![]() What can you do if you witness racist abuse? Guardian To buy into that idea is to erase a history of hate: go back to the 1950s and 60s, when signs reading “No blacks, no Irish, no dogs” were stuck up in landlords’ windows, and people of colour were told to go home.īritain has been an overtly racist and xenophobic country before, and those prejudices were, to some extent, put in a box and left to fester. One of Britain’s national myths is that it’s a tolerant and accepting nation. Why not offer your time or your money to grassroots antiracist organisations and pro-migrant groups such as StopWatch, Southall Black Sisters or Migrant Voice – there are plenty to choose from. That goes beyond direct intervention when someone is being physically or verbally assaulted. So here’s my message to safety pin wearers: be prepared to take action. If someone’s having abuse hurled at them on a bus, catching sight of a silent bystander who has a safety pin glinting on their lapel won’t mean all that much. The best way to show you’re an ally would be to intervene when people are being attacked. You aren’t automatically antiracist or pro-migrant just because you stick a safety pin on your jumper – in the same way racism and xenophobia don’t exist only when they’re on display for all to see. ![]() But symbols of solidarity mean little without real action (as the campaign’s organiser has said), or an understanding of how we got here to begin with. ![]()
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