Out walking with my gf on Sunday we passed a bloke near the allotments. We said hello as you do, but then he goes…
“Just contemplating tomorrow morning…”
“me too, mondays eh?”
“yeah. Now I don’t mind Christian groups, but tomorrow, now I’ve travelled all over Asia, and tomorrow I’ve got to go to a Muslim community group, and if any of them come up to me trying to be my friend I’ll not be impressed.” He carried on like this to me and my dumbstruck gf for about a minute at which point
I stopped him, told him I thought his comments were racist, narrow minded and wrong before leaving him to his allotment. It was all in the same kind of tone as you’d discuss the weather.

What the hell did he aim to achieve? We carried on confused and annoyed that idiots like this feel within their rights to share such bull. Sorry – its been on my mind.

Edit: title changed as how can you provoke racism??

I wasn’t aware that Muslims were a “race”?

hoping you were like-minded perhaps?

not that you need anyone’s approval for doing so, but well done for having the guts to tell him you thought he was being racist… most people seem to keep quiet then come onto the internet to tell other people instead of the perpetrators of such hateful ignorance.

i’m not sure muslims are a race, but then again by the sounds of your story the guy doing his gardening might not have been to clear on that either!

I wasn’t aware that Muslims were a “race”?

They are to racists.

Was going to say that ‘prompt’ might have been a better word.

I climbed Scafel Pike about a month ago late on a Thursday evening… was about 7:30 or so as I was getting to the top.

Some local guys were coming down… “there’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down” they said.

How many white couples do you think were also at the peak at that time of the evening?

Obviously needed to vent his thoughts on the subject.
Perhaps he thought you’d be sympathetic. I often find people like that run out of steam when you don’t agree with what they are saying and realise that they are in fact talking a load of borlacks….

I used to regularly get called things like “effin’ white honkey” by groups of asian kids in cars after school, which I guess was unprovoked racism.
Funnily enough, they never used to say it when they weren’t in a car or a large group. Could never work out why.

I wasn’t aware that Muslims were a “race”?

Yeah, just what I was thinking. Or have I missed something.

GrahamS – Member

I wasn’t aware that Muslims were a “race”?

They are to racists.

A-ha. Take your point.

What the hell did he aim to achieve?

Roughly sums up your post.

WD for pointing out that he was a tool. Did he happen to have a rolled up copy of the mail on sunday next to his deckchair?

It’s a generation thing, innit. People of a certain age and bigotry believe that everyone else thinks the same way as they do because thirty years ago a lot of people probably did.

He’s probably over on allotmentworld.com now, bemoaning the snotty young couple who called him names and stuck up for the **** at the weekend.

I used to regularly get called things like “effin’ white honkey” by groups of asian kids in cars after school, which I guess was unprovoked racism.

Good point. I’ve been on the receiving end of similar and I sometimes wonder if some folk on here realize the racism door, sadly, swings both ways.
Sadly.

Agree it’s slightly racist but it’s a free country and the chap is entitled to say whatever he wants at the end of the day.

You don’t have to agree with him but he is entitled to his opinion however misguided it may seem.

I might have been inclined to ask what he thought the difference was between “christian groups” and “muslim groups” and why he thought one was acceptable and the other not…

Some local guys were coming down… “there’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down” they said.

How many white couples do you think were also at the peak at that time of the evening?

I don’t think that, on its own, is particularly racist, is it? They just gave you an informative description of the couple they were concerned about.

Northernstar, are you saying he should be celebrated as a champion of free speech?

Racist!

I’m struggling to see why this is racist:

Some local guys were coming down… “there’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down” they said.

I’m struggling to see why this is racist:

The racist version would surely be, “here’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they get lost on the way down,” n’est-ce pas?

alexxx… it’s not exactly racist… just that I didn’t need to know the colour of their skin… they happened to also be American and overweight, but I wasn’t told this.
They also happened to be the only couple up there.

I’m struggling to see why this is racist:

Some local guys were coming down… “there’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down” they said.

Same here, Unprepared Townies can be black as well you know. On the other hand if they are real overseas tourists they are probably more prepared than the locals.

alexxx… it’s not exactly racist… just that I didn’t need to know the colour of their skin… they happened to also be American and overweight, but I wasn’t told this.

“Overweight” wouldn’t narrow it down much in this country and could be a rather offensive description. “American” would only help if you heard them talking. “Black” identifies them easily, from a distance (assuming there weren’t any other black couples about).

Seems fine to me.

it’s not exactly racist… just that I didn’t need to know the colour of their skin

So your argument isn’t that the people talking to you were racist, just that they were verbose?

His other comments, re Asians ‘trying to make friends with me’ were certainly racist. His Muslim groups comment was his preamble to why he might find himself confronted with non-white folk.

But hey, you make a valid point about Islam not being a race.

It’s not an argument.

There were 3 people on the hill that evening.

Me and the couple.

have you considered the fact that you may very well look racist..?

Maybe your girlfriend has the look of a far right extremist..?

Have you therefore considered the alarm and distress that you may be causing to minority groups as you take your ‘innocent’ walks..?
Hmm..?
Not so easy to be so superior now that the shoe’s on the other foot hey..?
Oh ‘superior’ are you..? like the ‘superior race’ perhaps..?
Your outrageous and carefree racism shocks and appalls me..

It’s people like you that make the world such a dangerous place to live in..

I was trying to work out what indicated to him I might be receptive to his views. Weird.

Less flippantly,

“there’s a couple up there, make sure they’re ok” is vague enough that if you were to subsequently encounter a hitherto undiscovered pair of experienced fell walkers, you might think “well, nothing to worry about there then,” and come back down leaving the other two overlooked. By specifying a distinguishing feature – I’m guessing that you don’t get many black walkers in that area – you’re given additional information with which to positively identify the couple in question.

Compare and contrast, “there’s a couple up there, a guy in a blue hat and a woman wearing shorts, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down.”

have you considered the fact that you may very well look racist..?

And what exactly does a racist look like..eh?

Racistist!

There were 3 people on the hill that evening.

… that you were aware of. Could you / the group of locals (who were also on the hill) conclusively say there was no-one else at all?

That’s rubbish racism.

You should come over and see India – they’re proper brilliant at racism!

I’m making going to make a black coffee and sit on my white sofa.

Stop stirring.

Fair point Cougar, we couldn’t. I can say that the black couple were far more prepared than me though!

TBH, I don’t actually GAS. I’m so left wing I’ve even got racist friends now.

I’m so left wing I’ve even got racist friends now.

😆 Thanks Yeti that’s made my day.

Internet argument fail, you’re not supposed to agree with me!

(-:

I’m struggling to see why this is racist:

Some local guys were coming down… “there’s a black couple up there, do us a favour and make sure they’re ok and know the way down” they said.

Same here. Not racist but merely giving some important information just in case of emergency. 🙄

Sorry Cougar, I was about to start citing the statistical likelihood of other walkers being on the hill at that time, cross referenced with a graph of average daylight hours for May.

Then I got distracted by a dog running around in the car park outside.

i’d be very scared if i saw a black couple riding in swinley…. it could be my MD, and he’s definitely NOT invited to my sexy parties. chatting in the car the other day i made sure to mention that there’s lots of good riding around where he lives and he doesn’t need to drive to swinley to ride haha

TSY – there’s a dog in the car park? Unsupervised? Pooing?

It did a wee against someone’s car and ran off.
It was a white staffy with a black patch on it’s face if that’s any help.