My comment from the last thread, which was an absolute racist shit show, before this one gets underway with the same five or so inane thoughtless comments start being repeated ('stop the world I want to get off, if you saw a black child and though 'monkey' you're the racist, if you pointed this out it's cos you're racist, everyone is professionally offended at something these days, would it be the same if a white child was wearing it, all kids are cheeky monkeys hahahaha')
"Yesterday 01:17Julie8008
I suppose it would be racist to take a black family to the zoo where any monkeys are kept. Would it also be racist to take a white family to the zoo where snow leopards are kept?
What is the world coming to when anything that can be construed to be offensive by anyone ever should be banned. Shouldn't Mumsnet be banned because it is sexist and therefore offensive to men.
FFS, stop the world I want to get off."
Wondered how long it'd be before a 'stop the world I want to get off' comment 😂 because living in a world where racism is discussed openly and attempted to be tackled is such an awful thing for a white person to deal with.
Is there a term for these type of comments that try SO hard to be progressive by denying that they ever notice racism? And believe that if you point out or notice racism it means you therefore are one? It's so backwards it's come full circle.
I am white. I rarely get racist abuse. In fact, I don't think I ever have. I live in England. My beautiful partner is Asian. When we're together I notice stares, I hear comments. I see people stare at him, or ignore him when he offers to help them with their shopping. I noticed an incident a few months ago when he walked past a flustered mum with a young child on the train platform and heard her ask a passerby where platform 2 was. The passerby didn't know, my boyfriend did, so he said to her 'it's over there'. She blanked him and he repeated it. She sneered 'I don't talk to your kind'.
I notice these things, the things that I NEVER SEE BECAUSE THEY'RE NEVER DIRECTED AT ME that I only notice when I'm out with my partner who has brown skin. Am I racist for noticing these things then? Am I the racist for assuming people are staring because they think they recognise him from somewhere or for not thinking the best of that bitch on the platform (maybe 'your kind' means I dunno... men?)? Am I racist when instead of thinking other white people are nudging each other and whispering staring at us because they think we're stunningly attractive, I recognise they're taken aback at best, bigoted at worst, by seeing us together in our very white town?
No. Those of you who respond with 'you're the racist for equating a black child with a monkey' know very well, full well, that your argument makes no sense. You're not magically non racist because you lie and pretend you never notice any racist abuse happening around you or on the news. Michelle Obama was called 'an ape in heels' by a government official maybe a year or two ago. You must have missed that.
Pretending to be colour blind doesn't solve racism. It doesn't make us white people good allies to pretend it doesn't exist. It flourishes in the dark. It's the equivalent of a black child coming home from school in tears saying they were called a monkey and had ape noises made at them and you smiling brightly safe in your socially acceptable white skin saying 'no they didn't dear! That didn't happen, you're lying!' or saying 'oh they were just saying you're lovely and funny like a monkey!'. You should all be sickened with yourselves. Absolutely sickened.
For what it's worth I don't think the ad was particularly racist, not intentionally. It was ill informed and unfortunate, if a true accident. In some ways it seems to show how far society has come that that link between black child, monkey and racist abuse isn't immediately at the forefront of their minds. But it's absolutely understandable that it's offensive to those who've dealt with being called this or hearing loved ones called this, and for H&M to pull it. Hopefully it was an error. But those of you who think that this incident and the furore around it has suddenly taught loads of naive closet racists a new term of abuse are ridiculous. I think the furore from all ethnicities shows that we, whether black individuals or their allies, don't think this is acceptable and won't let it slide, which is much more powerful.
Racism doesn't go away by pretending it doesn't exist. Seriously horrified by some of the faux naive wide eyed 'you're the racist for even thinking that!' comments, while being simultaneously not that surprised to see so many people doing their best to cover it up and shift the blame to those who care to silence them.
Finally, yes we're all entitled to an opinion on racism and sexism and homophobia whatever our circumstances. But you really gonna act like as a white person in England you know better what is and isn't racist than a black persons who has dealt with it their whole life? Seriously? Sit down and shut the fuck up, open your ears and stop falling over yourself to prove how cool and colour blind you are and you might learn something and develop some humility."