Living among violent racists

[mtbc]

After the Sudanese fellow stabbed somebody in Belfast, the racists seem to have come out of the woodwork, even in a large, violent mob here in Glasgow, on local streets familiar to us. It's hard not to notice race, just last week I walked past a poster protesting about non-Asian people daring to sell dal, but I confess that the degree of the latest unrest has rather shocked us.

We had originally planned to live in the US but there were the post-COVID-19 attacks against Asians, and all manner of racism stoked by Trump's populism, Miller, now Musk, et alia, that strongly encouraged us to rethink. Scotland has seemed welcoming to immigrants (and voted against Brexit) and our neighborhood is diverse but now we will worry about the kids when they are out and about.

We are still reacting. Perhaps it's a significant concern all over the West. After all, Germany welcomed immigrants until a very small minority started driving cars into crowds at markets and such, then sentiment started to shift. We had felt at home here in Glasgow. Now I'm not sure what to think, of where we live or what we should do. I am reminded of a colleague who took the Brexit vote as a message to bring their family back to Italy.