Interesting....

Your OP certainly wasn't directed at black people, Luckygirl.
I didn't see the relevance of that comment by suttonj.

And why would you!?

I'm black. Born in UK of West Indian parents in 50's. Been here ever since. I've been lurking and posting on GN for years-it's perhaps something I haven't mentioned either!

notnecessarilywiser, I had! I'm expecting the royalties to start rolling in!

"how many of these posts have actually come from black people?" Well suttonJ , I do not know!

There is nothing to stop anyone of any race or colour from contributing to this thread.

I think it is an interesting discussion about how racial attitudes are formed - I know that I heard a lot of it when I was a child; and it is very interesting to hear from those who upbringings were so different from mine.

I was born in 1952 and taught my children to accept people for who they are there is good and bad people in all races,all where welcomed in our home we had sikh,pakistani,chinese,and west Indian ,African ...After my dad died my mum was in a relationship for over 20 years with a lovely West Indian man until he died.

After he came back from Dunkirk, my father was sent to Nigeria to train some troops and take them with him to Burma.
When the war in Japan finished, he stayed with them until they were sent back home, and went to the villages to explain about the ones who never returned.

I was born in 1949, and have photos of me on a swing in the garden being pushed by a Nigerian doctor, and being swung by my hands by him and his wife.

Racism is taught, yes, but not all parents and grandparents were racist even then.

Racism is not built in ! Its learned! I was born in the 1950's in a very poor area of London where all immigrants were thrown together, black, irish, jewish, polish, spanish etc. never once did we see anyone in our community as being different to us. My parents were Irish and our neighbours were West Indian. It was the then middle classes who decided that we were the "underclass". Even we who were white suffered "racism" by white people and called all sorts of names which I couldn't possibly write here.

Illtellhim - I think many people born in the 1950s were brought up by racist parents, often because most British people never saw or met anyone from another country or ethnicity, but it is rarer for our age group to be racist.
I remember in 1950s London, one of the first black people I ever saw, was a boy of my age walking along the road and was then abused by a white man passing by. My mother told the man off. West Indians I worked with said their parents suffered a lot of abuse in the 1950s.
In my area white British are now a minority and my mixed race DGC asked where are all the black people when we visited another part of the country.

Lucky girl, your Dgds attitude and friendship is as it should be.

Illtelhim, your assertion that anyone born in the 50s is racist is very insulting. I was born in ‘54 and certainly am not. I and my family have friends of various skin colours and nationalities. A person is defined by their deeds and character not their colour.

So many different races and nationalities around here you don’t even notice the difference. Most wear western dress (usually jeans) though I did envy a Sikh woman her cool garb during that heat wave.

Actually illtellhim I was born in 1945 and went to nursery when I was 3 because my mum was ill. My mum tells how I talked all the time about a boy I was friendly with. When they came to parent's day they realised he was black. He was a last gift from the US army. Apparently I adored him. I don't remember this.

I was born in 1940 and had never seen a black man until an American serviceman sat behind us on the bus. I knelt up on the seat and asked him, much to my mother's embarrassment, whether he was made of chocolate! He couldn't stop laughing!
I now have a gorgeous daughter in law who is half Indian and half Philipino. She is a gem and we are so lucky to have her in the family

I remember hearing a similar story about a little boy telling his teacher about a class mate who had done something unkind - bullying or something. The teacher asked who the offender was and was told."It's that boy with glasses". "That boy with glasses happened to be the only "coloured" kid in the class.

For goodness sake....how many of these posts
have actually come from black people? Black folk might even be able to talk with some authority on the subject, unlike many of the contributors, who appear desperate to be seen as non-racist.

It's lovely isn't it, so nice to see.
When I was a TA we had lots of children from different
Cultures as I worked in a primary school and the y all got on well together.
My gd is mixed culture, she loved her primary school but when she went to her secondary school it was very difficult at times. Now she's at 6th form she's back to different cultures again and loving it.

I grew up in North West London in the fifties and didn't see any Black people till I was about 10! I had to go to a hospital for tests and was not allowed breakfast that morning so by the time the tests were finished, I was somewhat hungry. She brought me in some breakfast and said that she'd prepared it as she thought I'd like it. A gesture that was very much appreciated.

I think the first time you meet someone of a particular race, creed or whatever, affects the way you see that group in the future. I certainly don't have a problem.

My DGD is mixed heritage and is frustrated that her schoolfriends don't believe her about her ethnicity. I think it's wonderful that they don't see her colour but she is peeved they don't

I grew up in the East End of London in the fifties, and although there were relatively few immigrants the ones that did live in the area were simply part of the population. The Chinese were firmly established in certain areas and were generally admired for their industry and intelligence. One of my uncles spoke Mandarin due to his playing Mah Jong for many years with his Chinese friends. The area now, sixty years later, is almost completely non white; and I feel that this is where resentment has built up as families have felt marginalised and shut out when they become the strangers among people living a lifestyle that is not their own .

This is slightly different, not about race, but about being different.

We are a group of lady friends of long standing and who make a point of meeting up at least yearly. Some of us are widows etc.
One of our friends D had met and was in a relationship with a new man friend. He was going to pick D up on an evening us girls were out for dinner.
My close friend had already met D's new partner. As the venue was busy my close friend said to keep an eye out for him arriving and that he had short receding hair . When he arrived and D introduced him to us I noticed that he had a hare-lip. Nice to note that it didn't even come to my friend's mind when seeking to describe D's partner.

My lovely GD who I raised since the age of 4 is mixed race ...when she fell over she bled the same,when she cried she had the tears the same she has fears hopes dreams and emotions the same...we are all the same ...human !!

As a retired secondary teacher, my opinion (for what it's worth!!!) is that even older children repeat the attitudes they hear at home.
What I think has changed over the years is that people will now challenge these unacceptable opinions, whereas previously folk would keep quiet. The only thing necessary for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing.
If some of these posters have suffered racism, then they will have a different perspective from others.

About fifteen years ago I had a ten year old pupil who, when referring to a fellow pupil, used the phrase, ' the one with the dark skin'. However, she immediately realised that she wasn't being politically correct, and added, ' she's getting lighter though '! That was the only time that I ever heard any comment relating to the girl's S African ethnicity.

Sandelf, like you I grew up in Liverpool, in the 1940,s it was definately multi cultural I worked in a Hospital with all nationalities, and nobody bothered, we didnt ever think about colour of skin.

Forty years ago my two year old daughter’s best friend was a neighbours little boy - who was black. They played endlessly and one day we found her with a face cloth trying to wash the black off his face. His parents found it as amusing as we did thank goodness. We lost contact after we moved house but she remembers him fondly although was horrified when I reminded her of the washing incident.