To ask for your practical ANTI-RACIST things to do?

[WhenAllsSaidandDone]

What I've learned recently is that there's a difference between non-racist and anti-racist. Being non-racist is all well and good (and we all claim to be) but the real change happens when one is anti-racist. Non-racism is passive, Anti-racism is active.

I'll like to ask you to join in writing out a list of practical everyday stuff we could all do in our bid to be more anti-racist (if you're not already) and join in this fight against racism. Some are:

1. Shopping for black dolls/books with black characters especially as the lead (Prince/ss, Scientist, Superhero, etc) and not just the token friend to the white character, so your DC gets used to having beautiful dolls of different colours and books with different races working together and seeing them equally.

1. Writing to shop management about the lack of black representation on their website, posters etc and asking for a more diverse range of toys/books to be displayed in the shops, available for all to buy. (Not just for black people to buy black dolls or books with black characters but for white people to do the same. BAME have had to buy white dolls/books with only white characters for ages).

1. Writing to school management/head teacher about something similar for their website, etc.

1. Not only raising children to be decent human beings but also having ongoing active conversations with them regarding how some people in society are treated and letting them know it is unacceptable to [insert different ways they can be unfairly treated] and what they can do if they witness this.

1. Actively searching out films with more than a token black/BAME character to watch, etc and petitioning to have much more than one in a film.

The aim is to ensure that our children grow up seeing and appreciating people of all colours in their daily lives, particularly if we don't live in very diverse areas. We've no excuses now.

Please add to this list, thanks.

An embarrassing amount of white privilege on this thread.

For anyone interested in educating themselves I'd highly recommend reading "Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race" By Reni Eddo-lodge

I'd reccomend people ignore the racist posters who are trying to derail the thread the same ways they detail other threads about racism.

OP, I think you are doing a good thing. I'd suggest reading the book I reccomended and challenge racism. Also, get your friends and family involved in discussions, get petitions out there and sign then. The biggest thing though that many white people need to do is educate themselves.

I agree. Thank you. I'm trying to do all these things and will keep listening. Some of us weren't aware of any of this because we live in a bubble of white privilege but once it comes to light, only the defiantly ignorant will continue to feel personally attacked and defensive rather than take stock and see where there's room for change and growth.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300105

This is a petition for mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting- as with gender pay gap reporting “we cannot change what we do not measure”

The government undertook a consultation about this in 2018, but it has not yet been made law.

Of the last 5 programmes I have watched this week

1. 1 out of the 4 main characters was black plus some supporting actors
2. Of the main team of 7, 2 were black, 2 were Middle Eastern and 3 were white
3. Of the main team of actors 4 were black, 7-8 were white.
4. 3 black, 2 Latina, 5 white
5. 2 black, 2 Latina, 3 white

If anything I think Indian actors are under represented in western TV.

Maybe choose the shows you are watching better? If production companies realise the shows with a mix of ethnicities are getting higher viewing figures they will change things.

The good thing about this movement is that the blatant and dog-whistle racism as wildly obvious on this thread is no longer going to be tolerated.

Shouting about being a passive non-racist is nothing to be proud about. Being anti-racist isn’t virtue signalling. Standing up using white privilege to give a voice to people that may well be ignored is what needs to happen now.

The whole don’t talk about people’s skin colour IS racist. I do see colour, and I see the horrific treatment people have had to endure for centuries because of their skin.

If you’re not standing against it actively then you are condoning racism. Being quiet when people are hurting is not the way forward anymore.

Maybe helpful if you name the actual shows....

Either way not sure what your point is.

Shouting about being a passive non-racist is nothing to be proud about. Being anti-racist isn’t virtue signalling. Standing up using white privilege to give a voice to people that may well be ignored is what needs to happen now.

This! So well said. Can't believe the amount of people who moan about those being anti racist who think passive non racist is enough. It's not suprising as this is Mumsnet and there has always been an issue with racism on here.

Ffs, this is depressing.
I thought MN was better than this.

Sadly MN is a hive of racist twats. And MNHQ do absolutely nothing to stamp it out, so they breed and feel like they have a right to voice these disgusting opinions.

@NoseyfriendNC
That's because the country IS mainly white people!!! The 2011 census, which, while now slightly out of date is still cited as the most comprehensive survey of the population showed that there were huge swathes of England & Wales that were more than 96% white, with the highest (Cumbria) being 98% white. I can understand why this would be a shock for someone who lives in a more multicultual part of the UK, but that is not the case for the vast majority of people. I lived less than twenty miles from a major city, for example, yet growing up in the nineties and 2000s there were no black students in my high school of nearly two thousand pupils. People I went to uni with just didn't believe this, but it was my lived experience!

Only 2.81% of the whole of England & Wales identified as black. Only 0.7% of Scottish people identified as Black Scottish.

Therefore if you see three black people in a cast of a hundred in Corrie/Eastenders etc. (which there almost certainly are), then they actually are statistically overrepresented. Same with bake off - has there ever really been a series with only white people? If there are say, 10 contestants (I don't watch it), and only one is black, then they are actually are overrepresented by more than triple!

Note - I actually don't think over-representation of BaME people on TV is a bad thing. Having a wide variety of tv shows showing the stories of people with different backgrounds and experiences is far more interesting to me, than the same white male protagonists again and again. Plus, in areas that are incredibly white, where people don't have many/any friends of other ethnicities, having realistic BaME characters and relatable or admirable BaME presenters/contestants/etc. is probably a positive step in terms of trying to reduce the othering of BaME people.

But people outside of London and the SE need to realise that their experience is not that of the whole UK.

@DaphneFanshaw

Ffs, this is depressing. I thought MN was better than this.

I'm not suprised by this in the slightest, Mumsnet has always been full of rascists.

I read this article, nominally about talking to your children about race which was very thought provoking for me (although it's very American)

forge.medium.com/mom-why-dont-you-have-any-black-friends-e59f37e62ed9

I've been looking for reading lists that are British focussed rather than American. This list looks good although it doesn't include Black and British which looks good, I've watched afew of the author's TV shows and found them interesting. Also from a British perspective all the Indian writers explore themes that American books don't cover at all but are more relevant to our history, like Arundati Roy, Vikram Seth, Salmon Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry.

As a white parent I want my DC to be reading books and watching films that centre black women to prevent them 'othering' BAME. Here are a few that have stimulated discussions with the DC:
Akeelah and the Bee - this is a PG and is more child focused than the others.
The Help
Hidden Figures - this is PG, although it shows racism it's a positive film about the women's achievements.
Belle - romanticized version of Dido's life.
A United Kingdom
All of these have explicit racism and while I think these are all valuable films to watch with Tweens and young teens I'd really like some recommendations for films that have lead black characters that just are superheroes or romantic leads or whatever without a worthy back story.

Books for the DC with black lead characters:
Handa's Surprise bit of a classic picture book
Anna Hibiscus
Hilo looks fun.
Anything by the wonderful Malorie Blackman is obviously worth a read and there's a TV series of Noughts and Crosses.
Again I would love some recommendations for books with lead characters thataren't white, apart from the above Cakes in Space is the only book we have with a non-white lead character. Shocking really.

so many snowflake racists on Mumsnet of late. Probably worried that they can no longer go through life, being the racist twats that they are without being rightly called out for it.

This is great. Thanks for the list. I'm a white parent of white children. I bring them up to be inclusive, tolerant and kind but hadn't thought to do these things.

If anyone has any ideas...I have a preteen child and tonight, myself watched The 13th on Netflix. It's too adult for my child, are there suggestions that are child suitable but not too young?

@newyearnoeu

Yes I get that the country is mainly white but to say that the amount of BAME people on TV is high is ridiculous - maybe as you say if 1 of the contestants off bake-off is black then that is a fair representation but just of the shows I have listed how many of the main characters/ presenters are white? Literally nearly all of them. I was watching the one Piers Morgan is on and even he said everyone sitting here is white and the majority of people working in the background are white but the show is recorded in a multi-cultural city so why is it not more mixed in the studio.

To add, we live in a VERY non-diverse area. This matters because my children don't often see people with different colour skin to their own very often.

Someone showed me a link to this version of Cinderella on youtube. Made by same people who produced The Sound of Music. It's old but beautiful, I thought. Black Cinderella, Black fairy godmother, Asian Prince, Black and White Prince's parents.

There's a show called Raven's Home on disney+. We've enjoyed it here.

Michelle Ogundehin on lack of diversity. Thought this was interesting, I'm a scientist and while people with Asian heritage are well represented at work the only black scientists I have worked with have Africa heritage (1st or 2nd generation) rather than Caribbean, suspect their experiences were more like Michelle's, somewhat protected from the worst racism.

I hope this will turn into a very long list, because there are so many things people could do.

I think one of the most important things white people can do is to call out other white people when they are being racist, either intentionally or unintentionally. It is difficult enough to be victimised by racism without bearing the sole burden of changing white people's minds about it. White people need to take on this burden far more.

In terms of specific things, I would encourage mentoring, if you are working in a field in which people of colour are under-represented. It doesn't have to be a formal scheme many institutions will drag their heel on this even informal mentoring can be helpful.

Also, before jumping into anything, look and see if there is an existing effort or network that people of colour have been spearheading for a long time already. I see this in academia currently where universities are rushing into forming special initiatives and programmes to address racism in our institutions, ignoring the fact that, for example, black female academics have already set up an organisation that should be supported instead.