There was a great radio 4 program on Benjamin Zephaniahs life last year and one part that was interesting was when his friends were asking him why he had moved to the countryside. His reply was along the lines of he may have lived in cities all his life but all of his ancestors all came from villages and like most only moved to cities for work.
Rural areas are generally more white than urban areas because there’s fuck all there for working class people, meaning there’s no reason for immigrants to move there. Expensive housing, lack of jobs, no public transport. The racial demographics themselves aren’t an issue.
However, it is also the case that white people in those rural areas are on average more racist than urban white populations, and that is a real issue. Our countryside is amazing, and all people should have equitable access to and safety within it.
This subreddit has basically become r/reformuk
You’re having a hissy fit because people say they face discrimination due to how they look? Grow up. Considering Britain is 15% non-white, 98% white is abnormally high. Nobody is saying “Rural England is too white”
Someone mentioned that rural England is not exactly attractive to working class people.
This is probably true. But it is also a bit disgusting. It is sort of like Donald trump saying “Hispanics are coking to steal black jobs” bullshit.
You can be black or brown, not be working class. It can happen. Not that there is anything wrong with being working class. What I am trying to get at is that simply saying “nothing for working class black folks to do in rural England” sort of sidesteps the issue.
Rural England is more racist than urban England. That’s a fact. Not just because most people there are white, for obvious reasons. But also because most folk living in rural England have racist beliefs that often stem from ignorance (as well as a lack of actual contact with black/brown folk). I was once told by one racist villager “oh you don’t smell. I thought you lot always smelled bad”. Which was something and then some. I was once asked by another racist villager “how are your teeth so white and perfect? You said you just came to the UK”.
It is always important to remember these people probably rarely ventured out of their village. I met a 78 years old white guy who never left his village/area until he was 77. He never even went to London, till that year, and was surprised when his weird beliefs about Londoners weren’t exactly borne out.
There is a general ignorance and lack of exposure. But there is also an actual general hatred of the “other”. Nearly every rural England person I know has this deep seated hatred/wariness of people.living literally a village over. So, when I rock up with my big black ass, good looks and two degrees in science and computing, I sort of expect them to also be wary of me. I never take it personally. Just teach one person at a time, and hope they are sincere when they tell you they’ll be less prejudiced in the future.
At least two of the articles in the header image are at least 2 years old. The British countryside is full of people who don’t give a damn about a person’s skin colour or beliefs, because people in the countryside have space and just get on. It’s people living close to each other in large ethnic groups that cause problems for others. For example, Britain has a lot of Chinese, see your local takeaway for examples, but because they live amongst us, there is little racism towards them.
This thread is just another example of Reform hate speech.
I’m a white European and I have to say that this is scary. 🙁 they’re taking your Englisshness away and trying to ruin your patriotic values
UK is a white majority country so what do they expect? I hate this lefty media. They’re the ones causing division between whites and blacks in the first place with such stupid articles
When was there ever an article saying that Africa is “not white enough?”. Let’s be honest. They wouldn’t dare
In many rural areas, they don’t like incomers. ANY incomers. I’m as white as white can be-and my family originated in farming stock just the other side of the county boundary, but moving to the small village I live in now, there are certain people who have made it clear that I’m an unwelcome intruder.
There is *definitely* some prejudice from some people. I feel like I’ve experienced 1% of what black people feel (or perhaps less than 1%, but I notice it more because I’ve never had it before). There have been people who look through me as if I don’t exist as a human being-and talk about me (overtly as an incomer) as if I wasn’t there.
I want to emphasise, this is a TINY number of the population. It’s easy to be stung by this treatment and think that means everyone here feels like that. Lucky, I’ve already got great contacts here, and we can laugh at those people. It’s easy for a white person who has never really suffered any material harm to laugh it off as a lot of silly nonsense. However, if a black person told me that they had experienced this kind of thing, I wouldn’t hesitate to believe them. I actually *know* it’s a thing.
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There was a great radio 4 program on Benjamin Zephaniahs life last year and one part that was interesting was when his friends were asking him why he had moved to the countryside. His reply was along the lines of he may have lived in cities all his life but all of his ancestors all came from villages and like most only moved to cities for work.
Just incase any reading have no idea who I’m on about.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Zephaniah
Rural areas are generally more white than urban areas because there’s fuck all there for working class people, meaning there’s no reason for immigrants to move there. Expensive housing, lack of jobs, no public transport. The racial demographics themselves aren’t an issue.
However, it is also the case that white people in those rural areas are on average more racist than urban white populations, and that is a real issue. Our countryside is amazing, and all people should have equitable access to and safety within it.
This subreddit has basically become r/reformuk
You’re having a hissy fit because people say they face discrimination due to how they look? Grow up.
Considering Britain is 15% non-white, 98% white is abnormally high. Nobody is saying “Rural England is too white”
Someone mentioned that rural England is not exactly attractive to working class people.
This is probably true. But it is also a bit disgusting. It is sort of like Donald trump saying “Hispanics are coking to steal black jobs” bullshit.
You can be black or brown, not be working class. It can happen. Not that there is anything wrong with being working class. What I am trying to get at is that simply saying “nothing for working class black folks to do in rural England” sort of sidesteps the issue.
Rural England is more racist than urban England. That’s a fact. Not just because most people there are white, for obvious reasons. But also because most folk living in rural England have racist beliefs that often stem from ignorance (as well as a lack of actual contact with black/brown folk). I was once told by one racist villager “oh you don’t smell. I thought you lot always smelled bad”. Which was something and then some. I was once asked by another racist villager “how are your teeth so white and perfect? You said you just came to the UK”.
It is always important to remember these people probably rarely ventured out of their village. I met a 78 years old white guy who never left his village/area until he was 77. He never even went to London, till that year, and was surprised when his weird beliefs about Londoners weren’t exactly borne out.
There is a general ignorance and lack of exposure. But there is also an actual general hatred of the “other”. Nearly every rural England person I know has this deep seated hatred/wariness of people.living literally a village over. So, when I rock up with my big black ass, good looks and two degrees in science and computing, I sort of expect them to also be wary of me. I never take it personally. Just teach one person at a time, and hope they are sincere when they tell you they’ll be less prejudiced in the future.
At least two of the articles in the header image are at least 2 years old. The British countryside is full of people who don’t give a damn about a person’s skin colour or beliefs, because people in the countryside have space and just get on. It’s people living close to each other in large ethnic groups that cause problems for others. For example, Britain has a lot of Chinese, see your local takeaway for examples, but because they live amongst us, there is little racism towards them.
This thread is just another example of Reform hate speech.
I’m a white European and I have to say that this is scary. 🙁 they’re taking your Englisshness away and trying to ruin your patriotic values
UK is a white majority country so what do they expect? I hate this lefty media. They’re the ones causing division between whites and blacks in the first place with such stupid articles
When was there ever an article saying that Africa is “not white enough?”. Let’s be honest. They wouldn’t dare
In many rural areas, they don’t like incomers. ANY incomers. I’m as white as white can be-and my family originated in farming stock just the other side of the county boundary, but moving to the small village I live in now, there are certain people who have made it clear that I’m an unwelcome intruder.
There is *definitely* some prejudice from some people. I feel like I’ve experienced 1% of what black people feel (or perhaps less than 1%, but I notice it more because I’ve never had it before). There have been people who look through me as if I don’t exist as a human being-and talk about me (overtly as an incomer) as if I wasn’t there.
I want to emphasise, this is a TINY number of the population. It’s easy to be stung by this treatment and think that means everyone here feels like that. Lucky, I’ve already got great contacts here, and we can laugh at those people. It’s easy for a white person who has never really suffered any material harm to laugh it off as a lot of silly nonsense. However, if a black person told me that they had experienced this kind of thing, I wouldn’t hesitate to believe them. I actually *know* it’s a thing.