To think that the "safety pin" is unlikely to be recognised by the people that really need it.

[GerdaLovesLili]

Just that really. My neighbours who are pretty much 80% BAME that's characteristic of my end of the borough I live in (24 flats and yes, I got to talk to pretty much all of them today as usual while I was outside gardening/hanging up the laundry/walking up to and from the school) have absolutely no idea what the hell the safety pin is all about. Mainly because not one of them is an i/Indy/Grauniad reader.

How do we ensure that they know that it's a symbol of hope for them and not just smug virtue signalling?

I'm sure those of us who've been around for any amount of time remember this thread...www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1408141-to-show-I-am-asexual-by-wearing-a-black-ring

Ahhhh I just remembered using a safety pin quite a lot, to cinch in my waist with one of those ultra wide lycra belts.... yep, remembering the pain of it stabbing me... thanks for that reminder Toppit.

Using a safety pin to hold my bleached Lee Cooper Jeans fastened after I had lay on the bed, feet up on the wall, using a clothes hanger to get them fastened and then being unable to walk properly as I left the house is also a memory too..

It's a nice idea, but sounds like a fad and a lot of people will assume you've ripped your jacket and don't have a needle and thread.

The best way to promote equality is as Yoda suggests, to treat people well regardless of race and speak out against racism/discrimination.

The safety pin gained its meaning in 1977.

God Save the Queen was released in Silver Jubilee Year.

Trills

1. I suppose that anything that helps can't be bad
2. Yes. But you were only supposed to pin the edge of the packet. (But quantities of snakebite and black don't help with accuracy)

Punk Rules! (Although I was a goth, and a glammy)

mmm snakebite and black.. with pernod... = red witch..

with blue bols.. = green witch..

sorry.. reliving my very mispent youth now..

crispbutty It sounds a lot like mine :-)

To be fair, safe sex was not really something that crossed many peoples minds at all until the early 90s

Not so. The 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign was launched in 1986.

acasualobserver Not so. The 'Don't Die of Ignorance' campaign was launched in 1986.

And DS1 was born 1987... coincidence?

I was a mix of everything.. rock, mod, and punk.. still am too lol!!! (music wise anyway)

Clothing is much of a Helena Bonham Carter style these days, rock/boho.. with safety pins still holding some things together.

In a more serious note to the subject. Why not just smile at anyone when you sit next to them anywhere, ie on a bus, a cafe, in the supermarket queue.. manners, politeness, friendliness goes a lot further than expecting someone to see and realise any significance to a badge you are wearing.

Go in the Polish shops and buy some of their stuff.. its amazing cheap and they are local businesses, so support them.

Treat everyone with kindness and it does go a long way.

Crispbutty

All very good advice, and I did indeed go into our local Polish shop today to top on "pickled ugly vegetable" and kasha. :-)

I honestly dont remember that campaign. I lived in a small northern working class town. No internet then.. Top of The Pops was more important than the news to teenagers. We really were very ignorant of a lot of things..

I suppose it might be useful to stick into someone annoying you with their racist drivel but other that it just sounds like pretentious nonsense.

crispbutty I think it's very easy to forget how things were before the internet. Even badly produced fanzines were a breath of fresh air.

I guess that working in a rehearsal studio in London made it easier to pick up on things like that though.

I used to wear safety pins when I was a teenager. (Only about 10 years ago) I was still am gutted that I was born too late to be a punk. :(

acasualobserver Wed 29-Jun-16 19:58:32
In the 1980s it was a safe sex symbol!

That's what I though too

I think it's very easy to forget how things were before the internet.

When we were kids my mod dad had a 'Frodo lives' badge. I was 20 before I realised what it was about.

The whole thing is utter bollocks and misleading. Who is even meant to wear them? White people? I'm cringing really.

What if the wearer is a complete bellend? What if the non white person is themselves threatening? Who makes these ridiculous lines in the sand? Are all non white people Guardian reading liberals?

It's just a way for smugs to have their little secret handshake with other smugs.

user1465823522
There's nothing like a badly produced badge to induce nostalgia...

MyCatWasRightAboutYou It's never too late to be a punk!

YANBU. The only people who I have met today who have known about the safety pin have been politically active, relatively privileged people who spend a lot of time online. I haven't seen anybody actually wearing one.

OTOH, it doesn't do any harm and doesn't cost anything to wear a safety pin and it's only been a day since the campaign started. People who don't live their lives online are used to slightly longer timescales to get things going. Maybe it'll catch on over the coming weeks and actually do some good. It's a symbol of solidarity as much as anything.

I like to think it would be redundant in my very mixed, harmonious neighbourhood but I have witnessed a couple of incidents over the years I've lived here to remind me that there are racist arseholes dotted around in most communities.

I didn't wear a safety pin today but I think I will from now on. The worst that will happen is nobody notices. I can live with that.

Safety pins belong to everybody because everybody has them. That's why they are punk. I can't think of anything so un-punk as saying 'oh no, you can't use safety pins, they belong to punk'.

I spent years wearing a safety pin on my shirt. It's because I had a baby in terry nappies.

I have still got my old Rock Against Racism badge from the 70s .... Would be good to have those around again.

Wear it!

PlymouthMaid1 I'm happy to dig mine out and wear that!