AIBU to agree with Diane Abbott

No one is ignoring the horror of what happened in Rotherham - or the racial dynamics involved. Those girls were failed on multiple levels, and it’s absolutely right that those failures were exposed and addressed. But it’s important not to confuse that with the systemic racism faced by people of colour every day.

What happened in Rotherham was not racism against white girls—it was institutional neglect driven by classism, misogyny, and yes, fear of being labelled racist. That’s not the same as the systemic, generational racism experienced by Black and brown communities across policing, healthcare, education, and media representation.

Bringing this up when discussing racism faced by people of colour often ends up derailing the conversation. Both things deserve serious attention- but one doesn’t erase the other.

no I am making a point that this was a group of disgusting predatory men that people have been horrified by what they did

It’s not acceptable and who is defending them or trying to reason their behaviour

Exactly. This thread is really very telling.

I will say the same thing to you as I say to anyone who tries this on. Where, in the Equality Act, is the white race made an exception? The very term white slag is racist.

I'm white and a serial migrant in the process of getting reeeeeally tired of getting funny reactions for speaking with an accent. I have African colleagues who struggle to even find a bank that wants their custom.

Of course it's worse for black people. That said, it's all shite.

It was the systemic rape of white working class girls.

If it was another race of children that’d been targeted then it’d be highlighted all the time. As I understand it, Rotheram specifically was conducted by men of South Asian heritage (a different race). The 2014 report states this according to Google.

We’re getting off topic but to talk about the systemic issues surrounding POC please let’s not ignore the Rape Gangs and who they targeted. It’s what led to the gangs being ignored in the first place.

Do you read @Longingdreamerpost below and still think this?

Once again, what are you talking about. Were the Rotheram girls referred to as white slags or not? I am rebutting the notion that only black women are subjected to sexism and racism. I know you love Abbot but you're either deliberately being obtuse, or not keeping up with the thread.

This!

Same point that I (perhaps not so well) and others have tried to make.

Some people of certain religions/ethnicity can look white and so are not subject to racism in the same way as some (even of the same religion/ethnicity) who do not look white.

This does not take away from current or past persecution. It is more about the instant racist (conscious or subconscious) that is suffered by blacks, Asians, Jews,,travellers who do not look white.
Of course, after a conversation or some period of time you may get to know that person is Muslim, Jew, traveller and then start enacting your racism. But you won’t be subject to the racial profiling that those that are obviously of a non-white race/ethnicity be that black, Asian, Muslim, Jewish, travellers.

I think it’s important that you learn to distinguish between racism and other forms of harm or oppression. White women absolutely experience sexism, and sometimes targeted violence - but that doesn’t make it racism. Racism is specifically about racial prejudice combined with systemic power. In the UK, Black and brown people disproportionately face this because of how institutions are set up and maintained.

What happened in Rotherham was horrific, but it wasn’t about systemic racism against white people - it was a failure of safeguarding, compounded by other complex social dynamics. Using that tragedy to suggest white people face racism the way people of colour do isn’t accurate or true.

I cannot stand her, however I wish people would listen to her on race. She was one of the first British black elected MPs, alongside Lammy et al. The amount of racist abuse her and her peers have experienced is off the scale, but also sadly indicative of many black British peoples experiences.

I think it's a hill she is willing to die on and good for her. I think she is representing the experiences of her constituents.

Jewish people are far more targeted proportionally — over 12x more likely per capita than Muslims, and significantly more than Black people. So obviously she's a fucking idiot.

I believe she also said "white people weren't taken on slave ships". Err, literally millions of white people were taken on ships and sold as slaves by north Africans.

Seriously

wrf that was a group of men that the vast majority of people have been absolutely horrified to learn about

same can not be said about what Diane Abbott has to deal with

What? She’s a politician. She isn’t elected to ‘let others have the conversation’ or ‘shut up and bow out’. Honestly, this must be the most gormless contribution to the entire thread.

As you can see from this thread, some are just desperate to minimise antisemitism.

Look the intersectional stuff has a place. Criticising a woman for shit she said is not intersectional.

Going to be honest Jews weren’t even on my radar until 7th October when I saw people literally celebrating Jews being killed. It was disgusting. There was a request for an anti Israel protest the next day, the Israelis hadn’t even done anything yet and people wanted to protest them, it was clearly support for Hamas’ actions.

Revolting, utterly revolting. Thats when I understood how there was a section of society that genuinely just hated Jews. Being hated for what you are is something any minority should be able to understand and empathise with.

Nope, white women are susceptible to sexism and racism. unless the Rotheram girls have changed colour.

Why does she have to say anything at all! Just let others have the conversation. Knowing when to shut up and bow out is a skill she doesn’t have.

I’ve somehow messed this up as my post was in response to one up thread so ignore this.

No, you're right. Society dislikes women in general but only Black women face racism and misogyny.

Redheads were burned as witches. İt just happened further down the history line than any of the other events mentioned.

Oh please.

What are you talking about? I'm saying that it's not just black women "with a voice" who society 'hates'.

I'm really sorry for what you've experienced. I too of course have suffered from antisemitism passively as a Jewish person: when people say racist things about Jews, it affects me. I also have Holocaust victims in my ancestry. But I think the difference is (and I do think this is what Abbott was trying to say) for someone like me, who is Jewish but to all appearances is white, we don't suffer racism the same way that someone like Abbott, or someone like you, might do. So some Jews, but not all Jews. For example I was saying something the other day to a colleague about Stella McCartney being a Jewish businesswoman and they were so thrown that we had an argument about it because to my mind as a Jew, of course she is Jewish because she had a Jewish mother, but the colleague had no idea at all. In a Holocaust situation someone like SMcC would've been subject to racism but in the current situation in the UK, she isn't, thankfully for her and many of us. That doesn't mean we don't realise that many Jewish people do suffer active racism from being recognisable.