Racism

I thought that as coronation street was covering racism I would comment on it. I am going to try sit on the fence because as I said I would never judge anyone by their race. I love anyone regardless (you can tell I’m on the wine). I have been involved with people of different races many times in my life. I never judged them on their race but their character. For example: the fling I had with a black college friend. It was really a one-night drunken thing when he told me he was into me and then I found out he was with lots of different women telling them the exact same thing. That isn’t judging him by his race. He was a complete player who thought that all the women he was going with wouldn’t find out about each other. I used to go to Leicester a lot while I was at college after going back to do GCSE’s where, as a white person, I would get racism from other races who were darker skinned. I didn’t like it, but the city and any area now can potentially be a melting pot full of cultural clashes. There is a general feeling amongst a lot of people that everything is starting to be owned by foreign people now. That does add to that melting pot. I have noticed it but it’s no excuse to start on each other. I understand why everyone stays in specific groups because it’s safety in numbers kind of thing. I do understand how horrific many people have been attacked in a racist way and the horrible things that people have said purely because they have an issue with someone’s race. The month I spent in prison due to my disability issues was quite eye opening. There were so many people in there that were either foreign or a person of colour (the percentage was higher than anyone else). I’m not discussing whether they were innocent or guilty if the crimes that got them in there. There was a black girl I met in there who had been waiting on remand for months. Her solicitor hadn’t been in touch. She had children and a young baby on the outside. She was one of many persons of colour who had been taken into custody and waiting to be put in court. This was 2018 before all the long court date waits. It’s all about survival. They’re bought up to be aware of the outside world’s prejudices. They know that it is going to be harder for them when people see their skin tone, hear their accent etc. I probably seem like some timid weak white girl because I’m affected by what I’ve been through. Maybe I am but in white culture it’s not the same struggles. We can still be attacked etc because of the prejudices of others. I have been. I try not to sound racist when I’m communicating with people. I’m genuinely interested in the lives of others but some of the things I say can come out wrong. I have occasionally upset indigenous people online and basically got told I didn’t see my white privilege etc. That was my ignorance… I hold my hands up to that. I didn’t do that on purpose. I genuinely did not know. I think we all have to be honest with each other’s realities otherwise there will never be an end to racism etc because no one will understand each other’s point of view.