Black section on MN

[PatricksRum]

I think it would be great if Mumsnet could make a black parents section/ section for black users.

have asked mn to delete the upper post, I didnt realise I had selected all of the page

Today 07:08PatricksRum

ElizabethMainwaring

I've just been looking at the various boards available.
Tucked away in Becoming a Parent section I found the Multicultural Families subsection.
Never noticed that before, and I'm very au fait with this site.
You don't see that popping up in active threads do you.

Never seen that before.

Just goes to show!
All it shows is you didnt look for it?

I think it's a good idea. If there is appetite for it, and clearly there is, it will be active. It has no bearing on others, except maybe the closet racists

@CatsFantastic

Apologies I misunderstood. Do you want a topic that is specifically for Black skinned posters of African descent where you don’t have to bother correcting the assumption you are white ?

Unless you make it a private board which MN doesn’t do can’t see how it would be any different to any other board to be honest. You will still get the same issues on there.

I think it would be really refreshing to have a section on mn where black posters didn't have to start a post with 'I'm black' to explain their POV.

The assumption now is always that a poster is white, unless they say otherwise. And yes raising black children is different. I've explained to my son how differently his black friends have to behave around the police, when they're out after dark etc.

I would love this

@MidnightCitrus

have asked mn to delete the upper post, I didnt realise I had selected all of the page

Today 07:08PatricksRum

ElizabethMainwaring

I've just been looking at the various boards available.
Tucked away in Becoming a Parent section I found the Multicultural Families subsection.
Never noticed that before, and I'm very au fait with this site.
You don't see that popping up in active threads do you.

Never seen that before.

Just goes to show!
All it shows is you didnt look for it?

I looked for a topic for black mumsnetters to discuss issues that affect black people. I couldn't find one. Care to share the one that exists?

I think it's difficulty one, I rather like seeing the (rare) none white things posted as it can make me aware of new things

But I do see it can be difficult ..I remember one case where a woman was talking about her ?brother being repeatedly arrested , in one case mistaken for a man 30 years his senior ! and the aggression with which people insisted her brother was a villain, the inability to consider racism as an option. Clearly there is racism if the police can't gage someone's age to within 10 years. And it was aggressive, more so than I have seen in many cases where people question the honesty of a relative/ friend of the poster

I think to be fair feminism is a separate board so people who want to can hide it easily.

I wonder what it is about a Black topic that some white posters are scared of

I really don't understand why anyone would object to this! As a white woman, it's not like the number of boards on MN has any impact on my life whatsoever whereas I can imagine (but really I can't obviously) that as a black woman, the constant inherent racism must be exhausting.

The multi cultural board isn't a black board.

the Multicultural Families subsection

A 'Multicultural Families' space isn't a specifically black space, though, so this doesn't fit what the OP is asking for. And 'families' isn't necessarily what the OP wants to discuss. Someone earlier mentioned S&B queries - you probably wouldn't post a question about styling your hair in a 'Families' topic.

Me too Soupdragon

OP, it might just be best to ask @MNHQ rather than continue with this thread.

It strikes me as a slippery slope of separatism based on colour which hasn’t worked well in the past. But I can also see the benefit of it 🥴.

@justanotherneighinparadise

It strikes me as a slippery slope of separatism based on colour which hasn’t worked well in the past. But I can also see the benefit of it 🥴.

In the past? It's still happening now hence the requirement.

@SoupDragon

I wonder what it is about a Black topic that some white posters are scared of

Diverted attention I suspect

I remember a post on S&B a while back about what makes someone elegant or classy. So many posters said pale, untanned, alabaster skin. I said that I thought that was racist and was told not to be so ridiculous as they were discussing "beauty not race"

In theory I don’t have a problem with it if it helps other black women to feel more comfortable. I just wouldn’t stick to posting in the Black section, I’d use the whole site, but then again I don’t get intimidated easily and feel quite comfortable interacting with all sorts of people. If I wanted to discuss something, I’d like to get as many, varied opinions as I could so would find posting in the Black section too restrictive. For example my race isn’t important when I ask a question about UCAS points.

I think it's a great idea and hope MNHQ agree.

@skippy67

I remember a post on S&B a while back about what makes someone elegant or classy. So many posters said pale, untanned, alabaster skin. I said that I thought that was racist and was told not to be so ridiculous as they were discussing "beauty not race"

What a strange thing for someone to start a thread on. I expect you’d have as many different definitions of “elegant or classy” as you had posts on the thread!

@skippy67

I remember a post on S&B a while back about what makes someone elegant or classy. So many posters said pale, untanned, alabaster skin. I said that I thought that was racist and was told not to be so ridiculous as they were discussing "beauty not race"

I remember a thread recently where a Japanese lady was talking of a parasol her and her children used as they don't want to get too dark.

@SoupDragon

I wonder what it is about a Black topic that some white posters are scared of

Exactly.

I took my dc to a multicultural playgroup run by Surestart. It was great. Hair was a hot topic.

Then people started to complain about it.

So Surestart got rid of our group. And the breastfeeding group. And the Dad's playgroup.

I propose mumsnet do the same. And massive free for all topic. Where nobody can get advise on boundary disputes or on potty training....

MNHQ please make this happen.

PatricksRum I’m so sorry so many posters are incapable of listening to what black women are actually saying they want.

To those of you saying the OP isn’t asking in the right way, is excluding people and all the standard racist guff maybe reflect on what you are saying.

@PatricksRum can I just say I think you are awesome.

How can it be segregating? It's not as if black people would only be allowed to post on the topic and white people have the rest of the site.

If you're going to use the feminism board as a comparison, it's a space to talk to people about shared experiences.

If you're worried about not 'learning' anything about black people if more threads were in a separate section, you can still go and read through it. I did that with the feminism topic when I first came to MN years ago, I read through lots of topics, never posting, but just learning and expanding on what I didn't know growing up.

How could anyone say this isn't needed or wanted?