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I had a day of middle-class racism - that's what I call it anyway when people tell me 'common-sense' prejudices. It's the kind of stereotyping and prejudice people don't acknowledge as racism.

Had conversations with a person which basically went along the lines that 'blood will out', you know, that idea that because a person has a particular genetic inheritance, their personality is effected by it. A kind of 19th century concept which has long been de-bunked by science but even scientists still seem to adhere to it on an emotional non-professional level...

I was also told that Jade (from Big Brother) is mixed race, that her dad was Black. That piece of 'information' played with my mind for a bit...

She is blonde - very - though we did have a scene on Big Brother where she was peroxiding her hair - and she's ugly. Suddenly, the implication was that her wide mouth (if not her loud mouth) and ugliness was due to her being mixed raced. People usually don't believe me when I say that in our contemporary culture 'white' is equated with beauty and 'black' with ugliness - This is evidence, if it is needed, that the idea didn't remain in the 19th century / early 20th.


Another moment was in a wedding speech where an empahsis was placed on the cultural differences between the bride and groom. One is of Chinese origin and the other is... I don't know, but not-Chinese. The speech was from the not-Chinese part of the family. Because this couple are both completely English, one brought up in Essex, the other in a Home County. To most of us there - at least on my table - there is no 'cultural difference' - in fact it came as a bit of a shock to see the marriage in those terms, given that the day had been quite traditionally english (in fact I felt like I understood '4 weddings and a funeral' for the first time...). Not that I believe that a person can be 'colour-blind', but there seemed to be a superfluous emphasis on 'difference' by this guy.


Finally, was walking through Henley-on-Thames with N. A drunk English guy called out something in French which somehow we knew was directed at her. She said, that's ok. It's better than Sayonara. In fact, I usually get Konichiwa.

Yes, she looks Chinese. She is Chinese in origin though brought up near London. I realised what it must be to look Oriental here, despite how long you've lived here. Yes I get my share of racism, but I know I'm usually invisible until I confess to my origins. I have never been with anybody else who is black or of Asian (Indian) origins and experienced that kind of invasion of our privacy - that kind of assumption. It was actually very shocking for me, though I know she gets it often.

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