Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To be horrified by the sudden interest in BLM

107 replies

Nellydean21 · 07/06/2020 22:54

Why are there so many threads by possibly white women asking for guidance on how not to be a racist? I am a white woman and have been incorporating anti racism into my job for three decades now. My job is teaching and writing. Is this really news , how the fuck is this so?

OP posts:

NekoShiro · 07/06/2020 23:11

A lot of people are having their eyes opened to the extent of police violence against people in America, it might not be something someone living in England has thought about or been around to see or hear stories about what some people have to face every day as life in America.

It's only a good thing, we should strive to do more to create a human experience that is of atleast somewhat of a certain level especially when it's within countries that we live in, so in glad the Americans are protesting and trying to bring attention to themselves,

I really hope some change comes out of this, this morning I found out that in 35 states its legal for a police officer to have sex with someone they've arrested, even if the person says they didn't want to they can argue that a prisoner consented to it so it is not rape. I only found that out due to the current fevour, things need to change in America.

amusedtodeath1 · 07/06/2020 23:13

I've been anti racism all my life, but I have learned so much about the impact racism still has on people's lives recently. You can know racism is wrong without really appreciating how much it still affects people.

I am not racist, therefore don't think like a racist, I am not BAME therefore I don't experience racism. I realised how that left me in a vacuum of knowledge.

SoberCurious · 07/06/2020 23:14

I din't think it's that nobody realised op! I think people know that more needs to be done. Things need to change because racism is still with us, despite decades of our fighting it. It's really not horrifying to ask "how can we be better" surely 🤷🏻‍♀️

TildaKauskumholm · 07/06/2020 23:14

I see what you mean, there is a lot of bandwagon jumping by thick bastards who are generally clueless, but want to virtue signal.

DamnYankee · 07/06/2020 23:16

I wonder what things would be like if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic

^ This
I saw my town's protest this afternoon.
Peaceful, but social distancing out of the window. Masks on for the most part...
I'm going to donate to an organization of choice.

WhenAllsSaidandDone · 07/06/2020 23:19

I am not racist, therefore don't think like a racist, I am not BAME therefore I don't experience racism. I realised how that left me in a vacuum of knowledge.

This!

OP's looking for a pat on the back for being anti-racist for 3 decades to show they're not a Johnny-just-come onto the scene. What about those who have been for much longer, what award do they get? Or you know..those who're actually on the receiving end of racism and been so all their lives? Should they be "horrified" that you've only started 3 decades ago?

I hope people get on this particular bandwagon and stay there, if that's what it takes.

GoodbyePorpoiseSpit · 07/06/2020 23:22

So, OP, you’ve nothing to learn?

MrPickles73 · 07/06/2020 23:24

I'm fed up that we have to compartmentalise everyone and they have to be labelled white, female, black, transgender etc. Its all very divisive. We are all just people.

HotPenguin · 07/06/2020 23:24

there is a lot of bandwagon jumping by thick bastards who are generally clueless, but want to virtue signal

Can only intelligent people be truly anti racist then? Thick people are just pretending? FFS can't believe people are describing this as jumping on the bandwagon, as if you have to be first person whoever thought of it else it doesn't count.

purpleboy · 07/06/2020 23:25

I am not racist, therefore don't think like a racist, I am not BAME therefore I don't experience racism. I realised how that left me in a vacuum of knowledge.

Summed it up perfectly.

So is it ok with you op if this means more people are educating themselves?
Isn't that kind of the point?

Bleepbloopblarp · 07/06/2020 23:28

Agree that a lot of this is just bandwagon jumping. I think it’ll be next weeks chip paper wrapping sadly. I think a lot of the anger is a culmination of pent up anger at the covid crisis and (some) people are using it as an excuse to revolt.

A poster on another thread mentioned a camera crew filming a couple of protestors at an (I think) anti-brexit rally who when asked why they were there said something like “er...well it’s shit innit and we hate the government”! There’s a lot of people like that at these protests I think. They don’t really know what they’re rioting about - they just want to riot!

Swiftsseason · 07/06/2020 23:29

Nell y I know what you mean.
The footage of George was so horrendous it's obviously not surprising that many people who have other things to think about '' mainly '' have had this thrust in their face.
People usually focus on what's close to them.
Then there a re those who just fall in with whatever the cause is at the time to get that badge.

There are so many issues and causes.

ginswinger · 07/06/2020 23:30

Because my life is a journey of learning.

It's important to ask other people for their opinions and experiences to help form my own opinions. I should be curious, I want to know more.

I grew up to not be a racist but I also grew up in a time of Bernard Manning and Rising Damp on TV, gollywogs in the supermarket, watching Spike Lee movies and trying to make sense of it all. I didn't know about Colston until today so I have a lot to learn.

user1471565182 · 07/06/2020 23:32

This is surely the ultimate in 'I was into it before it got big' tedium

steppemum · 07/06/2020 23:33

I didn't think I was racist. But I remember a few years ago, talking to a family at church about schools, their kids were a few years ahead of mine and I was looking at secondary schools. They had pushed their boys hard to get into grammar school and do well. I was expecting them to tell me why they liked the school etc. What I was not expecting was that one of their reasons was that their (black) sons will be discriminated against at work etc and so they are trying to give them the best start in order to give them everything they need to get ahead in a world where they will be at a disadvantage.

I was stunned. I just had not realised that this was still a thing in the UK. That racism was still so casually present. And I have black family members, and still hadn't quite taken it on board.

At that point I realised that I had a lot to learn.

UnaCorda · 07/06/2020 23:40

Even people who are genuinely not racist in their general attitude (i.e. they wouldn't discriminate based on race) may be fairly passive in their nebulous state of not-being-racist. They might want or need some guidance in what would be helpful and appropriate for them to do if they were to start becoming more actively anti-racist.

Borkins · 07/06/2020 23:42

I am a white woman and I've had my eyes opened big time. I thought it was enough to not be racist.
Pah! How I've sat on my morals with a nice dose of white privilege and been subconsciously lazy.

What happened to George Floyd moved me in a way never before. He was crying out for his mum and saying he couldn't breath. For 8.45 minutes.

Of course this has been happening through history so why my rage now? Perhaps the pandemic has been making me think more. About what is precious and what life should mean.
I've had to really look at myself and admit that I've benefited from a racist culture. From slavery and oppression. From the moment I was born all my bias has been white. From beauty culture, to sport, to education.

I really tried to imagine being the mum of a young black son, murdered in the cold light of day, just for being black. To even try to imagine that pain, is impossible and unbearable.

PlinkPlink · 07/06/2020 23:43

BLM should not be used as a way for white people to boast about their moral superiority. It shouldn't be used as a way to get social media likes. It shouldn't be used as a way to make themselves feel better.

However, to completely discount a vast majority who have realised 'shit, I've been silent about this for too long and I now recognise that as being complicit with systemic racism in the world' is quite an abhorrent thought tbh.

It's amazing that you've been anti-racist for 30 years (though your post feels weirdly boastful about that) but not everyone reaches the same revelations about equality at the same time. We all learn at different paces, through different experiences etc. It would be great if everyone did reach the same actively anti racist stance at the same time but it hasn't happened that way. White privilege is easy to hide away in and deny that racism even exists.

Your post seems to be actively discouraging people from speaking out. Why?

We should be encouraging others to raise their voices in support of our black community. We should be listening to those who have a need to be heard. We should be learning all the time; recognising our mistakes and learning from them.

I find it uplifting that so many are raising their voices in support. I have never seen such an open discussion on it. I truly hope it continues until we make a permanent difference.

xsquared · 07/06/2020 23:43

Better late than never.

TatianaBis · 07/06/2020 23:45

I hear ya OP.

But a surprising number of MN posters are cluelessly whoops racist so it’s probably just as well.

Tianalia · 07/06/2020 23:45

Just leaving this here to add to the conversation. No doubt it will be met with negativity as it's not what some want to hear.

TatianaBis · 07/06/2020 23:49

BLM should not be used as a way for white people to boast about their moral superiority.

But racism is and always has been platform for the white saviour - some sincere, some posturing.

It's amazing that you've been anti-racist for 30 years

Is it? Surely that’s normal? I think OP’s point was that it is and should be bogstandard.

Leeeeeyaaa · 07/06/2020 23:56

Jesus Christ, there’s no pleasing some people. Do you want people to wake up to it now or never?

midnightstar66 · 07/06/2020 23:57

When you live in certain parts of this country where diversity is both widespread and celebrated, it's easy to forget how deep racism actually runs. How truly ingrained it is and how privileged we are. I for one admit to being reminded. I've been brought up knowing about racial inequality from remembering my golliwog being taken away when it became widely known what they represented and explained to why, aged around 3 to having it explained to me aged 8 why I wasn't allowed grapes in the supermarket because they were from South Africa and we were to boycott any products from there. On the surface it seems that things have changed when you live where I do but this was a stark reminder to me that I was very wrong!

ATomeOfOnesOwn · 07/06/2020 23:57

How can your job be teaching but you're surprised people have to learn? How can your job be teaching but you think situations are static?

Flip

1 2 3 4 5