Safety in numbers
One thing you can do is wear a safety pin.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said on Monday there had been a 57 per cent rise in reports to an online hate crime reporting sitebetween Thursday and Sunday compared to a month ago.
The majority of attacks appear to be aimed at immigrants, or people perceived to be immigrants, and are along the lines of “We voted Leave, you’re going home”.
Like many people, Allison, an American woman living in London, toldindy100 she was dismayed by the outpouring of racist abuse following the Leave vote. But she’s also come up with a clever way to tackle it.
She’s started a new campaign asking people to wear an empty safety pin as a badge to symbolise solidarity against racism – and let any potential targets know that the wearer is a friendly face.
It’s a good idea.
Wikimedia Commons
Just to add: it’s not just a symbol you’re sympathetic, but also a visual pledge to do something. Of course, sometimes, it’s hard to intervene without risk of escalation, so if it isn’t safe to stop the bullying/racist behavior, things you can do is film it and then approach the victim as a witness if they want to file a complaint. You can check in with the victim and see if they need to sit down with a cup of tea. If you wear it, the promise of a friendly attitude means you’ll do something.
I also think we Americans should consider adopting this ourselves, considering how Trump’s candidacy has seemed to empower our racists.
Tackling the aggressor can just escalate things but asking the victim if they are alright can be a better approach. It allows you to offer help and solidarity and also serves as a tacit statement that the behaviour is unacceptable without engaging it. You’re effectively treating the aggressor like a stroppy toddler.
I used this when witnessing a young man hassling his girlfriend, blocking her path and then talking to her with her backed against a wall and him blocking her in. His manner was aggressive. I told my husband to stay behind me (on the grounds that he would be more likely to hit another man and asked the woman if she was OK. He swore at us a bit but we ignored him. She thanked us and said she was alright so there was not much else we could do. I hoped that we at least gave them both the message that his behaviour was disturbing.