Attending BLM protests?

[ALifeDesign]

I am wondering if anyone has attended today or planning to go to any of the protests being organised around the country this weekend.

I am debating going tomorrow. I would maintain social distancing and wear a mask. In ordinary times I would be there without a second's thought but these aren't ordinary times.

Some photos from today on Twitter look well organised, distanced etc.

I wfh and live with one other person - currently furloughed - who would also be at the protest, so I feel we are low risk of spreading.

I'm still a bit torn. So I suppose AIBU to attend?

No one wants anyone to be hurt

Lockup - Really? So why throw a bike at a horse?

Owen Jones said that if the police horses weren't there, they wouldn't have been harmed.

@TabbyMumz I know the clip you’re talking about - would suggest you view some of the others including the police charging, and the police officer hitting a lamppost which is what results in getting thrown from the horse.

I am an advocate of peaceful protest. However I have also seen how protests can turn antagonistic, and often it’s difficult to see which side instigated it - sometimes it is both. What I do know is that the vast majority of protesters were peaceful, respectful and 100% dedicated to the message at hand. Nothing takes that away.

I wonder how many of those protesters now take the virus home and pass it on to their parents, many of whom may be keyworkers, who then pass it to their colleagues or clients.

Unbelievable.

@DartmoorChef gross generalisation around a) the demographic of those who attended and b) the family structures in which they live. Had you been there, or taken a moment to think a little more deeply, perhaps that statement wouldn’t have seemed sensible to you.

My mother is cheering me on from her house in the Home Counties, and is working from her home office. But thanks for assuming.

lalalanded
Are you now going to self isolate for 14 days having put yourself at risk?

dartmoor no point in asking. They literally don’t give a shit about all the people they may give the virus to in the next week.

misseliza
Victim blaming cunt.
(Not you)

When my local supermarkets are full of people not social distancing I sknt see the problem with the protests.

@Smileyaxolotl1 I wore PPE, hand sanitised regularly and literally didn’t touch anyone. The clothes I wore went immediately into a hot wash. I also don’t live with anyone who is high risk, shielding or working with vulnerable people. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have come into closer contact with people in M&S.

So no, I won’t be self isolating for 14 days, nor is there any actual requirement for me to do so. Thanks for your genuine and heartfelt concern, however.

It’s easy to characterise protesters as people who don’t think this through. Many, many do and did - and judged that this issue is extremely important and warrants protesting. That may be hard for others to understand, if they don’t see it as equally important. However, you can attempt to respect it.

I shall ask again, what do you want to happen from these protests in the uk?.

lalalanded
That’s fine. Just accept you are selfishly willing to put innocent lives at risk for your own ends.

Lalanded And you wouldn’t care if there was a requirement to do so either.
You already think the law doesn’t apply to you.

Sorry but many would not have thought it through. It is simply irresponsible.

The supermarket is not remotely comparable to being tightly hemmed in by hundreds of people on all sides.

This affects BAME people worse overall and the virus doesn't care about the principles inherent therein.

The BBC said the police office threw herself off the horse. Hmmm......

catherineofaragon Yes.
I just don’t understand the mentality.
The online campaigning was going really well. Every one was talking about BLM, reading about it etc.

Everyone points out we have the highest death rate in Europe abc how shocking that is.

And then they go gather in mass protests when we've all just spent 3 months of our lives in lockdown, protecting the NHS and vulnerable people in the community.

Is this now more important than the NHS everyone clapped for on Thursday night and sought to protect?

More important than the countless key workers who lost their lives fighting this virus?

More important than the people who might now catch covid from asymptomatic protestors?

There is so much you can do to support BML. Risking overwhelming the NHS with a second peak shouldn't be one of them.

I am anti-racist. But to do this in the middle of a pandemic and undo all that's been done since lockdown began is insanity.

@smileyaxolotl1 I don’t think your problem is with me as an individual, I just think you have absolutely no concept of my perspective or the perspective of protesters on this particular matter, and therefore no empathy. I imagine it’s very easy to hold your viewpoint.

You’re making very large assumptions about my values, actions and thoughts. I won’t engage with an argument based on your assumptions - your rage is palpable and that’s not a debate, it’s a narrative you have very little hope of steering from at this time, and ultimately a character assassination of me, someone you have no knowledge of. So you’ll appreciate why it’s not of interest to me.

@june2007 I would suggest you do some research around the subject and the goals of the black lives matter movement. I would, as a starting point, like a thorough investigation into police brutality that leads to black death and injury in the UK and the US, and a plan put in place to rectify this for the future. However, I would prefer that you actually look into the issues yourself, the data, etc.

Well I think that’s the end of any social distancing, might as well let all the music festivals happen and major sports events, because no one cares anymore!!

I know black lives matter, but unfortunately the virus does not care about Lives or Colour.

This is all just bloody madness.

lalalanded
I just can’t bear the arrogance of people that think rules are for other people. Even when in this case the rules are there for the protection of the country.
When the death rates for covid rise we will all know where to look.

@CrowCat for many black people this is the first time in their lives that the issues black people face are being discussed, globally, across the world, and being treated as serious and endemic.

I’m sorry but if you have sympathy with this issue then please try to see that protesting seems like the most sane thing in the world right now. Two very important things can happen at once, or more than two.

Anyway, it’s late and, as pretty much every black person has said this week, “I’m exhausted”. I have spent my life being a good person. I respect the laws of this land, pay my taxes and contribute a great deal. Today, I exercised my right to protest against genuine injustice, in the most responsible and safe way available to me. The fact that that isn’t just not understood, but deliberately made to seem like an act of stupidity and deliberate harm to society, is depressing, but expected.

@Smileyaxolotl1 and I can’t bear the fact that black people suffer racism, to greater or lesser degrees, on a daily basis. And that society looks the other way, or doesn’t prosecute, or doesn’t defend them. I can’t bear that.

When another black person is racially abused, we’ll know where to look.

Good night.

I just can’t bear the arrogance of people that think rules are for other people. Even when in this case the rules are there for the protection of the country. When the death rates for covid rise we will all know where to look.

100% this.

So many without facial coverings.

It doesnt matter whether its thousands of ppl or I a supermarket with people your either social distancing or not one person in a supermarket could have it just as in a protest. Only takes one person.

Honestly those complaining and white, carry on screaming out of fear of the virus and in a few months when things are back to normal you carry on your normal lives without any fear meanwhile black people will continue to live in fear for the rest of their lives.

Your so conditioned to feel scared of this virus everything else could go to hell but oh no the virus.

The virus didn't stop those cops murdering a black man. The virus hasn't stopped people from being racist.