Unimaginative Racism is Unimaginative

[nanila]

My message to Virgin Trains Customer Relations:

Hello,
I was on the [HH:MM] on Thursday, 7 July 2016, from London Euston to Birmingham New Street. I had booked Seat [XX] in Quiet Coach [Y]. Just above my seat on the Quiet Coach sign, someone had written "BNP". Someone else had tried unsuccessfully to scratch it out, but the graffiti, as shown in the attached photo, was still clearly visible.

As a mixed-race British citizen, I found this unsettling. I did not particularly enjoy sitting underneath a blatant piece of unimaginative racist propaganda for the entirety of my journey. Would it be possible for the sign in the coach of that train to be replaced? I presume there is a way of identifying which train was running that route at that time?
Thank you,
[nanila]

Comments

[perennialanna]

Confederate flags are a common sight across rural Norfolk and Lincolnshire, and my Northern Irish friend reported seeing a lot there too. The kindest interpretation is that the US Civil War is seen as a struggle between small poor farmers and urbanites who do not understand them (which does have certain contemporary resonances) and the whole slavery thing has been overlooked as a mere detail. I do not entirely buy this, and I have never not found the flags frightening.

[nanila]

The first time I noticed confederate flags in this country was when the bloke & I went camping in Stratford-upon-Avon. (It turned out there was a vintage American car rally & hence they were probably Dukes of Hazzard-inspired.) But when we first drove up to the campsite, I was terrified, because for me, confederate flag == imminent danger, do not engage, REVERSE. It took him quite a while to convince me that it was OK to sleep in a tent there that night.