To think that people who 'want to switch off' from BLM are the ones who have chips on their shoulders?

[Moomin8]

I use a cloth nappy group on FB. A few days ago someone accidentally (I think, I didn't see it) made an offensive remark.

The next day one of the admins, very sensibly set up a thread for people to post educational resources relating to the BLM movement which encourage us all to think about how we can be a part of the solution rather than the problem. The issue of course, is that a lot of people don't even know that they are contributing to systemic racism.

That was fine until someone posted a comment saying this wasn't nappy related and they just wanted a space for nappies etc. After that it turned into a bit of a bun fight and got quite nasty.

There were only a few people who seemed to have this view but it left me wondering, why would someone complain about something positive that we could all learn from. Cloth nappy communities include people from BAME backgrounds (obviously) and why would you not want to take action against something that could hurt other people?

and another one!

@TeddyIsaHe
the racists in this country are not a minority, as this thread proves
How does this thread "prove" that? Ridiculous statements like that really don't help the cause you claim to support.

White privilege means only that, if you're white you may have problems. But those problems won't be anything to do with assumptions about your skin colour / race.

I think everyone on this site should check their privilege...

@SomeOriginalUserName

It seems like there is a lot of misunderstanding about the concept 'white privilege' and so it does rub people up the wrong way.

At heart, it describes the idea that white people are privileged aka fortunate in that they don't have to deal with racism all the time. They can 'switch off' from it. That is the privilege.

PoC wish they could switch off from racism. They wish they could take a break and go on a forum about cloth nappies and distract themselves for a bit. But, nope, there it is! Someone making a racist comment on a forum about cloth nappies. It's inescapable.

Yeah, the constant hammer of 'educate yourselves' is exhausting to everyone, but if every racist comment was not ignored, but pointed out, explained why it wasn't acceptable, maybe there would be less of it.

This.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why would the admins respond to someone making an anti-Muslim comment by posting about BLM?

Teddy: Your first line doesn't surprise me.
We are all racist if we have a different opinion.

Shouldn't you mean though you are Sick at ANYONE being murdered?
The problem of police brutality is not a problem on the UK. The USA is a completely different country. They do have a problem.

Listening to LBC yesterday

Black Lives Matter have called for a national defunding of police, leading to the abolition of the police and encouraging communities to police themselves
A lady I heard speaking on the radio from BLM said she wanted communities to police themselves, including traffic policing and responding to terrorist incidents.
Completely deluded.
Sorry I can't do links look at LBC.co.uk
BLM, as I said are alienating people.

At at time when a lot of people are feeling very fearful over their future health and livelihood, I don't think that wanging on about privilege is a particularly helpful angle to lead with.

Because racism is always caused by ignorance. I heard a police officer on R4 talking about her experiences of how she was treated in the police force and was called the P word by her male associates. She ended up deciding not to take a promotion. It was distressing to hear what they said to her. And this was only in the last few years.

@TheSmallClangerWhistlesAgain - this is the problem. People just hear the word privilege but they don't bother (or can't be bothered) to understand its context.

The problem of police brutality is not a problem on the UK. The USA is a completely different country. They do have a problem

I'm afraid that's nonsense. 'Lalala. This isn't a UK problem' the times I've heard this - just makes me cross. Because it's not true.

If I was on a single-topic FB group I wouldn't go on there expecting to have to understand the context of social problems. I'd go there expecting to talk bollocks about nappies/Clarice Cliff pottery/Bengal cats.

I also wouldn't expect to find racist stuff there either though.

OMG this is getting boring now.

White people are not targeted and murdered for the colour of their skin.

There IS police brutality in the UK.

A random caller on an LBC call in is not what anyone should be basing their source on.

Having a different opinion and having a racist opinion are 2 very different things.

I really really want to know what the original comment was that led to the idea that the whole cloth nappy group required 'educating'

@TeddyIsaHe
Having a different opinion and having a racist opinion are 2 very different things
Can you highlight the posts on this thread that prove to you that racists are in the majority of this country? I suspect almost all of the examples you use will be a case of the former rather than the latter.

"White people" aren't one homogeneous group, just like black people aren't and "BAME" people certainly aren't. There are certain subgroups of white people who do face prejudice by the police - Roma people, gay men (not exclusively a white group, obviously), teenage boys who live in deprived areas, teenage girls who have been raped by older men.

Current identity politics has polarised everything so much. Everyone has to have a label for their box, preferably one that can be summed up in a Twitter bio. When the truth is that none of us is only a member of a single group, prejudice comes in many forms and we are stronger if we find our common ground rather than obsessing over difference.

Did you see the news clips in India of the police trying to police the covid lockdown.
That's what I call brutal. Using sticks to beat people. We see that everyday here on the streets of the UK
I'm sure a small amount of police officers are racist and they should be called out no doubt, but they are not all the same and you cannot condemn a whole race for the opinion of a minority.

Where I'm from we respect the police and do as they say. If you get stopped and searched it's for a reason. No problem unless you've something to hide.

I really really want to know what the original comment was that led to the idea that the whole cloth nappy group required 'educating'

I honestly don't know because it happened on Sunday night. I was not online and nobody will te me so 🤷🏻‍♀️

@ShutUpaYourFace

Did you see the news clips in India of the police trying to police the covid lockdown. That's what I call brutal. Using sticks to beat people. We see that everyday here on the streets of the UK I'm sure a small amount of police officers are racist and they should be called out no doubt, but they are not all the same and you cannot condemn a whole race for the opinion of a minority.

Where I'm from we respect the police and do as they say. If you get stopped and searched it's for a reason. No problem unless you've something to hide.

Setting that bar for police behaviour really high there

@ShutUpaYourFace

Remember after Stephen Lawrence was murdered and our police were found to be 'institutionally racist'?

How long ago was that? I'm sure the police have learnt many lessons in the last 30 years.

I don't base my opinion on a random radio caller. I'm not on social media like Facebook or twitter, Where I get my opinions about this subject doesn't matter although I do spend too much time on MN

How do you know that every black person ever murdered was done so because of their skin colour? Fact is You don't.

I am not saying the BL don't Matter but I can say that the way people go about getting support for the BLM is possibly making the divide wider.
I find supporters of BLM here rude, condescending and they make me switch off.
Like I am now.
Yes I probably do have a chip on my shoulder. I believe the British Police do a good job. At the moment you are racist just by being White and having an opinion.

What are you talking about? In relation to a nappy group, why should race play any role? The person who made the racist comment should be banned and the comment deleted. A pinned post at the top confirming the rules may also be needed if they don't have this already.

That's what I think. Just have clear guidelines as to what is acceptable/unacceptable to post and delete any comments that break the guidelines. You know, rather like what happens on Mumsnet.

Any offensive comments should be deleted. That way the group can focus on what their subject is, in this case cloth nappies.

I'm not so sure as you. I base my opinions on what I see, on people I know. I also have a friend who worked for the police who told me all about the corruption within. The police has corruption like any profession.

It really is in bad taste to try to say that none of this goes on any more.

Excellent - I love being 'educated' by keyboard warriors armed with their comprehensive knowledge of what they have seen and people they know., especially when they have a friend in the police. So well qualified to 'educate'