Will black lives ever matter?

[RockLock]

So another killing of a black man Ahmaud Arbery by 2 white men (Father and son) in US. They nearly got away with it calling it a citizen arrest and self defence. Father was a retired policeman.

They followed him, armed with guns and shot him.

Prosecutors tried to cover it up until the video emerged.
Ahmaud’s crime? He was going for a jog.

Will black lives ever matter?

[VladmirsPoutine]

Asking if black lives matter on Mumsnet is akin to asking if vegans should be force-fed meat or left to starve.

It comes back to racism doesn't exist, all lives matter or some variation thereof. Talking about racism on Mumsnet (and I say this as a black person who has tried) - is like asking fish to stop swimming. In other words impossible.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

No, CanICelebrate, you don't know, so how about winding your neck in?

[Gwynfluff]

‘Pin it on this’ - they hunted down a black man as they thought he was in the neighbourhood to break into houses. Then they shot him when he wouldn’t come over to them. What exactly would you ‘Pin it on’ if not racism?

[CanICelebrate]

I really don't get how people can hear "Black Lives Matter" and think that it means Only Black Lives Matter rather than Black Lives Matter Too

This ^

[MintyMabel]

The disproportionate toll of Covid-19 on ethnic minorities and black people in particular has become clear

I do wonder if this had been known much earlier, whether there would have been quite so much of a reaction around the world to try and shut it down so soon. A bit like how HIV wasn’t a problem til is started affecting heterosexuals. How missing children get more press if they are white. The optimist in me says we still would have done it, the cynic in me fears we wouldn’t.

[PhilSwagielka]

They should. No human being is expendable. As others have said, this was a lynching. A man was murdered in cold blood for being black in the 'wrong' place at the 'wrong' time.

I expect you'll get dogs' abuse for posting this though, we all know how Mumsnet hates 'wokeness'.

[MintyMabel]

The scene shows two parents giving their black pre-teen son “the talk”, regarding what to do if he ever gets stopped by the police.

This made me really sad when I saw it. Imagine having to build that in to parenting.

[Annamaria14]

I visited the USA for the first time at the beginning of this year.

I was truly shocked at how black people are treated. Really and truly, I had no idea that it is as bad as it is. They are treated like animals in many places there. It is one of the biggest human rights abuses of our time

[Oakmaiden]

I also find it mildly interesting to look at the photos of the protests about the murder. From the photos I have seen most of the protesters are not white. I accept that I have only seen a small number of pictures (most of the media seem to be using the same ones) but it does lead to the conclusion that only non-white people really cared about it.

I mean, I am sure that is not completely true, but it does illustrate how if it doesn't affect you it is harder to get "excited" about it. (I know that is a poor word to use - my brain isn't working too well right now, hopefully you get what I mean).

[CanICelebrate]

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe it’s hard to do that when the same shit is spouted again and again.
‘Black lives matter’
‘No all lives matter’
Yes of course they do which is why in some places (including the US) BLM is such an important movement.
I am sorry I picked on your post but there are a few like it on this thread and every thread where someone dares bring up white privilege or institutional racism.

[VladmirsPoutine]

It's actually really triggering reading all these responses. On just about every other issue Mumsnetters are able to apply a critical lens. But when it comes to racial disparities, much less even racism it literally just doesn't exist. It's quite remarkable actually.

[PlanDeRaccordement]

The disproportionate toll of Covid-19 on ethnic minorities and black people in particular has become clear but many white people are utterly resistant to the idea of them being shielded from frontline roles

This is true. However, while it is true black people have 2x risk of dying compared to white people from COVID so too do men have 2x risk of dying compared to women. Similarly, women have been utterly resistant to the idea of shielding men from frontline roles. If the first is racism, would the second then be sexism? It gets very tangled.

[Oakmaiden]

@Chloemol Spectacularly missing the point there. Well done.

[CanICelebrate]

@VladmirsPoutine

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

MouthBreathingRage I'm not doing that. I understand the 'scale' and I understand racism. The shooters are being brought to justice and I hope they get the kicking they deserve in prison, but they probably won't.

I wasn't being flippant, I'm just as appalled at the shooting of an innocent person and I don't understand the mentality but in a country that celebrates firepower, it's a never-ending problem.

[Ilovethekittehs]

'All lives matter' I hate that. It just takes away from the 'black lives matter' movement. No one is saying all lives dont matter. But people wouldn't get away with hunting down and killing a white man...

[WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo]

I don't think any lives matter in the US unless those lives belong to rich people.

Their way of thinking is fucked up, especially in the southern states.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

CanICelebrate, I understand white privilege, I can't understand what BEM people go through because I never will. I'm sorry about that. I feel it's probably best for me to swerve threads like this in future because I think I'm posting in support and it just causes offence which was never the intention.

[LonginesPrime]

The fact the father was a “former police officer” is a red herring. He was acting as a private citizen when he murdered Ahmad.

The fact he is a former police officer is the red herring in the context of Black Lives Matter and police brutality - he has had a career where structural racial bias was culturally ingrained so to pretend that this has absolutely no impact on the attitude of a retired police officer is just wilful blindness.

[TorkTorkBam]

I have to admit the title got my back up. I found myself thinking FFS another American poster assuming every place in the world is as violent and white supremecist as the USA.

[Annamaria14]

Are people on here aware that black people suffer terrible human rights abuses in teh USA.

You so know that it is happening right.

The argument being made in this case, is that a black man should be able to go out for a jog in his own neighbourhood, without being ahot and killed.

So sad.

Many white people do not want to see racism. Because who cares? Doesnt happen to them, in fact it benefits them.


But I am white, and I am not a bitch, so I see it.

[Namechangervaver]

Talking about racism on Mumsnet (and I say this as a black person who has tried) - is like asking fish to stop swimming. In other words impossible.

Absolutely. That's why I'm currently reading 'Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race' by Reni Eddo-Lodge

[FeelinFagin]

"But... but... but... it wasn't police brutality and has nothing to do with black lives matter. It was citizen on citizen crime"

'Black lives matter' comes into play when the police DID NOTHING UNTIL THEY WERE FORCED TO. There is a clear video showing the murder. The police still did nothing.

[zafferana]

I really hope so OP and YANBU. The situation in the USA is different to here in the UK though. While racism is alive in well in both locations, the situation is much worse in the USA. The murder of this innocent man who was going for a jog is but one terrible example in the past few weeks. The sight of a load of tooled up white supremacists storming state buildings armed to the teeth while security guards were made to stand by and the useless tosser of a president defended them was another. If those men had been black rather than white, they'd have been shot on sight. Hell, you don't even have to be armed as a black person to be shot in the USA. Some white idiot with a gun only has to say 'I felt threatened' and that's enough justification.