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AIBU?

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Original poster

To hope this racist woman loses her job

999 replies

TildaKauskumholm · 26/05/2020 10:43

twitter.com/melodyMcooper/status/1264965252866641920?s=19. Was appalled to see this video on Twitter - a guy in Central park, NYC, who was birdwatching, politely asked a woman to put her dog on the lead as per the regulation in that part of the park. He started filming it as she got abusive and called the cops, to say that she (white) and her dog were being threatened by an African-American man and could they send the police (as we know this can often result in a shooting).All the while she was holding her dog up by dangling it from its collar, half strangling it. The man left and his sister put the video on Twitter, resulting in the racist dog strangler being identified very quickly... she has a high powered job with an insurance company. The animal shelter took back the dog, and her company says she is on 'administrative leave' hopefully meaning she will get fired. I was really shocked and dismayed that such open racism is still going on, even though she was being filmed! Surely she must lose her job at least, what company would want to be linked to something like this?

OP posts:
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VladmirsPoutine · 26/05/2020 22:50

she's in the wrong about the dog lead and she doesn't like being made to obey the rules, maybe especially by someone she doesn't really regard as an equal.

This is just it. But if you stick around mumsnet long enough there'll be another thread about why golliwogs are just cute dolls, or someone will start something about Meghan Markle or anything really. I really try and avoid the race threads on mumsnet as it sends me into a spiral. But here we are again.

VladmirsPoutine · 26/05/2020 22:55

@LipsyGirl I don't know what you did wrong - you basically said since having mixed kids and a (black?) DH your antennae to racism is now highly tuned. But that said and though you aren't an example of this there are many white women with mixed kids who are racist. I think the whole issue/point being expressed was having black kids doesn't automatically mean immunity to being anti-black or being racist.

memememoi · 26/05/2020 22:57

@annamie you are using a lot of coded language, but I'm sure you already know that

LemonadeAndDaisyChains · 26/05/2020 23:00

But if you stick around mumsnet long enough there'll be another thread about why golliwogs are just cute dolls

There's a good and bad side to these racism threads - I'm ashamed to say several years ago I think I was on one of those threads saying "but it's just a cute childhood toy, nowt wrong with it!"
Which is why threads like this should stay - on the one hand, you'll never change bigoted opinions, too entrenched, but you can "get" to those who are genuinely ignorant.
I read up the history behind golliwogs, read about the Jim Crow era
It's not all about me and how I always saw them as just another toy.

annamie · 26/05/2020 23:00

No, I don’t know Confused

Maybe if you used sentences longer than 4 words people wouldn’t be so confused @memememoi

memememoi · 26/05/2020 23:02

@LipsyGirl I apologise. I saw a turn of phrase that I constantly have to bat off.. there was footage of a guy on a train using the exact "but I've got mixed children" after doing something extremely offensive a few days ago, I guess I just felt triggered

AKissAndASmile · 26/05/2020 23:02

@zscaler great post

LipsyGirl · 26/05/2020 23:03

@memememoi that’s okay. I completely understand. Don’t worry about it x

WingingItSince1973 · 26/05/2020 23:07

Oh wow what a disgusting woman!!! She clearly knew what she was doing. Saying he was threatening her into the brambles! Plus that poor dog. No wonder he filmed the altercation so he least had proof of white privilege in action x

AKissAndASmile · 26/05/2020 23:13

@memememoi I don't blame you. People on here always jump onto race threads claiming to have mixed race kids to prove they're not racist. Unfortunately LipsyGirl copped for it when she wasn't doing that.

AKissAndASmile · 26/05/2020 23:14

Glad it been sorted Flowers

VladmirsPoutine · 26/05/2020 23:15

there was footage of a guy on a train using the exact "but I've got mixed children" after doing something extremely offensive a few days ago, I guess I just felt triggered

I saw that too and a white woman called him out on it. He was insulting the black ticket inspector for having the gall to ask him for his ticket. It was also recorded on a smartphone and shared on twitter.

I truly thank god for Steve Jobs.

Ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse · 26/05/2020 23:16

Absolutely disgusting. This women is vile and anyone who thinks she didn’t do anything wrong is either racist or uneducated.

annamie · 26/05/2020 23:20

So I’m the one being told to ‘carry on’ and told off for using coded language?!

AKissAndASmile · 26/05/2020 23:24

When discussing this thread tonight my white DP told me he was annoyed that his colleague used the P word twice, but then went on to defend his honour because he's an 'old boy who doesn't know better'. This shit is insidious. My DP usually is more angry about race stuff than I am. He then said I need to get off Mumsnet because it's making me angry

UmmH · 26/05/2020 23:29

Yes @dreamingbohemian, I acknowledged the difficulty and that people were identified as property. It is the possibility I am highlighting to those who assume it's impossible because 'records didn't exist'.

I have seen plantation records which state '20 Coromantees purchased', and names such as Mimba and Quasi. These are Akan day names linking people to a very specific ethnicity and culture in modern day Ghana.

Also, I don't think the average white American would be likely to know exactly which town or village their 17th or 18th century ancestors came from unless they had done some research.

DNA can be unreliable but doing several (expensive, I know) tests can eliminate the margin for error.

LemonadeAndDaisyChains · 26/05/2020 23:29

This shit is insidious
Exactly what I said upthread.
There's just so much more to it.
Old boy who doesn't know better?
I can get on board with if you're ignorant and don't know better, you grow up white and have casual racism seen as norm.
As an adult though, there's really no excuse.
If you're able to read up on all the history, and still excuse it, then there's a problem.

memememoi · 26/05/2020 23:30

@VladmirsPoutine yes that was the one but I've seen her IG, she's mixed.

@annamie I have apologised. The issue is over.

annamie · 26/05/2020 23:32

@memememoi you have neither explained what coded language I was using or apologised to me if I wasn’t, so not over for me. But I’m sure you already know that.

memememoi · 26/05/2020 23:41

@AKissAndASmile, I hear you.
I will be more tactful next time

@annamie you're not going to draw me out, have a good night

Aretheystillasleepbob · 26/05/2020 23:42

She knew EXACTLY what she was doing. She’s lost her job and her reputation and she deserves all of it. She could have got that guy shot, that’s what she was telling him - and the way her voice lifted, in panicked mode when she actually spoke to the cops? That’s white privilege in action right there.

PicsInRed · 26/05/2020 23:42

This was the murder equivalent of death by cop.
She attempted to murder him by cop.

Lost her job and the dog she strangled pfft. Should be arrested and charged. Is she being charged with wasting police time? Making a false report? No? Course not.

PicsInRed · 26/05/2020 23:43

And anyone who thinks he "provoked" her is both racist and thick.

Laaf80 · 26/05/2020 23:43

@UmmH

Actually meticulous records were kept - who wouldn't keep records of 'property' purchased? Ships manifests, plantation records, baptisms, marriages and deaths apply to enslaved Africans as well, albeit that they were listed as property not people

And what names did those kidnapped Africans travel under I wonder?
It was illegal in most states for slaves to marry.
Yes owners kept records but these were often reduced to ‘20 something buck, 6ft answers to Toby’ and kept alongside the farm stock inventory.

Some black people have managed to trace lineage, but it’s near impossible to trace back to the middle passage let alone African villages.

Dockets from the sale of black people can help but these also normally have scant information.

Alex Haley’s research has been questioned but at face value he was able to research due to the verbal handing down of his ancestors African name and village. Not via documentation.

FTR this post was the side conversation of why ‘African American‘ instead of just ‘American‘ is a term used and whether or not AA can trace ancestry.

SoVeryLost · 26/05/2020 23:44

@MaxNormal there isn’t always a sanction for being racist at work. In fact HR generally sides with the majority. Sadly I’ve had to sit with a friend who had a rough ride with a nasty colleague who made some really racist statements but it was all swept under the carpet and nothing was said to the racist.