“welcoming refugees and asylum seekers is part of who we are” “Scotland is a welcoming country” “we're all jock tamson's bairns” this is a really problematic narrative that I see repeated frequently. [1/19] https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1273343989505277952

There is a belief that Scotland is naturally progressive, welcoming to outsiders and generally quite rational (often these qualities are presented in contrast to England’s supposed attributes of conservatism, traditionalism and fascination with symbolism/public ritual). [2/19]

These myths are a cornerstone of Scottish cultural identity. A cultural identity that actually originates *after* the Act of Union, in the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century. [3/19]

It is the belief that Scots are naturally humanist that is at the root of these progressive attributes that we like to assign to ourselves. We look at sentiments like those in “A Man's a Man for a' That” and convince ourselves that the Scots were really a head of their time[4/19]

But scratch the surface of these bastons of Scottish cultural identity and this narrative wears thin. [5/19]

As an Irish Catholic in Scotland I find it utterly nauseating to be told by white protestant Scots that “Scotland is a welcoming country”. Really? If it is welcoming why are you so uncomfortable when Scotland’s largest religious-ethnic minority group talk about our lived reality?

Every day of high school, at least once a day I would be told to “go home”. I have been asked by random strangers what passport I hold. I’ve been spat on, beaten up, followed, experienced targeted vandalism, received death threats through my letter box. [11/19]

My first job I was referred to exclusively as “the taig” by management and all my colleagues, in front of me and customers, this was 2010. [12/19]

For my first three months of university one guy in my year would only refer to me as “gypo”, he did so in front of my peers and members of staff and was never pulled up, even after I reported it, this was 2012. [13/19]

Taig, pikey, gypo, pape, Fenian I’ve had it all. I experience one to two incidence of anti-Irish racism a year, as do all my family members and friends. [14/19]

My most recent experience was in Gorgie in January 2020, sitting having a quiet pint reading a book, random man sits across from me and asks my name, on hearing it he proceeds to tell me that he hopes everyone from the Republic of Ireland might one day “die out”. [15/19]

Also, none of these incidents of anti-Irish racism have happened at football matches, at football grounds, during or around the time of big games. Certainly, there are plenty of Irish Catholics who have experienced racism in these settings, but it has never happened to me.[16/19]

My experiences have happened in my local community, on the street, in my workplace, in education and during or around the time of orange marches. [17/19]

I don’t follow football or wear colours. So, if this is just about a few daft Rangers fans how come I’ve had all these experiences with no link to football? It’s almost as if this problem is more prevalent that we’d like to admit. [18/19]

Scotland isn’t a welcoming country for me. Therefore, I highly doubt that it is a welcoming country for those who wear their ethnic minority status on their skin. Until Scots drop this pretence that there’s no problem here we will never build an actually welcoming country.[19/19]