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SE London
I was in a former labour voting area of be England that was prob 99% white that subsequently voted strongly for Brexit (Copeland, Cumbria).
I'd guess se London was always much more diverse and as a result less racist than the country as a whole.
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Gauging the prevalence and degree of racism depends on what metric you’re using.
Actual open racism
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There aren’t NF pubs in Lewisham
One or two in Southwark still amazingly.
When I was a kid I remember NF and Blacks Out graffiti on the railway bridge in Ladywell though. Makes me feel sick to think about it.
The Battle of Lewisham is always worth a look if you want to read a comparatively uplifting story about racism in Lewisham.
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Racism never went away, just moved out of London
On this bit, I remember around mid to late 2000s it being bad up North East and pretty unpleasantly open. Always recall around the elections being particularly bad, most notable for me was the 'Vote BNP' spraypainted on the ground all along the walk to the football from the car park me and my dad used when going to Hartlepool games. The BNP ended up getting 2000 votes, 5% of the share. Other stuff like someone in my class at college saying 'all asian people look the same' then when called out by the teacher the student arguing his case that they do and it was bullshit that he was getting repremanded with support of a number of others in the class.
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@absurdbird
I’m not sure I agree.
Living in SE London over much of that time it definitely felt like things were improving- hip hop and rave seemed to have a positive effect on my generation, yet the casual misogyny and inherent racism of ‘lad culture’ was there at the same time.
Racism never went away, just moved out of London -and other cities where there was white (working class) flight.
There aren’t NF pubs in Lewisham (I know someone who lost an eye sticking up for his Indian mate) - but there are plenty like that in Rochester or wherever.
Gauging the prevalence and degree of racism depends on what metric you’re using. Public expression of racist views has been mostly shut down, yet they thrive in the anonymity of the Internet.
Systemic, institutional racism is being addressed - in some quarters more than others, but this hasn’t changed the private opinions of many in this country. In fact working class white men now identify as a victim group.
Tidying up the surface doesn’t get to what lies beneath- and often seems to make that worse.
Which is kind of my point about pitchforks for some twatty teenage tweets - when there are serious things that need addressing.