Only logged in members can reply and interact with the post.
Join SimilarWorlds for FREE »

I Hate Racism

Go back to where you came from - even if you’re an American who happens to have parents who were born elsewhere

That’s what your Trump says. The fact that he is also the child of immigrants amuses me but this is not what this post is about.

I live in Britain. I am British, I was born in Britain. My mother is from Barbados, my father is from Burkina Faso. But if I go back to where I came from, I go back to the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

But I’m black, so I’ve heard this line all my life too. Before you complain about things here, go sort out the problems in your own country. Britain is my country. I’ve never even been to Barbados or Burkina Faso. The USA is those politicians’ country.

Trump using those lines to them will justify people shooting that line at me. Racism is on the increase and it makes me sick. I despise anyone who could possibly think that these words were anything less than shameful.

And Trump did go back to Scotland, where his mother came from, my sympathy for the Scottish independence movement would increase tenfold.

Top | Newest First | Oldest First

SW-User

Yep, that line doesn't get used on white people. I'm a second-generation immigrant, my parents are British, but not once has anyone ever told me to go back to Blighty.

Gangstress · 41-45, F

Yeh I'm brown in the UK. I'm Indian, parents born in Africa. I dont belong anywhere by other peoples standards. I'd go back to liverpool If they told me to go home lol

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

I'm no supporter of Trump, but it wasn't racist. Racism is the idea of a race being superior over another/discrimination based on the fact of race (not culture). I think what he meant was that it was rich that somebody who had been taken in by the country was one of it's biggest criticisers (which she has a right to do).

It was something like "Go back to where you came from and fix that country which is worse before you criticise this one" in a nutshell.
Kinda see the point, but it's not a good one. So yeah, i think it was a bit of a BS thing to say, but it's not racist by definition.

View 3 more replies »

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@TheQueenBree It wasn't discrimination based on race, it was in the context of her parents being from another country that was worse off and then criticising the one she lives in now.

It's ignorant and abrasive for sure, but it's not race related. It's the context that matters. There's a fine line between racism and stupidity, and it gets blurry sometimes.

TheQueenBree · 26-30, F

@Ryannnnnn it isn’t though. Trump didn’t mention their parents, he said the politicians should go back to where they came from. That’s a pretty clear implication that they can’t be American because they’re of different origins.

I also get what you’re saying and though I hate to compromise on this sort of thing, it isn’t the most racist thing he could have said. He didn’t say they should leave because they’re not white or something. But this DOES cross the line into racism, and if this isn’t called what it is, then the next thing won’t either, because it will only have been slightly worse than this one and this one wasn’t racism. This is and has to be called that.

Ryannnnnn · 31-35, M

@TheQueenBree Well if it's just politicians should go back from where they came from, that could be used in a lot of ways. Like, go back home and cry to your mama, ya babies. I know what you mean totally, I'm just really careful about falling to extremes as i've noticed there's a conditioning going on where people take it too far as they're very sensitive to it (which is mostly a good thing) but it's being used by the media in ways that stir conflict where there isn't.

It's just in this current climate where there's so much slander and dog whistling going on I try and call things for what they are objectively. I get people these days saying "asking someone where they're from is racist" and it seems a lot of people don't know what it means anymore. I think hyperbole is really dangerous these days, with people like AOC saying there's concentration camps, people saying all trump supporters are racist supremacists (which is about 51% of the US voting population apparently), people like Tim Pool being called "alt right" when he's left centrist, implying he's a nationalist supremacist.

Sorry for the long reply but it's not something i can really put in a paragraph. Don't get me wrong, once something is really racist, that's what it is and I get what you're putting across, but I've learnt from the political crazies and the twitter mobs not to follow the narrative anymore.

ArthurP · 80-89, M

While I agree with your main contention, your own use of hyperbole and describing anyone who disagrees with you as 'shameful' does in fact foster an equal and opposite response.

TheQueenBree · 26-30, F

@ArthurP it isn’t hyperbole. The fact that it isn’t considered shameful to attack people based on their parents (not even their own!) origins shows the horrible mess our societies are in.

ArthurP · 80-89, M

You clearly have no idea what hyperbole means, as your response is yet another sad reflection on your gross misrepresentation of contemporary society. By any measure, the society you live in is better than any society that has ever existed. Of course there are deep faults and many intractable problems, but it is hard to identify a single one which is not less awful than a generation ago. The society you say is an awful mess is the one where, a generation ago, 32% of the worlds population lived in dire poverty. Today that figure - still far too high - is 9%. A generation ago, average longevity was under 60 years. Today it is 71 years. And in respect to racism, consider the USA 50 years ago, where you would be legally forbidden to sit on bus seats reserved for whites. Or the UK, where notices on rentals would say "No blacks" Or South Africa, where apartheid was in full swing.

the world always has been, always will be an imperfect place. But for you to describe this world - the best world humans have ever inhabited - as a horrible mess - is the very definition of hyperbole.

TheQueenBree · 26-30, F

@ArthurP yay. The world is better than it used to be. It’s less of a horrible mess than it was then. Of course I’m happy I live now rather than then.
But if racism is rising, and presidents are making these comments, that’s what I meant by a mess. That didn’t happen even 5 years ago, we’re going the wrong way. I don’t want the next generation to have it worse than I have it.

Add a comment...