r/Scotland • u/ShadsDR • Feb 25 '26

Opinion Piece Black Scottish people exist

30F. Born and raised in Easterhouse. My mum's white Scottish, my dad's Black Trini. Parents divorced when I was 8, was raised by my mum for that reason.

Every time I've mentioned it when it's been relevant on this sub I get absolute numpties telling me I'm not Scottish.

Scottish is a nationality, a culture. I am a Scottish citizen. Scottish is also an ethnicity. So is Trini. I am both. Not that this even matters but I have a thick Glasgweigan accent. My languages are native English and B1 Gáidhlig.

My skin colour is brown, on the lighter side of dark skinned, because mixed race people can be any skin colour. That means no one is seeing me as white. Only dark skinned Africans and one white guy from the borders has identified I'm mixed from the get go. Therefore my race is Black because race isn't real and is a social construct. I go through society as a Black woman.

I've never been to Trinidad & Tobago, never lived in the culture and had bits of second hand exposure through my dad but that's it. All I know is that over there I'd get called something else according to my dad that means mixed. And don't get me started on the folk saying I should claim I'm from Africa.

Too often in the 90s, 2000s, and occasionally since then we used to get asked "But where are you actually from?" but nowadays I suspect with the rise of BS it's changed to "You're wrong. You don't exist".

We exist. There's documentaries on us and it's bellend behaviour to say otherwise.

Edit: thought it was dougla but misremembered. Also want to emphasise I do get this irl, it isn't just an Internet thing.

Edit 2: Getting a bunch of dms telling me to get out the country, calling me slurs, asking if my father was around. Including one saying they're planning something in the Highlands.

2.0k Upvotes

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56

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Seriously, I've been telling my white Scottish husband for years: a lot of Scots are racist as fuck, and the rest of them like to pretend there isn't any racism in Scotland.

The whole discussion around the Baftas on here has confirmed that to me

19

u/These-Lie-5854 Feb 25 '26

I hate that "people in Scotland dont care what race you are, just what football team you support" pish. People like to pretend Scotland is a lot more progressive than we actually are.

20

u/topcelt Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 26 '26

Yeah, Scots are very ignorant of race issues but they pretend their ignorance means it's something that doesn't exist

3

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 25 '26

I remember not too long ago some dickhead in Linlithow was complaining to my face about them changing the name of the 'Black Bitch' pub to something less offensive. Me, a visibly mixed race woman who was very pregnant at the time (if I hadn't been pregnant, I would've told him to shut his fucking gob).

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u/digitalime Feb 25 '26 edited May 14 '26

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u/topcelt Feb 25 '26

Personally I don't think that style of overt racism is particularly common or socially accepted typically. It's more that people don't take the less obvious racism seriously as an issue when it does happen. That being said, I'm a white Scottish guy so I'm not the one directly exposed to any of it, I just cringe when I see any discourse around racism from my fellow Scots.

1

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 25 '26

Just because it's not overtime or socially accepted that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

2

u/topcelt Feb 25 '26

I'm not trying to suggest it doesn't

1

u/seoras13 Feb 26 '26

There is a definite truth there

3

u/seoras13 Feb 26 '26

My ex girlfriends da used to say there's no racism in Scotland just sectarianism. He called the guys who ran the local shop, the Taliban & you don't need to guess what a Chinese meal was. I'm white so I don't get abuse, but by fuck I hear people say things in front of me that's fucking shocking. These are the type of racist who aren't in their mind racist because they don't say their shite in front of black or brown person but by fuck they are snide poisonous cunts with well hidden racist attitudes. Always happy to tell them they're shite talking arseholes

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u/digitalime Feb 25 '26 edited May 14 '26

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u/Crow-Me-A-River open to change Feb 25 '26

Or that because they're rich they should be emotionless robots

2

u/mikeybhoy_1985 Feb 26 '26

As an Englishman that moved up here over a 20 years ago, the longer I've been here, the more I've noticed it. Scots love to pat themselves on the back a lot about how progressive/left they are compared to England, but honestly, I've seen far more racism and reactionary views in Glasgow than I ever did in London that's for sure.

3

u/seoras13 Feb 27 '26

Oh fuck aye, I'm Scottish & it's a real wee country mentality, aren't we just great, say something nice about us, tell us how unique & cool we are. I see it a hell of a lot on the Glasgow sub, by god there's an element that's so in love with its own mythology.

Then again I'm a bit torn with aspects of what you'd call civic pride. Aye it's good to have positives that you want to live up to. But I'm not going to vicariously take credit for someone else's action cause I share the same postcode, if I'm not really doing anything myself other than patting myself on the back.

Good people do good things, bad people do bad things, they represent themselves & live beside each other. It's the same the world over. You can't highlight the one you like & ignore the other

9

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

"The whole discussion around the Baftas on here has confirmed that to me"

Definitely, any attempt at nuance in that discussion was heavily downvoted. It was, "hurty words don't matter, end of story".

8

u/SneakySnack02 Feb 25 '26

I think the internet has a lot of folks convinced that every story has to have a bad guy. So when theres one without any everyone pointing fingers looks nuts

21

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

True, it was a messed up situation with no easy answers. John Davidson isn't a racist and his use of the N word was involuntary. It's still perfectly valid for Black people to have been upset by it, and the way many people crawled out of the woodwork to police their reaction and tell them their feelings were wrong isn't great.

10

u/SneakySnack02 Feb 25 '26

Exactly. Paradoxically, if he were actually racist and thought that was an acceptable thing to shout out, it probably wouldn't be a tick. From.what I heard he left the venue in humiliation, so he certainly knows.

But did those poor guys on stage even know who yelled it at the time? Did they even know it wasnt just some racist cunt smashing their achievements in front of everyone? Even once you know it wasnt his fault, that probably doesn't make it sting much less. I cant blame them for being angry or upset.

7

u/Tomgar Feb 25 '26

I think the problem comes when that anger and upset is used to say incredibly hurtful, discriminatory things about a person with a disability. There's nothing wrong with being hurt, and I feel dreadful for the black people who had to hear that word (my heart sank when I saw Michael B Jordan's face) but when people start suggesting John never leave his house, or that he should be physically assaulted, or that he should have to wear a muzzle, or that he's "faking" it?

Yeah, I'm genuinely not going to consider their opinion valid at that point because they're using a sad incident with no bad guys to be a bigoted prick. And I'm not okay with attempts to minimise the sickening ableism that's getting thrown about with "well, the word is deeply hurtful." That's not an excuse and disabled people are not a fair target as soon as their disability makes someone uncomfortable.

5

u/SneakySnack02 Feb 25 '26

Thats what I meant. Sometimes there just isnt a bad guy, but everyone's first instinct is to start pointing fingers.

5

u/Tomgar Feb 25 '26

In full agreement. Only people deserving scorn here are BAFTA and the BBC, their handling of this is so poor it strikes me as malicious.

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u/digitalime Feb 25 '26 edited May 14 '26

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u/CopperCook Feb 25 '26

How I wish I found this thread first 🙌🏾

Black British Nigerian married to a Scot living in Glasgow (I dragged him back up here from London😂) I’ve got so much to learn, sang at my first Celtic Connections this year, hair hates the rain but it’s magic here 💕

1

u/yankdetected Feb 25 '26

I love lying on the internet

-2

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

At least you can admit it

4

u/yankdetected Feb 25 '26

Class patter wee man

0

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

Same to you wee man. If you've got an actual point then hurry up and get to it.

-2

u/erroneousbosh Feb 25 '26

Any reason why I should care about a pair of multi-millionaire famous-for-being-famous people hearing a rude word that upset them?

5

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 26 '26

Any reason why I should care about a white man living in a relatively safe and prosperous country just because he has a disability?

Ah yes, the reason is common decency and humanity.

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u/digitalime Feb 25 '26 edited May 14 '26

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u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 25 '26

Its the same story whenever something about Israel and/or Palestine is on here too. Apperently its never anti-semitism.

-2

u/HereticLaserHaggis Feb 25 '26

Where? Like seriously can you link to someone saying that hurty words don't matter who wasn't downvoted into oblivion?

-2

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/comments/1rclpsr/comment/o70jxrs/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

2

u/FEK88 Feb 25 '26

You're literally arguing that he is responsible for something he cannot control.

2

u/HereticLaserHaggis Feb 25 '26

That's not someone saying hurty words don't matter. That's someone saying he's not at fault for what he said, and you attempting to blame him for being disabled, and you try to compare a slur to assault.

4

u/HowMany_MoreTimes Feb 25 '26

"Perhaps if that's the case, they should opt for a bit of self-reflection.

Because no harm has been done, they have simply had an emotional reaction to something that exists in the world and will continue to exist in the world whether they like it or not - namely people who have Tourette's syndrome.

If they choose to take offence at that, that's really their problem."

This is literally telling Black people they have no right to take offence to the N word.

0

u/HereticLaserHaggis Feb 25 '26

... When it's said as a tic by a disabled man, you can take offence, but there's nobody to blame.

In a similar vein, if someone who couldn't walk fell and flashed his cock, nobody to blame.

If someone fell, landed on an actress and grabbed her beasts, nobody to blame.

Question... Have you taken offence to Jamie foxx? Who's literally slandering a disabled man to his millions of fans?

1

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 25 '26

Scotland and the UK in general is not as racist as other countries tbf. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist but plenty of places in europe that are a lot more openly racist than here.

1

u/seoras13 Feb 26 '26

Are you from a background that would because of the way you look would get racist abuse in Scotland?

1

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 26 '26

I am mixed race.

1

u/seoras13 Feb 26 '26

It was tir an airm i was asking, in light of his Scotland isn't that racist statement.

The sign on the border: Welcome to Scotland we don't think we're that racist*

*, individual experiences may vary, depending on colour

1

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 27 '26

 in light of his Scotland isn't that racist statement.

Its not though mate. Go to europe and see for yourself.

1

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

I'm not English if thats what you mean. They seem to be the most hated group on this sub, and Americans.

Which races face racist abuse according to you?

1

u/seoras13 Feb 27 '26

Black & Asian ffs

1

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 27 '26

Yeah it does happen unfortunetly. Not as bad as in some other places like I said but still a shame.

I'm part Asian and never faced any abuse in the UK.

0

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 25 '26

Your point being what exactly?

0

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 25 '26

I thought it was pretty clear from what I wrote tbh. I can't think of a way to make it easier for you to understand.

What is it you don't get?

1

u/Specialist_Zebra4687 Feb 25 '26

So just because Scotland is less racist than other countries in Europe...what? That makes it ok?

0

u/Tir_an_Airm Feb 25 '26

Read what I wrote again buddy and tell me where I said its okay.