Racists at work

[Gavin Bl]

Why can't you just say "I fucking hate racists, you cunt"? I've used that line before and it works wonders. Or is it a bit too blunt?

God I've lost count of the number of times I wished I said that to people, instead of bottling it. Not good at confrontations, y'see.

 

[bluestreak]

racists at work eh? tricky one.

the worst i ever worked with was a bloke at seeboard who was waiting to move to france so that he didn't have to watch britain going to the dogs with all the immigrants coming over here. despite the fact that there were almost no immigrants in worthing ffs. but he'd decided along the way that immigration was the cause of all of his problems. i argued for a while, but in the end it got a little heated - not unfriendly, just circular and never-ending, and we were asked if we could avoid any mention of it by the rest of the office, which we agreed to do. other than that he was a nice enough fella though. fucking moron, but friendly and generous (provided you weren;t an immigrant i guess). that type who'd never be rude to their faces, but would happily vote for the bnp.

 

[pinched_nerve]

A long time mate of mine worries me a bit about his outlook as of late. He's come out with some stupid stuff, fair play. He's never been out of our home town bar the odd holiday and he rattles on about immigrants and "muslims" (generic person of Asian origin really, since he gets that mixed up with Indian, Pakistani... probably French too) when there's hardly anyone non-white in the fucking town! I've just taken to ignoring him now because he's harmless and I'm fairly certain he hardly believes what he's on about, he's just spewing the same bullshit that his equally ill-informaed mates have come out with who've also hardly moved beyond their own front door.

I said something about the BNP and how they'd not come into our area yet (wouldn't see how they cause much unrest too much either in a practically all-white backwater town) and he said to me, "Have you had a look at their website" in a tone sort of implying he was going to say that they made sense. I interupted him, said "It's a load of bollocks mate", and he shut up, which was nice

 

[_angel_]

A long time mate of mine worries me a bit about his outlook as of late. He's come out with some stupid stuff, fair play. He's never been out of our home town bar the odd holiday and he rattles on about immigrants and "muslims" (generic person of Asian origin really, since he gets that mixed up with Indian, Pakistani... probably French too) when there's hardly anyone non-white in the fucking town! I've just taken to ignoring him now because he's harmless and I'm fairly certain he hardly believes what he's on about, he's just spewing the same bullshit that his equally ill-informaed mates have come out with who've also hardly moved beyond their own front door.

I said something about the BNP and how they'd not come into our area yet (wouldn't see how they cause much unrest too much either in a practically all-white backwater town) and he said to me, "Have you had a look at their website" in a tone sort of implying he was going to say that they made sense. I interupted him, said "It's a load of bollocks mate", and he shut up, which was nice

Think it's the all-white (or nearly) areas the bnp seem to be trying to get into.. still, least you got him to shut up..

 

[pinched_nerve]

Ahh okay I stand corrected

Yeah I can get him to shut up pretty easily, because he knows I don't believe in the crap he's on about. He's just a sheep to the bullshit that comes out from a lot of his mates who I would say probably don't have a clue either. It a tad ironic really when he's friendly (last time I checked) with the Asian family from the local corner shop; if I pulled him up on this I think he'd find a way to justify it and not say anything bad about them.

What does grate is that he's a decent bloke (I know they all say that) that doesn't have a clue what he's on about, even less so than me; but at least I can say I've lived in a couple of cities with a bit more of a mixture of people.

 

[ddraig]

Racist Friend
Jerry Dammers / Dick Cuthell / John Bradbury
If you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time for your friendship to end

Be it your sister
Be it your brother
Be it your cousin or your, uncle or your lover

If you have a racist friend
now is the time, now is the time for your friendship to end

Be it your best friend
Or any other
Is it your husband or your father or your mother?

Tell them to change their views
Or change their friends
Now is the time, now is the time, for your friendship to end

So if you know a racist who thinks he is your friend
Now is the time, now is the time for your friendship to end

Call yourself my friend?
Now is the time to make up your mind, don't try to pretend

Be it your sister
Be it your brother
Be it your cousin or your uncle or your lover

So if you are a racist
Our friendship has got to end
And if your friends are racists don't pretend to be my friend

So if you have a racist friend
Now is the time, now is the time for our friendship to end

GOODBYE

specials site

 

[pinched_nerve]

I'll save that for when I think he believes what comes out of his own mouth.

 

[_angel_]

I had a friend a bit like pinched nerve's and KNEW she was only paraphrasing what her other mates/ bf at the time was saying.... however, I lost contact with her on purpose (for about ten years) but have been back in touch since. She's grown up now and not the same

 

[october_lost]

The problem is they could move in the other direction Maddalene....

 

[j.w. Gilmore]

I've told you before - far too many of your posts seem to end up mentioning your book and/or your website. This is not a free advertising resource. Kindly stop doing so. Last warning.

I haven´t been on for a long time. This is the first time, infact, I remember you ever telling me that. Thank you. I just thought it was a great book about the subject that we were covering. That´s why I edited it to add something.

 

[j.w. Gilmore]

Im not sure about the website you posted, if people are really interested in helping to improve others lives why do they charge for the privilege?

But Id agree with much of what you said; I think a psychologist would call it solidarity, as humans we need co-operation and compassion, but some people get that through its negation, ie., racism and bigotry, which confirms there status within a given group.

But practical experience is worth whole libraries of academic writings.

Only because they have to eat.

 

[Soul On Ice]

<snip>
If there not, then isolate the said racists, by talking to others. If they are supported generally by the other white members of staff, then you have to try and be a dissenting voice. Theres also the Union if it exists in your workplace, and as a last resort management.

I'm a trade union offical and could give you loads of good advice - but to be honest lots of people have suggested helpful things and it's really up to you to decide teh best way forward. But I would say I actually disagree with the statement that going to management shouild be a last resort as ultimately it is the repsonsiblity of management and the employer to ensure that there is safe and pleasant working environment.

If you are in a union and there is a rep aty work you should raise it with them foirst. But you can just have a word in the ear of a manager and let them know what is going on. From your orignal post you state you have been subject to racism before so you know what it is all about so I think if you raise it with a manager they should understand the sensitivity (assuming that is that hte manager IS actually sensitivee to such issues).

Ultimately you should not have to work in an envirnoment where such crap is spouted, whether or not it is directed at you. One thing I can say for sure is that if no one raises it with management or the people making the remarks they will continue to make racist comments.

 

[coastloop]

It sounds as if he has a really low tolerance level, to anything I mean

to resent people for speaking in another language to you seems to suggest that he'd resent anything different from himself

 

[Poot]

I went through a similar thing when I moved from London to the West Country. I couldn't quite believe my ears when I heard the word P*kis uttered in the staff canteen, it had been so long since I'd heard it. And I couldn't believe how offensive I found it- I'd rather listen to my grandmother using the c word. And yes, it was in relation to "them coming over here and taking our jobs/women/benefits blah blah blah". I'd almost forgotten that there were still people who thought those things.

And of course the people who were spouting off had probably never met anyone who wasn't white- this area isn't exactly famous for its cultural diversity. Just the usual Sun-reader-believes-all-that's-written-and-doesn't-have-the-wherewithall-to-form-own-opinion nonsense really. I have never confronted anyone because we're a small team and I don't want to fall out with anyone. I simply leave the room to cool down or change the subject. But it is offensive in the extreme. Even if you're white it's offensive.

 

[j.w. Gilmore]

I went through a similar thing when I moved from London to the West Country. I couldn't quite believe my ears when I heard the word P*kis uttered in the staff canteen, it had been so long since I'd heard it. And I couldn't believe how offensive I found it- I'd rather listen to my grandmother using the c word. And yes, it was in relation to "them coming over here and taking our jobs/women/benefits blah blah blah". I'd almost forgotten that there were still people who thought those things.

And of course the people who were spouting off had probably never met anyone who wasn't white- this area isn't exactly famous for its cultural diversity. Just the usual Sun-reader-believes-all-that's-written-and-doesn't-have-the-wherewithall-to-form-own-opinion nonsense really. I have never confronted anyone because we're a small team and I don't want to fall out with anyone. I simply leave the room to cool down or change the subject. But it is offensive in the extreme. Even if you're white it's offensive.

It´s really sad. I think it shows that there is an underlying anger in some people against people who they consider outsiders. It´s very frightening, because as we have seen in the last millenium, the right person just taps into that anger, justifies it and then uses it for their own benefit. There is a view from Chrishna Morti that we are the world, meaning from a sociological point of view, that inside of us through our thoughts, behavior and conditioning, we carry all of the problems of the world right in us. Which I didn´t believe for many many years, but have come to believe.

When we see these behaviors we can see how we have been socialized just by living in the world and by being good people. That´s what is scary. How can we become free, independent human beings when a lot of us carry tons of baggadge that we don´t even know about? Someone once said that most of the troublesome people that we know only exhibit behaviors that differ from our own in frequency and intensity. Very interesting idea, eh?

 

[j.w. Gilmore]

When I was young the government tried to use busing in order to break down segregation. They bused from children from black neighborhoods to white neighborhoods and some from white neighborhoods to black neighborhodds. It was really a shock for the kids taking the buses, especially if you missed your bus and had to walk home, if you made it home at all.

It was terrible, but it did get people to know each other across races and classes. I think it changed people´s lives a lot. Whether it made them hate the other races more, or like them more, I don´t know. One of the worse problems were the parents who got upset because this was happening. Some of them actually didn´t want their children to get close to people from another race. According to statistics, now the US is more segregated then when it was by law during the time of slavery and right after. That is the big problem in the US and I don´t know if it will ever be taken care of.