Have you ever been subjected to Racial/ Cultural Abuse/ Discrimination?

[AdamGB]

Being half Scottish/Geordie and a bit better educated and raised than 9/10 of the people I used to work with on the building sites... I wouldn't call it abuse but I was definitely made to feel different then the other lads.

I wasn't treat like an outsider, but I was treat like an outsider who was allowed inside... if that makes any sense?...

This may prove unpopular with a few of you here but I'm gonna get on my soap box anyway -

In this country you have two things going either for or against you: your skills/qualitys and your ethnic background/gender etc... the country is now full of so much positive disrimination that I am pretty certain being a white male hasn't helped me at all...

In other jobs it won't be the case, but when it's goverment/council ran gyms/the fire service etc as is my experience, then being a young, white male doesn't exactly give you a helping hand.

don't forget class/regional difference as well, that still has an effect.

That's what probably has the biggest effect on me, if we go away from apply to certain companies that have to fill certain quotas (I love how it's politically correct to segregate people... bit of a conflict of intentions going on).

My dad used to work predominantly as a plumber but he'd do anything else on the sites if it was paying. During the 80s and Thatcher-ism this wasn't easy, so we didn't have a lot of money, but we managed to find a house in a pretty nice area, it was falling to pieces, which made it cheap and we didn't have to pay for virtually any labour to do it up because obviously my dad did it all.

Living there we obviously got places in all of the local schools etc, coming up through school, I started to feel in middle school that I wasn't 'posh' enough for some people and especially in high school (which was a mix of people from loads of areas, not mostly local, like middle school was) that I was too 'posh' (despite being POOR! ) for some people (most of them dirty little Charvers anyway).

I always used to find it funny that the so called 'poor kids' (simply because they lived in worse areas) came into school with new mobile phones, went abroad all the time on holiday, got games consoles when (not 5 years after) they came out that weren't hand me downs from their uncles etc, were given money everyday to buy lunch and most likely 10 lambert and butlers and would have CD players etc (fuck me, I couldn't even afford to buy stuff to play on my tape player I got for Christmas) saw me as posh and rich etc... I never had any of that (not that I would say I was 'deprived' or anything... I was always happy... never wanted for anything)

Not that I'm really complaining, I had a good circle of friends and could get on with anybody, I just noticed that people who saw themselves as being at one end of a scale of the other never truly accepted me... I could mix with anybody though... I was just aware that a lot of people made assumptions about me based on certain things they saw at face value.

Over the 6-7 years I've been out of school now, though I've always felt happy with myself I've realised that I can't and shouldn't try to be something to everybody... they can take me or leave me for what I am.

if they don't want to accept me then fuck'em...

[johnmaff36]

Being half Scottish/Geordie and a bit better educated and raised than 9/10 of the people I used to work with on the building sites... I wouldn't call it abuse but I was definitely made to feel different then the other lads.

I wasn't treat like an outsider, but I was treat like an outsider who was allowed inside... if that makes any sense?...

This may prove unpopular with a few of you here but I'm gonna get on my soap box anyway -

In this country you have two things going either for or against you: your skills/qualitys and your ethnic background/gender etc... the country is now full of so much positive disrimination that I am pretty certain being a white male hasn't helped me at all...

In other jobs it won't be the case, but when it's goverment/council ran gyms/the fire service etc as is my experience, then being a young, white male doesn't exactly give you a helping hand.

don't forget class/regional difference as well, that still has an effect.

That's what probably has the biggest effect on me, if we go away from apply to certain companies that have to fill certain quotas (I love how it's politically correct to segregate people... bit of a conflict of intentions going on).

My dad used to work predominantly as a plumber but he'd do anything else on the sites if it was paying. During the 80s and Thatcher-ism this wasn't easy, so we didn't have a lot of money, but we managed to find a house in a pretty nice area, it was falling to pieces, which made it cheap and we didn't have to pay for virtually any labour to do it up because obviously my dad did it all.

Living there we obviously got places in all of the local schools etc, coming up through school, I started to feel in middle school that I wasn't 'posh' enough for some people and especially in high school (which was a mix of people from loads of areas, not mostly local, like middle school was) that I was too 'posh' (despite being POOR! ) for some people (most of them dirty little Charvers anyway).

I always used to find it funny that the so called 'poor kids' (simply because they lived in worse areas) came into school with new mobile phones, went abroad all the time on holiday, got games consoles when (not 5 years after) they came out that weren't hand me downs from their uncles etc, were given money everyday to buy lunch and most likely 10 lambert and butlers and would have CD players etc (fuck me, I couldn't even afford to buy stuff to play on my tape player I got for Christmas) saw me as posh and rich etc... I never had any of that (not that I would say I was 'deprived' or anything... I was always happy... never wanted for anything)

Not that I'm really complaining, I had a good circle of friends and could get on with anybody, I just noticed that people who saw themselves as being at one end of a scale of the other never truly accepted me... I could mix with anybody though... I was just aware that a lot of people made assumptions about me based on certain things they saw at face value.

Over the 6-7 years I've been out of school now, though I've always felt happy with myself I've realised that I can't and shouldn't try to be something to everybody... they can take me or leave me for what I am.

if they don't want to accept me then fuck'em...

thats the right attitude to have my friend