To think it's now "cool" to support BLM?

[travellerist]

..Bare with me this isn't a bait post.

Watching the football tonight and seeing all the players kneeling reminded me of maybe 3-4 years ago when a handful of black NFL players knelt during the US national anthem in protest of the treatment of POC in society.

There was a distinct lack of support from their team mates (both white and POC), their clubs, the general media (who slated them for disrespecting the anthem) and many of those players couldn't find new clubs and lost their best playing years.

Those players must be looking at the current climate and think wow I should've waited 4 years until my cause became "trendy" enough for everyone to get behind. I don't think what happened recently is radically different from 4 years ago - there were plenty of unjustified killings of young black men by white cops back then.

I just don't understand the difference between the cause then and the cause now? I don't understand why the media are supportive now but not then? Would love to hear ppls thoughts on this

[AIMD]

I think it is a good thing so many people have been involved in the BLM movement (is it right to call it a movement?).

I wondered if there was so much engagement because of Covid and lockdown. Maybe that gave people more time and space to reflect on things and to think about the issue/get involved.

[Beatrixpotterspencil]

Also cool to be feminist but nobody complaining bout that!

[Flopjustwantscoffee]

"Those players must be looking at the current climate and think wow I should've waited 4 years until my cause became "trendy" enough for everyone to get behind"
No... because its partly because of their pushing the agenda back then that contributed to the vocal support for the movement now. Its always the people who make a stand first that are the braves, and always them that pay the largest cost.

[HeIenaDove]

I have started to notice that members of a marginalised minority do not always recognise other marginalised minorities In the last week alone i have seen a video from a member of Black Lives Matter filmed on a bus of a disabled person with a crutch not wearing a mask which she was having a go about and an ally with #BLM in her Twitter bio referring to those with COPD who cant wear masks as "fucking freaks"

I think BLM is a great movement but its obvious to me that if you ONLY support them without supporting other marginalised minorities you are only doing it because it is trendy while #disabledlivesmatter and #tenantslivesmatter just arent trendy enough.

[HeIenaDove]

oh and the former is apparently a healthcare professional.

[HeIenaDove]

twitter.com/heyitsme_jess19/status/1275092821607952384?s=20

[Goosefoot]

It's been bundled in with a bunch of other causes as something that is required to be recognised as an ok person by a certain segment of society. Why that has happened at this particular moment I don't know.

I never felt the action of the team owners were about a principled disagreement, it was mainly about not wanting to put politics into their entertainment franchise as it would lose money. (And actually, it's not necessarily unreasonable for an entertainment company to want to say away from controversial politics.) But now virtue marketing is the big thing and not being seen to support BLM would open them up to being cancelled, so they go along with it.

As far as the number of black men killed by the police, yes, there were as many four years ago and maybe more - my understanding is police homicides of black persons have been on a downward curve for a number of years now. Maybe it was the visual images that made people so angry comparatively?

[araiwa]

Im happy that not being racist is cool now and im sure the likes of colin kaepernick et al are proud their actions might be bearing fruit

[unstableunicorn]

Agree with @AIMD that lockdown and covid have probably a big effect on it. I know what you mean about it being 'cool' though, feel like I've spoken to lots of people who are more concerned with looking like they care than actually caring

[unstableunicorn]

But regardless of the intention behind it, at the end of the day the more awareness and involvement in reducing systemic racism the better (even if it means I have to bite my tongue to not call out people who are blatantly jumping on the BLM bandwagon with no real interest or care about it!)

[1300cakes]

I get what you mean, how infuriating for them. Better late than never though I suppose.

[AllNaturalIngredients]

Your right OP, but it’s a good thing

[whereorwhere]

I agree with Helena. It's great that systematic racism is in the agenda but I'm sick of hearing how only Black people are subject to a lack of privilege. Colour is one of the issues in society, along with sexism, discrimination against disabilities, religion, class etc. We are all layered and whilst race is a big issue, a middle class black man will have more privilege than a white disabled female. We should be focusing on all inequality not just skin colour. I'm also confused as to why this is focused just on Black people when Asians get exactly the same level of abuse in the U.K. If you are only campaigning for BLM you are just following the trend and not seeing the bigger issue around diversity and inclusion issues throughout many levels of society