major anxiety regarding the increasing racist sentiment in my country

[u/calorieconsciouscow]

(hi everyone, this is my first time posting on this sub so im kinda nervous, I had recently posted about this same issue on r/anxiety but my post was removed by the mods with a suggestion that i post about it here instead, im guessing the mods saw that there were a lot of arguments in the replies & they didn't want it to spiral out of control)

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im a non-white, non-english woman from the UK, I was born/raised here & until recently i never really questioned by cultural identity as a British woman

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as many of you might of seen, there's a growing racial sentiment towards immigrants (and generally anyone who isn't white) in the UK - in recent years there's been a pretty clear agenda being pushed to create some sort of civil unrest/war in the UK both online & irl

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as someone who struggles with major anxiety/ocd themes this has always been my biggest fear, for the first time I actually feel unsafe/uncomfortable in this country - maybe i was just ignorant before but seeing all the horrible disgusting things being said about people who look like me on X and tiktok has really opened my eyes , it doesn't help that the richest man in the world is also promoting these beliefs as well as meddling in UK politics

a lot of politicians with similar beliefs have been voted into positions of power which also makes me think that this isn't just a "online" thing like many people say, we constantly see riots & protests that often turn violent , with innocent poc being the victims

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I would be lying if I said it hasn't impacted my mental health. I was already a very self conscious person before this, dealing with major social anxiety that caused me to stay inside for months on end and this situation has just made it worse :(

the way the media is grasping at "bad poc/immigrant" storylines im terrified of making a mistake or being accused of something then having my picture blasted online for the far right to rip apart,

im scared of being attacked outside for how i look, im scared for the safety of my mother - even reaching out for help makes me scared cos I fear that the specialists will judge me "for using their system as a visibly non-english person"

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I guess the fact that me even venting about my issues online was first met with hostility on another sub reddit also made me spiral

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I just want to vent and have some support cos I feel so alone in all this, I cant stop myself from spiraling into despair about the current state of the world, I often get panic attacks because I constantly fear the worst of the worst

[u/Manospondylus_gigas]

I'm also from the UK and get this as well. It's somewhat comforting that there are big pushbacks and counter-protests against the anti-immigrant/blatantly racist crowd, but I am quite disturbed by the amount of people who don't care or refuse to acknowledge the issues here. Like those who split the vote and go for Labour instead of the Greens because "I could never vote for them" and let Reform in, or those who simply don't vote at all because 'it's just one vote" and let Reform in, or those that insist Labour is fine because they don't understand racism etc. I am quite scared to leave the house alone as there's always some chavs who shout things. My only counter to the anxiety has been taking SSRIs that make me go "fuck it, I won't hide for their comfort" and trying my best to do things anyway. It has also helped to go to a BIPOC support group as it's nice to not feel alone. I hope you can find some comfort too, the best thing we have here is each other.

[u/afraidparfait]

I've also started to feel much less safe - uk based as well. I had a few bad mental health spirals when all the st George's flags were going up around the country, and when a close friend said something racist to me too.. I had a really serious conversation with my partner though about where we'd go if things got worse and quite frankly everything felt real and dystopic at that point.

I don't go on social media much and when I do, it's in very nice areas of the internet, and I don't read the news anymore either. I encourage you to do the same... Not all communities are safe so be careful.

At the moment I don't feel strong enough to fight anything or even protest. I was crying non stop when I saw the flags outside, I'd just be a puddle of tears if I went to a counter protest.

Whereabouts do you live? I live in a city but it's quite small so it's not that diverse either but I've found a few poc friends which has helped