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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think that woman on the jubilee line is a plain racist

328 replies

casusally · 16/02/2015 21:52

Listening to LBC today and lots of people where saying she did nothing racist saying "you guys used to be slaves". I'm glad the police are taking this seriously. Warning offensive video

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/woman-comes-forward-after-racist-rant-video-shot-on-jubilee-line-line-train-10049662.html

OP posts:
Whitershadeofpale · 17/02/2015 17:41

Well I'm a Londoner and I have never heard that its a racist phrase. I have heard it used in a racist context but no more often then I have any other.

GraysAnalogy · 17/02/2015 17:47

That phrase is used for everyone Confused and wikipedia (yes I know not the font of knowledge but still) mentions nothing of racist origins en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_on_shoulder

Chessie00 · 17/02/2015 17:50

I am very surprised that you are not aware that chip on your shoulder was used often and sometimes still is to silence black people. now you do perhaps maybe better to use a different term

Nope, like the majority here. And I've just googled the history of it and there's not a sniff of anything related to racism.

I think it's a very handy phrase that completely fits some situations so I'm happy to continue to use it tbh.

iklboo · 17/02/2015 18:38

No racism in its etymology. If you've heard it used in a confrontation about race that's the person / situation at that time (and likely had other phrases around it). 'Chip on your shoulder' is not a racist term nor it it generally used to 'silence' black people.

Tsoukalosy · 17/02/2015 19:44

Nope not racist at all. She said a silly thing. Who doesnt when confronted by strangers shreiking at you?! That black woman was racist however telling the east european woman shut up you can't even speak english. Amazing that no one will mention that, or the prick who started it picked on her because she was a lone woman he felt he could show up and be threatening he mentioned race first for no reason so he is racist also. Also everyone on the train in particular the one filming it, not one of them assholes stood up for her when she had a threatening man ranting at her like a lunatic but they all rounfld on her like a pack of animals. Sickening i would have stood up for her.

MidniteScribbler · 17/02/2015 21:31

Who gets on the tube and doesn't expect to get jostled and bumped in to? I don't understand why 'oops, sorry' wasnt all that was needed under the circumstances.

creighton · 18/02/2015 08:51

You get bumped on the tube sometimes it is not a reason to be rude to someone. It's funny that English is her second language but she knows enough to abuse a black man I wonder where she learned how to do that?

iklboo · 18/02/2015 09:30

You don't have to speak English as a first language to be able to translate your thoughts & expressions from your mother tongue. It doesn't mean she learned to be racist by learning English or moving here.

creighton · 18/02/2015 10:10

No I am well aware that eastern Europe as have no problem being effortlessly racist to black people when they come to this country it just shows what their linguistic priorities are when it comes to dealing with peoplr

MistressMerryWeather · 18/02/2015 10:54

It is racism.

Any civilised adult should be able to have a discussion - even a heated one - without bringing up slavery, regardless of their first language

MaidOfStars · 18/02/2015 11:05

Any civilised adult should be able to have a discussion - even a heated one - without bringing up slavery, regardless of their first language

The man hardly provoked a civilised discussion, did he?

foSho · 18/02/2015 11:19

FreudiansSlipper I'm a Londoner and it's news to me that 'chip on your shoulder' has racist connotations.

I think the woman probably is racist as she randomly brought up slavery. However, the man is a prick and a sexist one at that. He may have been racist too. The onlookers were pathetic. All in all, a bad day for humanity.

BoneyBackJefferson · 18/02/2015 12:34

MistressMerryWeather

Any adult should be able to ask someone to move without being accused of being racist.

mutternutter · 18/02/2015 13:16

The link doesn't work can someone better than me link please

MaidOfStars · 18/02/2015 13:20

You just insert either side of the address Smile

MistressMerryWeather · 18/02/2015 13:22

I'm not defending the man in the video, not at all. He is clearly the shouty, unpleasant type who loves the sound of his own voice, she was right to defend herself.

But come on, slavery? By doing that she insulted every black person on the train.

MistressMerryWeather · 18/02/2015 13:24

Saying*

MaidOfStars · 18/02/2015 13:30

He wasn't just shouty and unpleasant, he was threatening and aggressive. And yes, racist.

I am not condoning the slavery comment, even with exceptions for poor English. But she was (I think) a lone female being accused of something truly distressing by an angry, abusive man who whipped up the other passengers into a frenzy.

I'd have dissolved into tears or decked him before I got to a slavery comment (which wouldn't have ever issued from me anyway...but you know what I mean).

Until she said it, there was no evidence - no evidence at all - that she was racist and deserved such disgusting abuse. Not one person stood up for her, or perhaps pointed out to the bloke that he might be mistaken.

SuperFlyHigh · 18/02/2015 13:30

She shouldn't have made the comment re slaves (hence the piling in and rudeness of the other people around her) and he shouldn't have been so rude and aggressive.

Generally the last thing one should do is to bring up past or make personal comments but in the heat of the moment sometimes red mist comes down and it can't be helped.

MaidOfStars · 18/02/2015 13:31

(and that doesn't mean his abuse is mitigated in retrospect by the slavery comment)

nochocolateforlentteacake · 18/02/2015 13:41

'chip on your shoulder' - not racist term.

comment referring to slavery - racist, completely irrelevant and a bit odd.

comment that she was racist because he is black - also racist. She may have complained that he touched her because he is: male, smelly, wearing leather, maybe she is scared of men, or having a shit day, or pregnant/feeling sick so feeling a but protective, or maybe she had been stomped on by 20 idiots already on the tube and is pissed off... or million other reasons.

Why can't you even fart in public these days without some arse whipping out their phone any filming it? I am probably well represented on YouTube telling people to 'feck orf'.

Sazzle41 · 18/02/2015 15:58

Having not seen the incident its difficult , but it seemed to me that he started the 'incident' by being very loudly sure that it was because of his race that she objected to being bumped into. But... she seems unwilling to let it go, won't back down, then mentions slavery. IME he'd have run out of steam if she'd ignored him. I think, think being operative word, that as English is not her first language she meant he has a chip on his shoulder about being black. That reference to slavery could be seen as racist or... she is expressing herself badly. But he does seem very, very aggressive either way.

Also, taking that line daily & knowing the area (Stratford is so dodgy its nicknamed Beirut by the locals) she is bloody lucky no-one else joined in/it didnt escalate to more serious stuff. I've seen an arguement over a seat escalate to a knock down fight between two really young black girls, at that same station, one who was heavily pregnant - and who ended up with a nose streaming with blood. I've also seen 2 white men harrassing a very sweet Romanian girl who just happened to stand near them saying "Gypsy go home". I deliberately moved so i was between them & gave them my ex teacher death stare. They wimped out and stopped.

TheChandler · 18/02/2015 16:14

Its this whole debate about whether one unwise statement makes a person a racist, or is racist in itself. I don't think in this case it does. I think you need something else to make it racist.

I say that in light of all the circumstances - the aggressive behaviour of the man, his provocative remark about her only commenting on him because he was black, the fact that as a woman on the train who was by then surrounded by people staring at her (possibly because of the man's very definite attempts to make it a racist argument from the very beginning), and that she was a foreigner with limited English language skills herself.

Its also entirely possible that he did jostle her because he was the type of man to do that accidentally/deliberately - and that is shown by his aggressive response to her. Its also possible she was a particularly sensitive person. I would tend to believe that he did jostle her more than is acceptable, and her response was because he wouldn't respect her right to object to this, and nothing to do with whether he was black.

He was looking for a fight, or some kind of argument, and I bet if she hadn't been a woman sitting alone, he would have muttered something and then ignored her.

creighton · 18/02/2015 16:32

Standard arrogant white woman who knows nothing but whose 'opinion'must count for more than any black person's. The reason no one stood up for her is that she is an ignorant gobshite who wanted to put the blacks in their place