Omg the scenes from the London protests

[SistemaAddict]

I'm just watching the news and am finding it so frightening to see the crowds, the police, the tension, the horse bolting.
I understand the desire to protest but how is this the right way to do things? I know there will be thousands of peaceful protesters among the ones causing trouble.
I'm concerned about the covid risk to everyone there especially as BAME are more at risk of the virus.

I hate confrontation and get very anxious so wanted to chat to others about this. Yes, I could switch off but I think it's important to watch and learn and understand what and why is happening.

My friend (who WAS there) said it was mostly peaceful. Most people wore masks and were respectful of each other and the police. The bit with the police horses (which was utterly disgraceful, I'm a horse lover and my brother is a police officer who often is involved in policing this type of event) was limited to a few individuals at the end of the day. Please don't read the daily mail and think the whole day and all the protestors were like this.

@ GoodbyePorpoiseSpit couldn’t agree more.

If anyone wants to see some sterling examples of white privilege in written form, look no further than this thread!

(I’m white but completely aware of the privilege afforded to me because of this and not wilfully blind to it)

Sweetnhappy1 Sun 07-Jun-20 01:43:28

Wow. Thank you for sharing this. It's heart breaking to read.

We don't die in our own countries

DeeCeeCherry, do you feel that the UK is not your country?

Newsflash, we didn’t attend any VE Day commerations as all official gatherings for them were cancelled. That decision was taken from us because there is a virus that’s killed 40,000 people and it was decided too risky to go ahead.

The people who went to the beach/had VE Day parties are all just as irresponsible and selfish as the attenders of yesterday’s march.

@SusieOwl4

There is no equivalence with the terrible murder of the policeman in Berkshire, good bit of "whataboutery" though.

Johnson allowed those millions to go to the beach and Cummings took a CV suspected family around the country, inc going to an AE department.

The Government has refused to publish in full the report into how CV-19 affects BAME communities, in particular the specific recommendations.

Hancock defends not having any Black cabinet members with - doesn't matter because "The cabinet has diversity of thought"

How many of those against protests outdoors wearing masks and keeping distance are shouting for schools to go back indoors knowing kids are less likely to stick to social distancing and prob infect the teachers

As Martin Luther King said, according to those who hold power there's never a 'right time' to protest.

The Government has refused to publish in full the report into how CV-19 affects BAME communities, in particular the specific recommendations

The report is here www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-review-of-disparities-in-risks-and-outcomes

Have you actually read it? What do you think is missing.

Having looked at the photographs of this protest, realistically I don’t think it’s going to achieve its aims. If anything it’s going to put back the cause of BAME people. I think it’s going to make people less tolerant. (Even if you exclude the violent thugs, many of but not all are white, are the “rent a mob” crowd who turn up at any protest just to enjoy a bit of gratuitous violence), you have a large group of people hell bent on emphasising the differences.

Now was the wrong time, and wrong format for this protest.

thumbsnap.com/d17VTheK

The situation is far from perfect, but change is happening. The treatment of disabled people like myself is far from perfect, but great progress has been made.

I don’t think the outcome of these protests are going to be positive for BAME people.

If that’s my white privilege then so be it. I am not going to apologise for being white, any more than I am going to apologise for being disabled.

masakbuzz I agree.
The protests at a time when we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and the pure hatred expressed towards white people on these threads (just because they’re white, not because they’re known to be nasty people) , will have set the cause back decades.

I’m not racist, and I will carry on treating my black family members, friends, colleagues and strangers exactly as I always have done (ie no differently from how I treat anyone), but plenty of people won’t.
I hate to say it, but the opening of blatant hostilities will give the racists permission to be more blatantly hostile themselves.

And you can shout “white privilege” as much as you like. What I’m stating is fact. Things will be harder for BAME people as a result of these protests.

Actually it is stamped thrugh the British public that they have freedom of speech, freedom of movement and that freedom is why no government has dared produce a national id card. Lockdown, imo, has been a massive infringement of human rights and there will have to be an Act of Parliament setting out when this must be done in future if fines rather than chouce are imposed.

Every protest sadly seems to be infiltrated by the "rent a mob" crowd. That's what happened yesterday - a professional minority of troublemakers pissed on the parade. 10 policemen were injured; 14 participants arrested.

I'm not sure if my privilege is white or middle class tbh. I wonder if class is being wrapped up in this too and being displaced by colour.

I have never experienced a rude policeman. My 25 year old son who has a good mixed race friend has. Unsurpringly our opinions of the police are different.

@Mintychoc1

And you can shout “white privilege” as much as you like. What I’m stating is fact. Things will be harder for BAME people as a result of these protests.

It won’t be as a result of protests, it will be a result of racists choosing to be racist.

@Mintychoc1

I agree with you. People have felt free to be very racist towards white people on this thread. If white people had made the same comments about BAME people all hell would have broken out.

I looked up the figures. At the 2011 census the BAME population of this country was about 15%. I imagine it’s higher now. However the fact remains 80% of the population of this country is still white. I am struggling with why that is wrong. Inevitably things are going to be geared towards white culture, and white history.

I worked in Uganda for a while. I loved the little sweet bananas, and goat meat. It’s much harder to get that here because they are not traditional foods in this country. I managed to get the bananas in Brighton once, but I have never found goat meat. Whose fault is that?

Well said @Mintychoc1. Prejudice against white people is ok it seems. Not for anything they personally have done, other than being white. Yet prejudice against BAME people just because of their skin colour is rightly deemed abhorrent. Racism and prejudice is never ok.

@Mintychoc1

And you can shout “white privilege” as much as you like. What I’m stating is fact. Things will be harder for BAME people as a result of these protests.

I doubt it very much, it will be because of people who are unwilling to listen and understand what this is all about. How many times have people on here said it is about the systemic racism they face all the time, only for someone else to whitter, but this is not happening here. The ignorance on this something else. People are not listening. Why is that?

Posters on here I have previously respected have seriously shown their true colours on this issue. True white fragility. And I'm white.

@SimonJT

“It won’t be as a result of protests, it will be a result of racists choosing to be racist”.

How can you say that for definite? There is no way you can know that for certain. It’s only your interpretation.

When I see a group of people, be they the extinction rebellion lot, students, or BAME people acting like thugs my attitude towards them changes.

(I am aware the majority of protestors were doing so peacefully, but it was/is still not the appropriate time for a protest of this nature IMHO.)

@Mintychoc1
You ok, hun? Your posts speak volume about you, your “I’m not racist, I have black friends....” that old classic. People who are not racist don’t need to come out and say “I’m not racist”.

The protests are not solely about George Floyd, his death was the final straw, the catalyst for how Black people and any non-white person is treated by society in general. It’s centuries of wrong-doing coming to the fore, society has reaped what it has sown.

Let’s not forget that white people invaded and colonised countries and raped and pillaged their way to power, America was built on kidnapping black people from their homelands into a life of slavery.

If that’s too uncomfortable for you to swallow, tough shit.

[quote MasakaBuzz]@SimonJT

“It won’t be as a result of protests, it will be a result of racists choosing to be racist”.

How can you say that for definite? There is no way you can know that for certain. It’s only your interpretation.

When I see a group of people, be they the extinction rebellion lot, students, or BAME people acting like thugs my attitude towards them changes.

(I am aware the majority of protestors were doing so peacefully, but it was/is still not the appropriate time for a protest of this nature IMHO.)[/quote]
Only a racist would judge an entire ethnicity on one action, just as only someone who is sexist would judge an entire sex on one action. If a BAME person doing something wrong makes you judge BAME people differently then you are racist.

Yet all white people are judged by some on the abhorrent actions of their forefathers.

Sorry I should have said that some people are not listening or it would seem willing to educate themselves. There has been plenty of support from white people on these threads.

@Bercows

Yet all white people are judged by some on the abhorrent actions of their forefathers.

You may think that, but I certainly don’t and neither do the people I choose to socialise with.

I said "some" JT