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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be utterly disgusted by the protests today.

757 replies

SoggySocksAgain · 08/06/2020 00:26

Am I alone here?

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

OP posts:
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9
Whitetulipofpeace · 08/06/2020 08:42

.

To be utterly disgusted by the protests today.
GreytExpectations · 08/06/2020 08:43

Well I'm more disgusted at the racism in this country than at the protests. Suppose those who don't seem to realise why this needs to happen are fortunate enough to live in their own little bubbles.

suckatpickingusernames · 08/06/2020 08:44

What about the xr protests and destruction of property

HelloMissus · 08/06/2020 08:45

The race riots in the eighties brought an end to the Sus Law and forced the introduction of the Police Complaints Authority.

SoVeryLost · 08/06/2020 08:46

@AlexandPea

YABU. The reason we women have the vote today isn't because the suffragettes protested peacefully.

Agreed. Women’s suffrage came about because of the role women played in WW1. They took over ‘men’s’ jobs and kept the country running, working in factories, driving buses and farm labourers.

This peaceful support of their country in unprecedented times had a far greater effect on women’s rights than a few chaining themselves to railings or being trampled by a horse.

A lesson there perhaps?

What do you think black people have been doing for years? They haven’t been protesting for hundreds of years. Yet still there has been no movement forward.

To the previous poster that says this country isn’t racist (like there is a distinction between having racists running the country Hmm) watch this video to understand: www.instagram.com/tv/CBGUPgBApio/?igshid=xtvxancwcpfi

Alyssum34456 · 08/06/2020 08:46

That statue had to go. I'm actually disgusted it was still there. Can you for one minute imagine how it feels to be repressed every single day? And then a movement finally happens to make change.

The timing is poor but it looks like changed will be made, so worth it after all.

AllesAusLiebe · 08/06/2020 08:47

@GreytExpectations I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last 11 fucking weeks, worried about elderly relatives and neighbours and unable to see family.

Apparently that was all for nothing.

TabbyMumz · 08/06/2020 08:47

"LadyConstanceDeCoverlet

Why were horses used anyway?"

It's not unusual to use police horses in crowds. That's what they are for. The riders have a better vantage point to see what's going on in the crowd, if anyone needs help etc. Also they are often a crowd pleaser in that it calms people, people like seeing the horses and usually people behave around them.

GreytExpectations · 08/06/2020 08:50

[quote AllesAusLiebe]@GreytExpectations I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last 11 fucking weeks, worried about elderly relatives and neighbours and unable to see family.

Apparently that was all for nothing.[/quote]
Wow. Must be so hard for you. Imagine how hard it has been for the Black community who has been dealing with oppression for the last 400 years. Apologies that human rights can't wait for a more convenient time

Cam2020 · 08/06/2020 08:52

Definitely not alone. What exactly have our police force done to deserve the shit they've have to deal with over the last few days?

A peaceful (and social distanced) protest is one thing, but there's always a mob who go and hijack it with their disgraceful behaviour. Nothing to do with the cause often, they just like violence and chaos. I suspect with people having been cooped up, those people are itching for a fight and people are more emotional than usual.

MadameMarie · 08/06/2020 08:53

[quote AllesAusLiebe]@GreytExpectations I’ve been in my own little bubble for the last 11 fucking weeks, worried about elderly relatives and neighbours and unable to see family.

Apparently that was all for nothing.[/quote]
We may as well have not bothered now. Protesting during a pandemic like that and vandalising monuments is not the way to win people over.

MistressGammon · 08/06/2020 08:53

I usually hear the word thug as related to football thugs and hooligans who seem to be predominantly white in this country. I wouldn’t say thug is a race loaded term in this context.

Packingsoapandwater · 08/06/2020 08:53

It's always the same. Every fucking time. An issue arises, one that needs proper public debate, and "protests" are organised and they always end in criminal damage, paint on the cenotaph and behaviour that shocks ordinary people.

It's like a script. It's entirely predictable.

And because of that outcome, the issue is ignored and never properly discussed or resolved - - and it continues to simmer under the surface until it eventually explodes and the outcome is extremely culturally, socially and politically damaging.

I've seen it time and time again over the last twenty five years. I saw it with concern over the impact of globalisation on regional and national economies and cultures back in the late 90s (that one exploded in our faces with brexit); I saw it with concern over the quality of the urban lived experience in the noughties; I saw it with concern over Blair's wars (an utterly disastrous decision that persuaded some young Muslims the only way to respond was to bomb us) ; and now we see it with BLM.

These protests will achieve precisely zero in Britain because the terms of the reason for the protests don't fit British parameters. Floyd was not killed in Britain by a serving British police officer under a British government. There is basically fuck all we Brits can realistically do about American policing standards; it's another sovereign state and we don't have a vote there.

There is however a debate to be had about structural inequalities in Britain and insidious perceptions about class and race.

But that's not going to happen now because the issue has been overwhelmed by destruction and damage to the cenotaph.

AllesAusLiebe · 08/06/2020 08:58

@HelloMissus I think this is part of the issue. I don’t understand what specifically the protesters want to change. It’s fine to protest against racism, but I think any protest needs to have a clear agenda.

For example, I’m a football fan and remember how despicable some of the racial slurs I used to hear at games were. I started attending games in the UK shortly before the ‘Kick it out’ campaign began and it made such a huge difference. It had a clear message and although there’s still some way to go, I can’t remember the last time I heard or witnessed anything. My (adopted) team has a Sikh branch now, for example, and I really don’t think that many people would have believed that such inclusivity would have been possible years ago.

Bflatmajorsharp · 08/06/2020 08:59

AlexandPea have you somehow missed how black and other minority ethnic people rebuilt the UK after WW2, continue to staff the health, transport and other vital services and contribute in a myriad of ways to British society?

How ever much 'peaceful support' to their country bame keyworkers etc have given during the current 'unprecedented times', there's no appetite to change structural racism and inequality from those in power.

These protests have affected change already. The officofficers who killed George Floyd have actually been charged with second degree murder. A profoundly offensive statue of someone who enslaved people has gone.

GreytExpectations · 08/06/2020 08:59

People seem to be (purposely) ignoring that fact that when the black community have tried peaceful protests in the past, it never worked. Remember the NFL player kneeling during the National anthem? He got fired and sent a lot of abuse online. The NFL also threatened all other players with fines if they did the same.
Derek Chauvin got arrested for George Floyd's murder AFTER the riots, other cops who had murdered innocent black people are still out working and free from any persecution.

AllesAusLiebe · 08/06/2020 09:01

@GreytExpectations it’s been tough for me, but nothing in comparison to those who have lost family members or have loved ones going to police the streets in London, that’s for sure.

Cam2020 · 08/06/2020 09:02

How do we know this was about race in the first place and not a disgusting, power trip cop who used excessive force and ended up killing someone? Asking for evidence, not supposition or an assumption of his motives.

Are we now going to have two police forces, one with black police to deal with black people and one white force white people? What about Asians, will they need their own? Transgender people? Because very soon, white police officers are going to be to oscared to do their jobs if that involves a person of colour.

nicky7654 · 08/06/2020 09:02

Lowlife scum destroying property and injuring horses ! Totally lost my vote with that behaveour!! I am so ashamed of people these days, especially damaging war memorials! Disgusting lowlife braindead thugs!!!

Madein1995 · 08/06/2020 09:06

I think the protests are right and mu town actually had socially distanced ones!
I also think some of the file behaviour is disgusting. Burning flags, defacing war memorials, attacking police men and police horses. Police horses cant be fucking racist so what are they trying to achieve? Despicable and all it does is give the 'all lives matter ' people a reason to speak out against protests in general.

BraveGoldie · 08/06/2020 09:07

It is not because the protests turn violent that the issue is not properly discussed. The issue has been raised thousands of times peacefully and ignored.

I Don't condone the violence but it is so insignificant beside the injustices black people are subjected to- the energy with which people condemn it here is out of proportion.

Also, it's only a few - very often people who have nothing to do with the issue being protested- or even people actively trying to subvert it. Don't play into their hands.

Third, people seem to want to think the UK is ok. It isn't. There is racism everyday in the UK, often on the part of the police. And black men have been killed in the in the exact same way as George Floyd.
www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a32767493/restraint-technique-killed-george-floyd-used-uk-police/

Finally, there were undermining reports showing black people laughing and therefore the cause must be insincere? FFS.... I don't care the photos turned out to be from years ago - what are we saying? That black people now will be judged for daring to be HAPPY for a moment? That must mean they aren't oppressed after all? But oh wait - they aren't allowed to be angry either?? Are we to dictate the exact emotion they are allowed at every split second or we will invalidate and ignore what they say? We won't listen if you get angry. We won't listen if you look too happy.... oh, and I guess we didn't listen when you were calmly, but not too happily saying this before..... We are just going to keep on ignoring you. You got to wonder why someone might get frustrated.

Bflatmajorsharp · 08/06/2020 09:08

It would be a good move in general if both US and UK police stopped using excessive force and killing people Cam.

In particular, if they're kneeling on someone's neck who repeatedly says they can't breathe that they stopped asphysiating them.

If US cops were also too scared to shoot a suspect 8 times while they were asleep in bed for example that would also be good.

Davespecifico · 08/06/2020 09:11

YABU
The police can deal with the issues you’ve raised.
We need to deal with the enormous issue of racial inequality. That’s what we should be worried about.

Neverendingweeds · 08/06/2020 09:11

Thugs and morons are using it as an excuse for violence.

Besides, they are breaking lockdown rules by not social distancing and meeting in large groups, so when lockdown gets harder again, I will be blaming them all.

RunningAwaywiththeCircus · 08/06/2020 09:20

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