My mum is from the UK, my dad is Irish. I was born in London and moved to Dublin as a child. I have family all over the UK and Ireland. No matter how you look at it, I've always had a foot in each country.
When I first moved here certain classmates told me to "go back home" or "back to where I came from". I now realise that they must have been repeating phrases they learned at home, but at age seven I didn't realise the implications of these words beyond your average childhood taunts. I highly doubt the children in question did either. Aside from a few awkward moments in history class, when the subjects of colonialism and/or the famine came up, I've never experienced anything resembling hate for my nationality.
I now think of myself as pretty much Irish. Between my name and my accent nobody would guess I was born anywhere else. Although I've heard stories of London pubs in the 80's with signs like "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish" or about the fear in certain areas of Northern Ireland, these have always been just stories to me. I've been lucky to never experience this discrimination first hand.
This Brexit vote makes things feel different. It's not like I expect to be suddenly shunned whenever I travel to the UK or anything, but as I've watched the campaigns unfold they seem to have drawn a line between "us" and "them". I'm reminded of those children when I was seven, repeating phrases with no idea what they really meant. I look at my newsfeed, calling people who voted to leave "racist", "ignorant", and "idiots". I look at the leave campaigners, many (but by no means all) of whom are racist, ignorant, and idiots. I think of all the people across Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales hearing or reading these words right now.
When I was seven I didn't understand the meaning of the words said to me. The people hearing these words now do understand, even if the people saying them don't.
When people say "we need to look after our own" people hear "you're not one of us, you're not welcome here"
When people say "but they're stealing our jobs" people hear "your hard work and taxes mean less because of where you were born"
When people say "you're a racist for voting to leave" people hear "your opinions mean less because you don't agree with me"
I really believe that the leave campaign was built on racist and hostile ideas, but that doesn't mean that everyone who voted to leave shared those ideals. I think voting to leave draws a divide between those who are born in the UK and those who are not. I don't think that everyone realised that, I don't think that everyone intended that and I don't think the answer is to draw further divide by discriminating based on which way people voted.
There are hundreds of ways for people to reach the same conclusion. Hate breeds hate, and that goes for everyone.
