To be utterly disgusted by the protests today.

[SoggySocksAgain]

Am I alone here?

I am utterly disgusted by what I have seen in the news.

@LakieLady

And it's not just the police violence, *@GreytExpectations*, or even the harrassment by constant stop & search requests, but all the other ways that BAME people are disadvantaged. They are, on average, lower paid, more likely to live in sub-standard or overcrowded accommodation, have lower educational attainment, and poorer health outcomes (including in mental health).

I believe that there have been studies showing that BAME defendants tend to receive stiffer sentences than white defendants for comparable offences, but I'd have to find a source to cite before I commit myself to that. I am, however, positive that there has been a study that found when job applicants submitted identical applications they didn't get offered interviews in respect of the application that used a name that was more common among the BAME community.

Why did it take nearly 40 years after the arrival of the Windrush immigrants before any Afro-Caribbean people were elected to parliament? Have there ever been any Afro-Caribbean cabinet ministers (I've been racking my brains, but can't think of any)? Have there ever been any Afro-Caribbean CEOs of FTSE 100 companies? Only 14 African or Afro-Caribbean Nobel laureates (source: wiki).

Because of racism, that's why. It's 44 years since the Race Relations Act became law, and while there has been progress, it has been painfully, glacially slow. Meanwhile, the likes of the EDL and Britain First peddle their vile race-hate, and mostly get away with it.

It sickens me beyond belief. I understand the rage felt by BAME peope in the UK. And Martin Luther King was right about rioting: it's the voice of the unheard.

Not sure why you are addressing me, I'm aware of all of this.

@orangeandapples Besides from the fact that what you said is revoltingly racist, do you really believe that BBC owned Crimewatch (which has now been axed anyway) didn't just air what it wanted people to believe? Just like the newspapers print what they want people to believe

"QuizzlyBear

To desecrate war memorials around the 76 anniversary of the D Day Landings (my FIL was there) is totally an utterly despicable, my DS was called scum by rioters in his town when he and his friend stood and protected his war memorial on the evening BEFORE the anniversary, protected it so that people could go and pay their respects the next day and not have it covered with vile graffiti - and I am VERY proud of him for doing that and that's something I will not apologise for

Nobody was targeting war memorials though, just memorials and statues to known slavers and massive racists. A nice gesture by your son, but ultimately pointless."

But they did target war memorials. It's all over the news. Several people wrote BLM all over the cenotaph. The last person to vandalised that got prison time I think.

All this “not getting it” and “check your thinking” makes me roll my eyes into orbit tbh. The quality of debate in schools and universities must be piss poor these days if “let me know when you have attained my levels of superior wisdom” passes for a valid argument.

Well said.

What did Orangeandapples actually say? I can’t find the comment.

QuizzlyBear they have been desecrated in parts of the country and why is showing respect to the war dead pointless - its not

YANBU OP. Absolutely disgusted. What an utter disgrace.

Not read the whole thread but been on one very similar. Wanted to share from that one in case anyone is confused.

Seems in the USA thug has racial connotations. In the UK it doesn't. Most times I've seen it used is about white football hooligans.

USA people sometimes seem not to understand that the usage of English words can vary between different English speaking countries.

Anyway OP YABU, is my vote.

@Stuckforthefourthtime I believe it’s more than ‘just a few people’ who have taken part in the looting and violence and have proudly vandalised monuments and statues around the country. Yes, I’m bothered about racism but no I don’t want our country smashed up and no I don’t want to see our emergency service workers and animals assaulted.

Disgusting individuals. Mindless, idiotic vandalism of the tribute to millions who gave their lives to defeat the evil of Nazism. The wives and families of those soldiers killed in WWI and WWII suffered dreadfully as well. I think of my great grandmother who was widowed for 60+ years with 6 children to raise. Their thuggery insults her memory as well.

I know people get offended with the Karen meme, but it really is mainly older white women who are more likely to be against an anti racism movement

Really? As an older white woman, who has been vehemently anti-racist since her teens, I find that offensive. And I very much doubt if all the white women of my age who stood alongside me at Anti-Nazi League and anti-apartheid events in the 1970s and 1980s have become racist over the last 30 years. Even my 82 year old MIL isn't racist and my mother hated racism right up to the day she died 10 years ago.

It's certainly not true of older women on the left. I can't speak for older women on the right, their whole mindset is a mystery to me. Presumably Tory women voted for the racist buffoon who now leads their party.

I am also disgusted with the protests Op. Initially I was sympathetic with the George Floyd issue but all the looting and violence has alienated me and many other people I know. It seems acceptable, somehow, to attack innocent police officers and animals in the name of ‘justice’.

Not for me.

PP I take it you think all police officers are homophobic, racist murderers, or is it only the protesters that are perceived that way due to an unsavory minority?

Agree with the poster who says if there's any racism in the term then it's related to the original word thugee.

That's a different topic though.

@ShinyFootball - Thanks. In my comments as a Brit, I am obviously using the term in the British way. I was unaware of Racial connotations elsewhere.

@LakieLady totally agree that just because a majority of older white women have voted for the Tories in the UK and the Republicans in the US doesn't mean that all older white women feel the same way, or support racist policies.

On the same basis, though, why do you use the actions absolutely tiny minority of people involved to bias you against the far, far larger number of peaceful protesters?

I'm knocking 50. Getting more involved and radical as I get older. As is my mother. For the next generation. I owe it to them. People who slide into comfortable conservatism are to be Frank selfish

Me too, @Smilethoyourheartisbreaking. I'm 64, and if I carry on getting more radical at the current rate, I'll be regarding Corbyn as right-wing by the time I'm 80.

I fucking cheered when I saw that statue come down in Bristol yesterday. Why the fuck were we still commemorating a slave trader in the 21st century ffs? I understand people were campaigning to get it removed for years.

I hope they replace it with a statue commemorating the horrors of slavery and all who died and suffered becuase of it instead.

On the same basis, though, why do you use the actions absolutely tiny minority of people involved to bias you against the far, far larger number of peaceful protesters?

Have I given that impression, @Stuckforthefourthtime? I've no idea how that happened. I am absolutely in favour of these protests and totally get how a minority get so carried that they have a rush of blood to the head and behave in a way that detracts from their cause.

Mostly though, I felt proud watching the protests yesterday, and the tiny few who went out with the intention of starting violence are no better than racist football hooligans in the 80s.

I hope noone cheered when they saw the cenotaph vandalised. And I hope they can see on CCTV who did it and they get some comeback.

no you're not alone OP and YANBU

I agree with everything they are protesting for - what I do not agree with, and you will never convince me otherwise, is that because a select few have overwhelming rage they take it out on police officers and horses.

It will NEVER be OK to throw a brick at a horse and break its nose and it will NEVER be OK to injure any animal for any reason, regardless of why you are angry.

It doesn't matter "why were there police horses there anyway" it just doesn't matter, stop using that as excuse for the behaviour - they were there and they were injured and it's vile behaviour.

@ChocolatelyAsFuck

If MN had been around in 1955 there would definitely be a hundred threads asking AIBU to think Rosa Parks is being a shit stirrer, that she’s just doing it for attention, that she’s just virtue signalling, “I’m not racist but ROSA BROKE THE LAW”, if Rosa really wanted change she’d be polite and obey the law because aggression like this just gets people’s backs up and doesn’t help to start a dialogue, and anyway slavery is illegal now and I’ve never witnessed any racism actually Rosa is the real racist for making everything about race, Rosa who keeps playing the race card unlike me who doesn’t even see race!

Well put, you know that thread just would have happened lol

Tabbyzmum the statue of Churchill was defaced. He was a massive racist so yes I did cheer.

"Tabbyzmumthe statue of Churchill was defaced. He was a massive racist so yes I did chee"
That's disgusting. Churchill led this Country to war and stopped the biggest racist and fascist person take over our Country. Where is your evidence he was racist.

I'm disgusted by the event that prompted the protests. The event being ingrained, systemic racism with the death of George Floyd only being the flash point. HTH.

I fucking cheered when I saw that statue come down in Bristol yesterday. Why the fuck were we still commemorating a slave trader in the 21st century ffs? I understand people were campaigning to get it removed for years.

YY. I cheered right along with you, LakieLady. There's a certain beautiful symmetry in a statue commemorating a long-dead racist ending up at the bottom of the dock from which he transported thousands of humans into slavery and death.

Hope it stays there.

You are not alone OP