The Student Room Group

Feeling accepted in Britain (for ethnic minorities)

So today,I went out to the pharmacy to get some essentials etc and as I was walking back home I came across two guys who seemed to look normal at first sight. One of them then just suddenly came up to me and started asking questions about where i'm from and then went on to insult my background after I told him I was part middle eastern and part italian. He also blamed 'my people' for the Paris attack today and was rambling on and on,bearing in my mind this was in a shop and everyone could hear and see the harsh racist comments he was making. He said stuff like 'oh you will never be british,no matter what you or you people do to try to fit in'...
so after I left the store and got home, I started thinking further about what he was saying. I mean I may have been born here but I don't even feel british at all! I've never dated a fully british guy for this reason I guess. I mean, I follow a similar culture(drinking,partying,how I dress etc) but will ethnic minorities ever be accepted into british society?! Do those on this forum who were born into ethnic families feel like they are accepted or do you still feel like an outsider?
(edited 9 years ago)

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I'm an ethnic minority and I've never once had a problem or felt that I'm not British. Sorry for your experience.
I'm a halfie or hapa. My mother is Ethnic Chinese Indonesian and my father is German. I've lived in 5 different countries :/ I've always struggled with that, and have intentionally chosen a university that is surrounded by a warm and international community.

I know how its like to face discrimination and racism based on your looks. It is best if you just carry on with your day, unless it is definitely police report worthy (I have reported a racist to the police!). You have the right to feel safe! I'm so sorry about your experience :frown:
I feel British. Whether people accept it or not, its their problem.
It is fine for most 'minorities'.

It's just Muslims that most people have a problem with, sometimes wrongly, sometimes justifiably.
Reply 5
Original post by majatheaztec
I'm a halfie or hapa. My mother is Ethnic Chinese Indonesian and my father is German. I've lived in 5 different countries :/ I've always struggled with that, and have intentionally chosen a university that is surrounded by a warm and international community.

I know how its like to face discrimination and racism based on your looks. It is best if you just carry on with your day, unless it is definitely police report worthy (I have reported a racist to the police!). You have the right to feel safe! I'm so sorry about your experience :frown:


It was just so shameful,like they would just say the word ethnic 10 times in a sentence on purpose as if to emphasise I'm inferior
Original post by queen-bee
It was just so shameful,like they would just say the word ethnic 10 times in a sentence on purpose as if to emphasise I'm inferior


Sounds very hateful and bitter. Please don't let it get to you! :frown:
Reply 7
Original post by majatheaztec
Sounds very hateful and bitter. Please don't let it get to you! :frown:


I haven't Completely but feel alittle insecure
I don't care if I'm accepted, I'm taking your jeewbs:yeah:
Ignore them OP, blame the media for perpetuating racist stereotypes. Not every Muslim is ISIS, etc. My ex also dealt with this, it must be awful
Reply 10
Original post by queen-bee
So today,I went out to the pharmacy to get some essentials etc and as I was walking back home I came across two guys who seemed to look normal at first sight. One of them then just suddenly came up to me and started asking questions about where i'm from and then went on to insult my background after I told him I was part middle eastern and part italian. He also blamed 'my people' for the Paris attack today and was rambling on and on,bearing in my mind this was in a shop and everyone could hear and see the harsh racist comments he was making. He said stuff like 'oh you will never be british,no matter what you or you people do to try to fit in'...
so after I left the store and got home, I started thinking further about what he was saying. I mean I may have been born here but I don't even feel british at all! I've never dated a fully british guy for this reason I guess. I mean, I follow a similar culture(drinking,partying,how I dress etc) but will ethnic minorities ever be accepted into british society?! Do those on this forum who were born into ethnic families feel like they are accepted or do you still feel like an outsider?
you are talknig about two different points here - general racism/xenopohbia ie in general people with some chip on their shoulder or fear of the unknown ie people who dont look like them ( often people darker than them) This is the most prmitive form of bigotry

the other you mention is the current issues with islamic groups, who unfortunatley in promoting their own faith are dirtying the name of other people who happen to be of the same faith. becuase islamic fundamentalism is a global problem, this is an issue not just in europe but pretty much anywhere you go now. and also brown people who arnt at all muslims get this sort of aggro too btw, becuase frankly the average white person on the street is too thick to spot differences
Reply 11
Original post by queen-bee
So today,I went out to the pharmacy to get some essentials etc and as I was walking back home I came across two guys who seemed to look normal at first sight. One of them then just suddenly came up to me and started asking questions about where i'm from and then went on to insult my background after I told him I was part middle eastern and part italian. He also blamed 'my people' for the Paris attack today and was rambling on and on,bearing in my mind this was in a shop and everyone could hear and see the harsh racist comments he was making. He said stuff like 'oh you will never be british,no matter what you or you people do to try to fit in'...
so after I left the store and got home, I started thinking further about what he was saying. I mean I may have been born here but I don't even feel british at all! I've never dated a fully british guy for this reason I guess. I mean, I follow a similar culture(drinking,partying,how I dress etc) but will ethnic minorities ever be accepted into british society?! Do those on this forum who were born into ethnic families feel like they are accepted or do you still feel like an outsider?





Don't let some peoples actions blur the image of all british people for you. it says more about them than you that they would behave like that, some people are ignorant and fools, and that's the way it's always gonna be unfortunately. I am British, was born in England and all my friends are from different cultures and heritages and it's never been a problem for me or any1 that I know. I'm sorry to hear sum1 spoke to you like that!
I think just as those madmen in Paris don't represent all of the Middle East, one racist jerk in a store doesn't represent the whole country. I've found that most people where I live are really friendly and accepting and are even surprised that I don't want to be considered British. I was also born/raised in a country that my fam isn't from and never felt part of it, but it's never really bothered me because I know who I am. For you, if you walk, talk, and act like one and then want to define yourself as one, then nobody has a right to take it from you, especially not on the basis of how you look
Reply 13
[QUOTE="Thuggee;52734977"]you are talknig about two different points here - general racism/xenopohbia ie in general people with some chip on their shoulder or fear of the unknown ie people who dont look like them ( often people darker than them) This is the most prmitive form of bigotry

the other you mention is the current issues with islamic groups, who unfortunatley in promoting their own faith are dirtying the name of other people who happen to be of the same faith. becuase islamic fundamentalism is a global problem, this is an issue not just in europe but pretty much anywhere you go now. and also brown people who arnt at all muslims get this sort of aggro too btw, becuase frankly the average white person on the street is too thick to spot differences[/QUOTE

I generally agree
A lot of the time I don't feel at home, safe or welcome where I live and I was born in Britain sp what it must be like for others like yourself I don't dare imagine.

OP: Did no one in the shop tell these guys to stop or did they just carry on with their days like everything was normal???
Original post by queen-bee
So today,I went out to the pharmacy to get some essentials etc and as I was walking back home I came across two guys who seemed to look normal at first sight. One of them then just suddenly came up to me and started asking questions about where i'm from and then went on to insult my background after I told him I was part middle eastern and part italian. He also blamed 'my people' for the Paris attack today and was rambling on and on,bearing in my mind this was in a shop and everyone could hear and see the harsh racist comments he was making. He said stuff like 'oh you will never be british,no matter what you or you people do to try to fit in'...
so after I left the store and got home, I started thinking further about what he was saying. I mean I may have been born here but I don't even feel british at all! I've never dated a fully british guy for this reason I guess. I mean, I follow a similar culture(drinking,partying,how I dress etc) but will ethnic minorities ever be accepted into british society?! Do those on this forum who were born into ethnic families feel like they are accepted or do you still feel like an outsider?


Honestly, if I was approached like that, I'd just be so annoyed. Not because they offended me, but because I just don't have time to entertain idiots. No decent human being would say anything like that so I would just assume that they were some breed of chav or other degenerate and move on. Oh, you don't like the colour of my skin? Stop sucking up my oxygen you uneducated moron.
just ignore them. Their acceptance is not what makes you British or not.
Original post by queen-bee
So today,I went out to the pharmacy to get some essentials etc and as I was walking back home I came across two guys who seemed to look normal at first sight. One of them then just suddenly came up to me and started asking questions about where i'm from and then went on to insult my background after I told him I was part middle eastern and part italian. He also blamed 'my people' for the Paris attack today and was rambling on and on,bearing in my mind this was in a shop and everyone could hear and see the harsh racist comments he was making. He said stuff like 'oh you will never be british,no matter what you or you people do to try to fit in'...
so after I left the store and got home, I started thinking further about what he was saying. I mean I may have been born here but I don't even feel british at all! I've never dated a fully british guy for this reason I guess. I mean, I follow a similar culture(drinking,partying,how I dress etc) but will ethnic minorities ever be accepted into british society?! Do those on this forum who were born into ethnic families feel like they are accepted or do you still feel like an outsider?


Like you, I am also mixed. Half Arab and half white. There are some SICK people out there but guess what? who is british? Even our beloved Queen Lizzie is German. There is no British culture, nothing. Be proud that you are mixed with two ethnicities that mean and represent something.

My white mother? Her family don't even know what they are. German/French by ancestry and I heard a whisper of them being Jewish! HAHA! British though is what my UKIP racist uncle screams from his lungs. Utter waste.

Be proud! We mixed babies are taking over! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!
Reply 18
Original post by Inglisred
Honestly, if I was approached like that, I'd just be so annoyed. Not because they offended me, but because I just don't have time to entertain idiots. No decent human being would say anything like that so I would just assume that they were some breed of chav or other degenerate and move on. Oh, you don't like the colour of my skin? Stop sucking up my oxygen you uneducated moron.


I've this tanned,olive tone abit light,I think it's because my exotic feautures,they realised I wasn't originally from here :tongue:
They were well dressed,I'm guessing business men and this happened in a nice part of london in kensington and Chelsea
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by queen-bee
I'm this tanned,olive tone but a light down,I think it's because my exotic feautures,they realised I wasn't originally from here :tongue:
They were well dressed,I'm guessing business men and this happened in a nice part of london in kensington and Chelsea


I look like a white girl, just how my self-hating arab dad wanted. ¬__¬ My hair is my give away. LOL, I could supply weaves for days!

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