This black woman’s anti-Muslim rant shows how deep British racism goes.

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This black woman’s anti-Muslim rant shows how deep British racism goes

The latest in a shameful line of Islamophobic tirades filmed on public transport suggests incessant racist messages are having an effect on all ethnic groups



Joseph Harker
Friday 16 October 2015


We’re getting used to racist rants being filmed, shared and loaded on to YouTube. The latest example, however, is not only shocking but, for me, deeply depressing too. Footage taken on a bus in Brent, north London, this week shows an Islamophobic rant by one women against two other passengers. “fecking Isis bitches,” she calls them. “Go back to your country where they’re bombing every day.” The original film of the tirade lasts, in total, five long minutes.

The bus driver tries to calm the woman down, but none of the passengers intervene, not even the Muslim ones, who remain passively seated.

The shock factor in this clip is not, though, the words - we’ve sadly heard those sentiments enough times before. It’s that this time the expletive-ridden tirade is coming from the lips of a black woman.

And it’s depressing because commentators like myself, who talk about race quite a lot, like to think that – though our society is heavily racist against all sorts of ethnic groups – we racial minorities are somehow immune to the pervasive messages sent out daily. This is proof that we’re not.

Yes, we can make excuses: this woman might be poorly educated, look at her rage, her X-rated language. But her words echo the messages sent out to anyone who reads our daily newspapers, or listens to our radio phone-ins. When, daily, Muslims are portrayed as terrorists, as sexual groomers, as women oppressors, from forced marriage to FGM, it’s not surprising this sinks in. That’s less surprising for white people, who as a racial group have never been on the receiving end of media hate campaigns. But I’d always liked to think that, given our history, and our knowledge of media bias – from the 1950s, when we were labelled pimps, to the 70s and 80s when we were only written about as muggers, rioters and looters – black people would have an implicit understanding that today, when the demonisation has largely moved from us to the Muslim population, we should be deeply sceptical of what we read.
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A few years ago I did a content analysis of stories in the national press that found that stories that centred on white people were 3:1 positive to negative. Stories featuring Asians were 3:1 negative to positive (we didn’t break it down by religion, but the Asian negative stories were overwhelmingly focused on Muslim terror). In other words, if you’re Asian you’re nine times more likely to be portrayed negatively than if you’re white.

It’s clear that the media shouldn’t stop reporting on serious stories of crime or terror. But we found that less serious stories were blown up and given exaggerated coverage. And at the same time there was no counter-narrative: no stories about Asian doctors saving lives, or as have-a-go heroes, or as senior politicians, or police officers solving crimes - or even those soft lifestyle features where people’s humanity comes across.

And the odd high-profile exception – be it Mo Farah winning Olympic gold in 2012 or, this month, Nadiya Hussain’s triumph in Great British Bake Off – does little to stem the flood of stories in the opposite direction.

When a black woman can stand in a bus and tell someone, without irony, to “go back to their own country” it shows how deeply embedded the hatred of Muslims has become in our society. The media, and everyone else, have a duty to do everything they can to counter it.

http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...slim-rant-british-racism-islamophobia[/quote]
 
When a black woman can stand in a bus and tell someone, without irony, to “go back to their own country” it shows how deeply embedded the hatred of Muslims has become in our society. The media, and everyone else, have a duty to do everything they can to counter it.

Makes no sense. What does the fact that the women is black have to do with anything? Very weak Rosa Parks analogy the writer seems to be alluding to, which is both contextually wrong and irrelevant. Aside from that, the logic seems to consist of "Well, black people have some nerve to tell others to go back to their own countries" which seems to be implicitly racist in itself. Just because blacks were discriminated against in post-war Britain (and to this day) doesn't mean that black bigots should necessarily be more socially aware of historical ironies. The same sort of logic can be applied to any second-, third- or fourth-generation immigrant class (Irish, Polish, whatever). This video isn't anything monumental, and the notion (paradoxically) that a black person has less right to discriminate against a Muslim is institutionally racist. The woman is English, simple as that.
 
Personally I've always believed that black people were inherently incapable of racism so this has come as a real shock to me. I was okay with normal white person racism but this is just too much. For shame Britain.
 
Makes no sense. What does the fact that the women is black have to do with anything? Very weak Rosa Parks analogy the writer seems to be alluding to, which is both contextually wrong and irrelevant. Aside from that, the logic seems to consist of "Well, black people have some nerve to tell others to go back to their own countries" which seems to be implicitly racist in itself. Just because blacks were discriminated against in post-war Britain (and to this day) doesn't mean that black bigots should necessarily be more socially aware of historical ironies. The same sort of logic can be applied to any second-, third- or fourth-generation immigrant class (Irish, Polish, whatever). This video isn't anything monumental, and the notion (paradoxically) that a black person has less right to discriminate against a Muslim is institutionally racist. The woman is English, simple as that.
It's pretty obvious what it means. The native people of the UK are white and people of her colour are likely to get the exact same abuse from racists like herself
 
It's pretty obvious what it means. The native people of the UK are white and people of her colour are likely to get the exact same abuse from racists like herself
Not really. There are a couple of million native people living in the UK who are not white.
 
@Mciahel Goodman - it's ironic as if this happened a couple of generations ago, it would be her great grandfather on the receiving end.
I get that, but the insistence upon a given race to be more socially aware is bizarre. Would there be an article on this if the woman was of Irish heritage? I doubt it.
 
Makes no sense. What does the fact that the women is black have to do with anything? Very weak Rosa Parks analogy the writer seems to be alluding to, which is both contextually wrong and irrelevant. Aside from that, the logic seems to consist of "Well, black people have some nerve to tell others to go back to their own countries" which seems to be implicitly racist in itself. Just because blacks were discriminated against in post-war Britain (and to this day) doesn't mean that black bigots should necessarily be more socially aware of historical ironies. The same sort of logic can be applied to any second-, third- or fourth-generation immigrant class (Irish, Polish, whatever). This video isn't anything monumental, and the notion (paradoxically) that a black person has less right to discriminate against a Muslim is institutionally racist. The woman is English, simple as that.

Good post. This is usually where Weaste would wade in with some rant about anglo-saxon geneology and how everyone is an immigrant anyway. Searching for irony in a black-skinned English-woman being Islamophobic really is borderline racist.
 
Anyone who's spent any significant time around people who aren't white will know that being a racist isn't reserved for just white people.
 
Good post. This is usually where Weaste would wade in with some rant about anglo-saxon geneology and how everyone is an immigrant anyway. Searching for irony in a black-skinned English-woman being Islamophobic really is borderline racist.
I've been told to go back to my own country which is apparently Iraq by random racists before. And black english people can get the same with it being Africa instead. What exactly would a white English person get?

Weaste was always on the ball. He understood us minorities
 
Not really. There are a couple of million native people living in the UK who are not white.
My point was that there will be certain people who will only have to look at the colour of her skin to also throw the go back to you own country insult at her. I mean if a black person said that to me on the bus I would find it pretty strange considering how it can be used on them too. You couldn't say it to a random white person
 
What a disgusting waste of skin. Hopefully she lives to regret it.
 
My point was that there will be certain people who will only have to look at the colour of her skin to also throw the go back to you own country insult at her. I mean if a black person said that to me on the bus I would find it pretty strange considering how it can be used on them too. You couldn't say it to a random white person
Are you sure about that?
 
My point was that there will be certain people who will only have to look at the colour of her skin to also throw the go back to you own country insult at her. I mean if a black person said that to me on the bus I would find it pretty strange considering how it can be used on them too. You couldn't say it to a random white person

Bigots are not especially well known for their self awareness and logic.
 
My point was that there will be certain people who will only have to look at the colour of her skin to also throw the go back to you own country insult at her. I mean if a black person said that to me on the bus I would find it pretty strange considering how it can be used on them too. You couldn't say it to a random white person
It depends on your idea of nationality. What makes someone English? I wouldn't say skin colour.

I think you could say it to a random white person, plenty of Europeans living in England. As for white people who happen to be English, well, that dialog would be weird:
"Go back to your own country!"
"This is my country... go back to your own country!"


Ad infinitum.
 
Not only is this shockingly offensive, but the woman had a toddler in a buggy next to her and at one point said something to the child about Isis.
I hope this woman is named and shamed.
 
Not only is this shockingly offensive, but the woman had a toddler in a buggy next to her and at one point said something to the child about Isis.
I hope this woman is named and shamed.
Tough one. In the age of Twitter lynch mobs, this course of action isn't always helpful.
 
Of you know, hearing them.
If they spoke with a foreign accent then yes clearly they are from a different country...? Do you think that's what I meant by saying it to a random white person
 
If they spoke with a foreign accent then yes clearly they are from a different country...? Do you think that's what I meant by saying it to a random white person
You were insinuating that it couldn't happen to a white person, you are wrong.
 
You were insinuating that it couldn't happen to a white person, you are wrong.
I said you couldn't say it to a random white person. You wouldn't know if they were English or not. You could use it on any non-white person you see because their ancestry will certainly be from a different country.

You said that you could if heard them talk which is clearly not my point as then it wouldn't be random at all.
 
I said you couldn't say it to a random white person. You wouldn't know if they were English or not. You could use it on any non-white person you see because their ancestry will certainly be from a different country.

You said that you could if heard them talk which is clearly not my point as then it wouldn't be random at all.
I've witnessed Muslims go up to white people and claim that England is a Muslim country now and they aren't welcome, I've seen white peoples get beaten up by ethics because they are in the wrong area plus much much more. It happens all the time.
 
The latest in a shameful line of Islamophobic tirades filmed on public transport suggests incessant racist messages are having an effect on all ethnic groups

Genuine question: Why is every other "-phobia" defined as a fear, while Islamophobia is defined as dislike/prejudice?
 
Why is it shocking that a black woman can have racist feelings? White people did not invent racism, bigotry, etc, it exists all over the world.

This is the Guardian, where it is generally held that real racism is all about relations of power between different identity groups and that therefore underprivileged 'minority' groups are thus structurally incapable of it...or something like that.

Hence, mind blown.
 
Makes no sense. What does the fact that the women is black have to do with anything? Very weak Rosa Parks analogy the writer seems to be alluding to, which is both contextually wrong and irrelevant. Aside from that, the logic seems to consist of "Well, black people have some nerve to tell others to go back to their own countries" which seems to be implicitly racist in itself. Just because blacks were discriminated against in post-war Britain (and to this day) doesn't mean that black bigots should necessarily be more socially aware of historical ironies. The same sort of logic can be applied to any second-, third- or fourth-generation immigrant class (Irish, Polish, whatever). This video isn't anything monumental, and the notion (paradoxically) that a black person has less right to discriminate against a Muslim is institutionally racist. The woman is English, simple as that.

A massively important point that sadly so many simply dont understand. Well said.
 
I've witnessed Muslims go up to white people and claim that England is a Muslim country now and they aren't welcome, I've seen white peoples get beaten up by ethics because they are in the wrong area plus much much more. It happens all the time.
You're talking about a broader point now. I only meant the insult used in the video