How many of you have witnessed racism in Newbury? Am I the only person to have the back of their house coated in egg? Or is it only my children who have also been told that they can't go into the local (Turnpike) parks because other children have said that they don't let Pakies and Iraqi's in. First of all my children are a quarter Trinidadian and not Pakistani at all, they only have a very slight tan, Why does colour matter anyway? This in not the Newbury I learnt to love. If I had the money I'd move far away from here. As it is I'll sit here beneath my buddliea bush and watch the diverse colours of the many butterflies feeding off the nectar and how well they can share the bush together in total harmony.

Hi,

First we are talking about ignorance here. Ones colour doesn’t matter, but their character and how we treat one another does.

What you are saying is appalling. Personally I’ve never come across it on Turnpike - I’ve on the estate for 30 years and my kids were brought up here as well. So you are not alone. The people I know would never tolerate such behaviour/ language.

As for Trinidad and Pakistan; ignorance wouldn’t be able to differentiate between the both. All I can see that you should contact the local policewoman - she is a nice lady - called Jo Pomprey. She will help you. You can PM for her phone number if you want.

Just remember you are not alone. You talk about moving; the trouble is you can move straight into another set of problems. Personally I don’t think the answer is to leave. Fight it and there will be people who will help you fight it.

Racism and homophobia are my two main bugbears. Both are based on a lack of knowledge and understanding.


You are not alone my friend, but those who abuse are.


Glenn

I am in total agreement with GMR's take on the situation.
I am at a total loss to the answer apart from the use of a 12 bore. I appreciate these people ,though in a minority , can make life hades for the recipients of such abuse, Somehow you have to look beyond the negative and grasp the positive parts of your life for support.
I know all you want to do is be allowed to live your life , raise your family and enjoy a few pleasures.
Please put any thoughts of moving out of your mind, after all apart from jumping out of the frying pan into the fire you must have some friends here ( you now have two supporters on here at least ).
Racism unfortunately will never be eradicated, one can not legislate against biggotry or ignorance but it is the responsibility of all of us to stand up to it whenever it raises it's ugly head.
Please take comfort from the postings on here and be aware that 99% of the people in Newbury are just that : people ; not black, white , khaki or sky blue pink and see the person not the skin.

Total agreement with lordtup and GMR.

I sympathise and wish you well.

I think young kids, in schools especially, will always pick on each other a little and you should kind of expect it a bit, but try and keep it in check by communicating with the staff and teachers. As far as having eggs thrown at your house goes, I find that behaviour absolutely vile. It makes me feel sick that people can get away with it. Unfortunatly, Turnpike is a an area known to have more than it's fair share of trouble, and I'm sure the police ignore most of it anyway. I don't know what to suggest to help, but I hope you can remain strong and keep standing up to the bullies, hopefully one day you will get the better of them.

I do have ways of dealing with bullies, unfortunately, there is a law against snipers using rifles or any other forms of lethal instruments. Also, and as we have seen from certain members on here, hanging is frowned upon. That is through either courts; kangaroo or normal

Of all the postings on this forum , this one seems to be the most harrowing.
One of the great joys of this site is the various banter both for and against the original topic.
The response to this one so far has been somewhat muted ( numerically at least ),and I can only conclude that it is because of the very real seriousness of the subject.
Maybe contributors are reticent of comment because they do not know what to say. Well take it from me that any words of support for the poster will be welcomed.
So I ask you all to stand and be counted and show the bully boys that we will not tolerate such behaviour.

Yet again, you are right Strafin! I have always worked with children, and sometimes they can be unkind to each other. If I had ever been in the situation where I'd have had the opportunity to re-create Jane Elliot's Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes experiment, I'd have done it. I am convinced the effects would be far reaching, educating our tommorow's adults in a way they would understand & remember.
It's hard to know what to say to Snow Leopardess, except that as difficult as it may be, know & believe that many are not racist, me included.

Or that they don’t comment because they don’t share our views. We’ve become so politically correct that if we express our views – which goes against the grain – we are quickly jumped upon. Just a thought!

In my original reply I said one of my bugbears was homophobia and racism. Why!? Because it is a form of bullying. To be honest I don’t actually think it is because of the colour of one’s skin bullies bully. People bully because they want to feel superior and get great satisfaction lording it over another. People are bullied for all different reasons; because they are black, white, gay, Chinese, English, American, handicapped, ugly, beautiful, intelligent, stupid, well-off, poor, left-handed etc. When I was at school, and even at work in my younger days, I was bullied so I know what it feels like to be picked out of a group because one is different. Bully’s bully because they feel an air of superiority. What people don’t realise is that it is them that are inferior and stupid. When I was at school teachers turned a blind eye to it – or at least some did – believing it made a man out of you; can’t quite see how getting your head kicked in by 12 or so people made a man out of you, but there you go. What they don’t realise is its affect on ones education, their character and can also affect ones mental state. In some cases some have thought it was a better option ending one’s own life than suffering the bullying.

I guess we both have come from the same era of hard knocks that states that boys need to be subjected to such barbarity in order to make men out of us.
Education , or at least a proper one , is the answer to all our ills.The fact that the tabloid press constantly outsells the serious papers only highlights how we are failing generation after generation. I consider myself lucky in having parents who imparted on me that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,so the more we know the more we understand, but I still find great difficulty in getting my head round the mentality of someone who is critical of another because of the colour of their skin.It has absolutely no logic to it at all.
We may be getting off topic here ,but it would be interesting to know if anyone else has been subjected to this sort of thing in Newbury,or indeed does anyone actually think that racial bullying is acceptable and care to explain to me why.

I haven't viewed this forum much this weekend and have only just seen your post. I am stunned and extremely disappointed in the behaviour that your children have encountered. It is disgusting and sadly a lot more common than people in this area would believe.

When I first moved into this area I was astounded at the views of people that i met regarding the 'ethnic minorities' in the Newbury area. We moved here from London where racism is more a problem between black and asian people rather than racism coming from 'white' people. It seems that Newbury is taking more time to catch up with the larger more metropplolitan areas of the country in it's educationally social views.

There are not so many ethnic minorities in this area compared to Reading, lets say, so therefore ethnic minorities and people of a mixed race stand out more. Catch up Newbury and give respect to ALL.

This is a racially agrevated crime and the Police in this area will NOT ignore it and WILL deal with it ROBUSTLY as will the courts!

I feel strongly that more people on this forum should quote on this matter and keep this subject at the top of the list.

Snow Leopardess please contact the police? They will take it seriously and give it the attention that this sort of crime and intimidation requires.

PM me if you need any advice, support or anything and I will do my utmost to assist you in any way that I can.

Even though I understand what you are saying – and you are right that things are gradually starting to change in Newbury – there is still no excuse for it and nor should we be making any. I brought up four kids on my own – while unemployed – and I instilled in them that we are all equal and that if we need to judge a person then we judge their character/ how they/ we treat one another etc. All my children are like me and hate intimidation, abuse, bullying racism and homophobia. I also explained why we are all different colours/ cultures etc and where we originally came from. There is no excuse for this sort of behaviour... We are living in the 21st Century for Christ sake... this isn’t the 60’s were racism was tolerated or hidden under the carpet.

This might be a bit too nit-picky, but could you please use the term racism if that's what you mean?

The problem is that not everyone is raised with the same philosophy. We may well be appalled by the antics of the few , but the only way to eradicate such feelings in their minds is either by selective breeding or by the majority standing up and repelling this insidious concept.

Maybe we should remember the 18th century politician Edmund Burke's famous quotation.

"For evil to triumph it only requires that good men do nothing."

I absolutely agree that we are no longer in theh 60's and we should not tolerate anykind of racism which is why I feel that this topic should remain at the top of the list and not be lost. The word should be spread, in any manner possible, to those who feel that it is all right to abuse people that it is not acceptable and will lead not to only to legal action but also to those who are guilty to be shunned by their peers.

I just wish more people would comment on this topic.

There are those who are quite happy to winge about the the regular 'posters' taking over so, here is their opportunity to add comments on an extremely important subject. Tesco's trollleys should not have more attention than this subject!

I agree totally...

I also agree that people moan that certain people post too much on here, and do nothing themselves to contribute to a single debate.

Exactly my friend, exactly.

[quote name='lordtup' date='Aug 9 2009, 05:06 PM' post='4942']
The problem is that not everyone is raised with the same philosophy. We may well be appalled by the antics of the few , but the only way to eradicate such feelings in their minds is either by selective breeding or by the majority standing up and repelling this insidious concept.

Edmund Burke

"For evil to triumph it only requires that good men do nothing."

Love it

Albert Einstein said: "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

Sorry about that Strafin: I suffer from word blindness and i am slightly dyslexic; Which means when I read it back my brain fills the correct spelling in/ even though it is written wrong. Like "think" and "thing" always get muddled up.

1. You can't be slightly dyslexic, 2. it's not the spelling it's the fact that the two words mean different things, I thought your term belittled the points you were making, which were good.

Actually you can be slightly dyslexic; there are many degrees of dyslexia.

Looking at it now I can see the mistake and I do know/ did know the difference; however because I didn’t pick it up the first time tells you something. When I read it back it said racism and not racialism in my head. It is something I have had all my life. One way I can get around it is by writing on word and transferring it to a post. Different background/ text usually picks up my errors.

By the way I am grateful to you for picking it up and letting me know as I hate making mistakes and I get a chance to correct it.

No problem, hate to be picky but it didn't sound like you

Well, I get annoyed when I make mistakes. If you or somebody else didn’t point them out then they might presume I meant racialism instead of racialist; which would confuse things. I am more annoyed with myself; but it is a fault within me. On the bright side; if I didn’t make those mistakes I’d be perfect then instead of pointing out my mistakes you’d be worshipping me

Racist or racialist, racism or racialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialism

I learned something reading this too!

Snow Leopardess you have all my sympathy for the shameless way your family has been treated.

Personally I would move away from Turnpike because it is a breeding ground for all that is wrong in this country e.g. teenage parents, crime, anti-social behaviour, drugs and benefit scroungers. The place, like the Nightingales, needs tearing down.

To answer your original question I have never witnessed any racism in Newbury but that is not to say I am naive enough to believe Newbury does not have any racists. These people are cowards and often wait until they are in a safe, non-public area to carry out their evil. I do believe these people are in the minority and it is up to every single last one of us to educate our children to ensure this disease is eradicated from this world.

GMR, In another topic you seem to take offence to someones suggestion you post to much. Sorry if I'm incorrect by this. Anyway I was following this post but between you some others I've completely lost track and I believe that you have basically trashed a surious point someone else was trying to make. Anyway post away

Racism is unfortunately a fact of life. It is the manifestation of being different.
It's not just about colour but culture too.
This sort of behaviour needs to be dealt with quickly and firmly and I would urge you to contact the Police preferably with some sort of recorded evidence.

Yes, I tend to agree with Andy here. Many of these posts do end up as a discussion about you and not the subject it is intended for.

First of all I wasn’t offended and according to user he wasn’t pointing the finger at just me, but a few of us.

As for trashing this thread; I don’t think so. I replied to somebody’s post; which is the respectful thing to do. Read the other threads and you will see that my replies to Strafin didn’t deter anybody. I think you write over enthusiastically I am afraid (maybe for attention). By the way; pointing out my ‘errors or manners’ is doing exactly what you accuse me of and gone off topic; at least I’ve contributed constructively to this thread, you on the other hand haven’t actually contributed to this thread about racism at all, and you say I‘ve trashed this thread. Pot, black and kettle spring to mind. You could have easily PM’d me to point out your concerns instead of drawing attention to yourself and away from the actual topics concerns.

I apologise but as I said I was replying politely to a member on here and Andy was doing what he was exactly complaining about. Hopefully we can get back on track.

Great, You contribute well to this forum ( and you agree with me on a lot of issues) so I wouldn't want to p*** you off.

You don’t my friend and if I do make mistakes I believe they should be pointed out. I agree that when I replied to Strafin - which I did respectfully - maybe it wasn’t the right place. As I said, for that I apologise and I appreciate your input and others; ie giving me a slap on the wrists for my faux pas. My mistakes only show my human side coming out



Getting back on topic.

I am surprised that they don’t teach about the wrongs of racism in schools. A lot of the problems you hear about are generated by kids attitudes and lack of understanding towards other cultures and ways. Schools should set up projects that explains to kids that we are all the same underneath, we all originated from the same place (Africa) and the reasons for differences.

Not only that but if we can spot signs of lack of understanding of others in youngsters we also could also bring the parents of those kids into the equation.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?

I couldnt agree more. Having lived in and around parts of Newbury for most of my life, this type of ignorance is everywhere. Although many people knock Turnpike, there are still a lot of good decent people who live there, that will stand up to this sort of behaviour with you. Hold your head up, and as I'm sure you already do, teach your kids to be proud of who they are. thats what counts.

I am surprised that they don’t teach about the wrongs of racism in schools. A lot of the problems you hear about are generated by kids attitudes and lack of understanding towards other cultures and ways. Schools should set up projects that explains to kids that we are all the same underneath, we all originated from the same place (Africa) and the reasons for differences.

Not only that but if we can spot signs of lack of understanding of others in youngsters we also could also bring the parents of those kids into the equation.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this?
[/quote]
I think that schools do teach the virtues of racial and cultural tolerance. This is certainly the case since I was at school. Then if you were different from the mass in any way you had to put up with being singled out and bullied.
As I have said earlier being different in any way does cause alienation in the response from some people and in some it is deeply ingrained and no amount of teaching will eliminate the predudice.
Racial relationships are much better however there are areas where these can be strained due to perceptions that the minority group are being given a better deal than the others and where the minority group grows to become the majority threatening the perceived security of the others.
All very complicated but respect for others is the message regardless of colour, creed or culture.

Hi Bloggo,

I agree about respect to others should be paramount over everything else. Schools do teach respect to a degree, but they don’t go deep enough to my mind.

It may or may not be relevant , but Snow leopardess the original poster, has not added any comments since this debate took hold.
Maybe she would like to comment on the support she is getting

I think if she was observing she would have already commented on this thread. Probably she only has access to the computer at certain times or maybe she has to go to the library to access a computer.

See my earlier post ref; Jane Elliott's blue eyes/brown eyes experiment. It got her into alot of trouble in the late 60's & 70's, but Boy! didn't it teach a memorable lesson to everyone involved, both children, their parents & in more recent times adults interested in psychology. Think it is now considered not to be p.c & strangely radical?!

Valid point, thanks

This was an interesting experiment; which i read about many years ago. However, it also created controversy.

Rather than go into any great depth here and bore people ridged I'll put the link up for people to judge for themselves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott

My 15 yr old daughter was in Poundland with her friend last Wednesday and there was an adult customer in the shop racially abusing the shopkeeper! It happens a lot unfortunately. Even in Newbury!

Well you should have called the police as the person in question I believe was breaking the law!

I wouldn't have called the police, I would have said something... then you would have saw the **** hit the fan.

I only found out about it the day before yesterday so it would not have been much help calling the police then. My daughter did nothing because the shopkeeper just ignored the abuser and started serving my daughters friend as if nothing had happened. He was obviously, sadly, used to it. My daughter said that the abuser was quite obviously either drunk or on drugs.

Apologies, I assumed from your post that you were there at the same time.

Ossy1, just out of curiousity if somebody had called the police would the person have been arrested? and following the arrest what would have been the likelyhood of it going further than the old slap on the wrist?

Ossy1 hasn't reply on this thread.

I know but he/she may do.