Here’s my take. I’m white but not of British origin.
I recognise that white privilege exists and that it doesn’t mean I’m privileged. It means I have the privilege of not being judged for my skin colour.
I also recognise that it is the job of white people to listen to black people’s experiences of racism rather than tell them what is racist and what is not.
I recognise that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is important in the sense that (as stated here before) if a person’s house was on fire and the occupier asked for help, a response of “but all houses matter” would not be very helpful in the circumstances.
But let’s just take a look at what is going on now- the wrecking of monuments and memorials, the censorship of comedy and media, the aims of BLM (if you read them) are effectively to smash the British state.
History is not black and white.
There is probably not a single historical figure who, if put to scrutiny, would measure up to “Woke” values.
Dr Martin Luther King was a Baptist preacher. If you asked him about gay marriage, what do you think he would have said? Ditto Mother Theresa, a Roman Catholic nun.
Mahatma Gandhi is on record with some interesting views of women and Africans that would horrify the Woke.
The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) had a wife whom he married at 6 and consummated the marriage when she reached puberty at 9. This may have been normal then but how would 21st century values feel about this?
Horatian Nelson is a national hero but his navy guarded the shipping routes to enable
the British slave trade.
Oliver Cromwell who is often lauded as a Parliamentarian became a dictator who massacred the Irish and banned freedom of religious thought and practice.
Let us also look at ourselves.
Can anyone here honestly say that at no point in our lives we have ever:
Made a comment that was either sexist, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, disablist, fat-shaming or cruel, even in jest?
Laughed at any of the above?
If not, then by Woke standards, we’re all just as bad and complicit.
But are we not all capable of learning?
Churchill is castigated as a racist as bad as Hitler, and it is true that in his early life he held some racist views, but are we not all capable of learning and changing our views? Churchill certainly did.
In his later years he spoke out against notions of racial purity and superiority. He was the one who spoke out against Hitler’s genocidal intentions when most of the British public wanted to appease Hitler.
Without Churchill’s leadership the war would have been lost.
Without the contribution of troops of the then British Empire, which Churchill also acknowledged at the time, the War would have been harder to win.
Why are so many of the former British Empire still members of the Commonwealth? Because they recognise that the history of the British Empire was not black and white. It was at times a force for good and progress while being founded on roots of slavery, conquest and oppression. It evolved.
One wonders how many BLM protesters who are smashing up the Cenotaph know their own family histories? How many of them had Grandfathers, Great Grandfathers or Great Great Grandfathers, who fought for the British cause in both World Wars? Are
they not dishonouring their own histories?
Does any historical figure stand up to 21st century Woke values?
If not, we must tear down each and every single statue of every person who has ever been commemorated.
Perhaps we need to look at the WHOLE person, the sum of their actions including how they changed and what they learned, and what they achieved.
If we do that, it is possible for us to once again regard Dr Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson and, yes, Sir Winston Churchill as heroes.