Racism in the UK

I'm Chinese. I'm originally from Canada where it's very multicultural, especially in the city I'm from. Everywhere you look you see faces from diverse backgrounds, and everyone is a lot more open, friendly, and accepting over there. English people seem nice enough on the surface, but I can't tell if it's sincere or not.

Having been here for 4 months, I constantly feel like I have to be on guard for racism--the non-blatant, passive aggressive kind. I feel like a lot of Britons are closeted racists. Thankfully for me I speak English as well as any other Canadian English native speaker so I feel like at least I have a way of standing up for myself, of preserving my dignity. I get the sense that Chinese people are not as much part of the fabric of British society the way it is in Canada or North America. In all my life I've only been hassled once for being Asian in Canada, and that was in elementary school when kids are dumb and cruel.

I walked down the street today and some black kids in a car shouted "Konnichiwa!!" to me as they drove by. When I walked into an optical shop asking for advice on buying glasses, the shopkeeper said "I don't know about the YEN or whatever you've got in Canada" (him thinking I was Japanese just because I look Asian) and I answered very curtly "You mean dollar?" (Who doesn't know what currency Canada uses? Surely he must know it most certainly is not YEN!) Then he said "Right, your yenny dollar." I should've shut him up with some scathing reply, but I couldn't tell if he was making some lame joke or if he was being a racist jerk! His receptionist was eyeing him funny.

I knew about how races here tended to keep to themselves before I came here, but as I've just found British people to be really closed off, I'm beginning to understand why. Right before I came to the UK I spent a few days in the US, and the difference between the UK and US, too, is huge. People were chatting me up on buses and subways, asking me where I was from, etc. There wasn't the same oppressive feeling.

I seriously feel like it's me against the world some days. It's hard enough being here on my own knowing no one in this country.

Is it just me? Am I imagining things?

I walked down the street today and some black kids in a car shouted "Konnichiwa!!" to me as they drove by. When I walked into an optical shop asking for advice on buying glasses, the shopkeeper said "I don't know about the YEN or whatever you've got in Canada" (him thinking I was Japanese just because I look Asian) and I answered very curtly "You mean dollar?" (Who doesn't know what currency Canada uses? Surely he must know it most certainly is not YEN!) Then he said "Right, your yenny dollar." I should've shut him up with some scathing reply, but I couldn't tell if he was making some lame joke or if he was being a racist jerk! His receptionist was eyeing him funny.

which part of england are you in mate?

Britain isn't nice. A lot of us are miserable bastards and it is the cold, over-authority and oppression we face from the government and from institutions who employ us or sell things to us. Racism is just another apparatus that is part of this vicious cycle. For the lowest in society, it's the only weapon to turn to (cough BNP cough). All very depressing really.

I want to get away somewhere else in a few years. I'll add Canada to the potential list.

Yep, over in Canada I could proclaim that I am Canadian and no one would bat an eyelash. Here, you get the sense that no matter how long you've lived here, if you aren't white you can never call yourself British. This is the stuff that the BNP tries to cram down people's throats, and it's seriously quite scary. I heard them on the radio and the interviewer was talking to them like what they were saying were legitimate and had any place in serious public discourse. The fact that the media gives airtime to these people makes me wonder about the British and if they all secretly buy into what the BNP is proposing. If what they say isn't outright racism I don't know what else you can call it.

Yep, over in Canada I could proclaim that I am Canadian and no one would bat an eyelash. Here, you get the sense that no matter how long you've lived here, if you aren't white you can never call yourself British. This is the stuff that the BNP tries to cram down people's throats, and it's seriously quite scary. I heard them on the radio and the interviewer was talking to them like what they were saying were legitimate and had any place in serious public discourse. The fact that the media gives airtime to these people makes me wonder about the British and if they all secretly buy into what the BNP is proposing. If what they say isn't outright racism I don't know what else you can call it.

The fact of the matter is, many Britons I know do not like people from other countries coming to live in our country. It's not because they're racist, they just feel like they want to keep this country less culturally diverse.

That is our National party. The views we uphold are entirely our affair. Its all about the bloodline bruv. Anglo Saxon, Celtic and Norse ftw