad and makes me feel ashamed (Daily Mail I'm looking at you HERE).

Rock Hard Abs are just a sw-sw-swivel away!


That's truly shite by Phage (4.00 / 1) #9 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 07:50:04 AM EST
But I tend to agree that it's just one of the many epithets they threw your way. It means no more than the barking of a dog.
If things get particulalrly bad, then I would involve your employer. I interviewed in some of the less salubrious parts of Sydney once or twice, and employers would provide Cabcharge dockets and guards to get the staff in and out, as well as getting the local plod to step up patrols.

Wait...you're Mexican ?

Founder member Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark


Yes, why? [n/t] by Tonatiuh (2.00 / 0) #20 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:07:31 PM EST


[ Parent ]

First Mexican I've met. by Phage (2.00 / 0) #23 Fri Jan 18, 2008 at 03:18:59 AM EST
Well, corresponded with.

Founder member Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark
[ Parent ]

Speaking as a USian cracker by wiredog (4.00 / 3) #10 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 08:00:41 AM EST
I thought all you spics beaners people of Mexican descent knew how to knife fight. So why fear the chavs? 

Aren't they just the UKian equivalent of USian white trash?  Or maybe wannabe white boy gangbangers?

Earth First!
(We can strip mine the rest later.)



Chav is an UKian epithet for by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 3) #14 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 10:42:47 AM EST
anyone of a perceived lower social standing who don't know their place.

[ Parent ]

What do you mean 'perceived' ? by Phage (4.00 / 1) #15 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 11:09:17 AM EST
For those Johnny-foreigners.

Founder member Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark
[ Parent ]

he means by garlic (2.00 / 0) #18 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 04:06:08 PM EST
people using the term chav are just as much assholes as people using the term whitetrash.

[ Parent ]

Context is everything. by Tonatiuh (2.00 / 0) #19 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:06:16 PM EST
When there are pople out there bragging about the term, you should make some allowance if somebody uses the term in a descriptive rather than demeaning fashion.

[ Parent ]

so like by ucblockhead (2.00 / 0) #21 Thu Jan 17, 2008 at 05:28:30 PM EST
"redneck".
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ウセーバラケダ
[ Parent ]

hm by Merekat (2.00 / 0) #24 Fri Jan 18, 2008 at 03:25:26 AM EST
More (sub)urban.

[ Parent ]

9 years 11 months exactly. | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback