To tell all the black mumsnetters we now have our own forum

[Marg33t]

Thanks to the fab PatricksRum for fighting against racism we've got our own board here

Look for black mumsnetters 👍🏿

@FirstOfficerDouglas

Why do you assume BMN has been created to spare your eyes from looking at topics like curry goat and curly hair? Why do you think this is about you? - Was not the original comment meant to be ironic??

How was it ironic?

Why do you think this is about you?

Exactly, if you're not interested in the curry goat or hair topics, nobody's forcing you to look!
You don't like them fair enough, but not everything's about you.
It's bonkers how people keep trying to make it so.

@BadBanana I get that you’re not interested in the topic and don’t want to use it, which is fine - I similarly have no interest in most of the mumsnet sub topics. But why do you object to it existing for other posters who do want it?

@Pliudev

Am I on my own feeling really sad that this should be necessary? How are we ever to reach a more equal society if we all separate into our different groups? I suppose I'm old fashioned but it depresses me. I was reading about an online org. for black women knitters and thought how much I'd like to join because the craftwork looked so interesting but though I'm a woman, I'm not black and suspect I'm too old. I suppose someone is going to tell me off for this.

No I agree to be astonished, I think it’s a very backwards step.

Most craft and knitting people I know welcome any ages to their groups, you won’t be too old

Exactly, if you're not interested in the curry goat or hair topics, nobody's forcing you to look!

Read my post again. Carefully. If you can.

Then tell me if you think I was saying ‘I don’t want to want to see these topics’.

No wonder this got stormed through, if this is the level of critical thinking by the voters

Don’t worry, all the black people objecting to this have been completely ignored

Why should people who DO want the board have their wishes ignored though?
If you don't want it, surely it's just somewhere that you don't have to visit, can happily keep posting where you like?
People get their board, you get to keep what you like, everybody happy.
Or at least you'd think!

BadBanana I’m white so the section isn’t for me, my response was to other white people shouting racism for the board existing. It’s none of our bloody business at the end of the day is it? I do understand your point but it’s not my place to have an opinion on that I feel (hmmmm even though I appreciate I’ve given an opinion).

Interesting though - as with any board I imagine some will want it and some won’t, I feel as a white person it’s not my place to make a decision on it either way really. But I do think white peoples saying it’s racist to have one because they wouldn’t be allowed a white board is ridiculous.

Per PP saying it’s about curly hair and goat curry, I’m assuming there are a whole lot of other subjects that are prescient and political pertaining to non white experiences that don’t fit into another section of Mumsnet - would an intersectional thread get lost on FWR board for example?

But why do you object to it existing for other posters who do want it?

Cross posted - exactly!

Excellent news and enjoy!

@BadBanana how am i supposed to know you're black? That post was a quote and it didn't say you are black.

Anyone can say they're anyone on the internet, so I'll rely on MNHQ's judgment that black people wanted this.

Safe spaces are not segregation
Safe spaces don't exist on an anonymous forum. There are no locked doors. No consensus of opinion. No 'membership' test to confirm posters are who they say they are.
If it was possible to create 'safe spaces' online, we'd never have been inundated with MRAs, TRAs and trolls.

Lol this thread is crazy. Can the non-black people who disagree just have one look at the thread topics on the black section. Do you think there is anything on there you can seriously relate to or give meaningful advice on? Most likely NO. I wouldn't have the foggiest clue on what to contribute to on any of those topics. You would simply derail the thread by asking 101 questions or posting irrelevant comments or unwanted opinions. Or you could just shut up and "lurk to learn" as I do with some other sections sometimes.

@Sanitisethat because I find it offensive and backwards thinking.

I don’t want to get told to ‘try the black section’ if posting about my hair in style and beauty, or my grans recipes in feed the world.

Man has always been a place where any race, and other posters race, is extremely rarely relevant to discussion.

And I feel very uncomfortable that the majority of support for this came from white people ( as stated themselves) and that dissenting black voices were all but ignored.

All these people rocking up saying Well, imagine if we asked for a WHITE section on MN!

I’m imagining them crossing their arms and looking at their cat with such a look of Gotcha! triumph on their faces. But even their cat thinks they are dicks.

@MeridaTheBold

Safe spaces are not segregation Safe spaces don't exist on an anonymous forum. There are no locked doors. No consensus of opinion. No 'membership' test to confirm posters are who they say they are. If it was possible to create 'safe spaces' online, we'd never have been inundated with MRAs, TRAs and trolls.

But if it feels safer for many then why object? I can only repeat my post below:

It reminds me of diversity meetings we've had (virtually) at work. It was only when we were a group of BAME people together that we could be honest about the racism we experienced at work. The presence of white people inhibited us. We felt we couldn't speak our feelings in case we hurt the white people in the room, even though they were supportive.

@Quaagars

Don’t worry, all the black people objecting to this have been completely ignored

Why should people who DO want the board have their wishes ignored though?
If you don't want it, surely it's just somewhere that you don't have to visit, can happily keep posting where you like?
People get their board, you get to keep what you like, everybody happy.
Or at least you'd think!

Because it should have been a discussion between black people, for and against? How come white people got a say for, opposing black people who are against it?

Congrats on the new board btw peeps.

Saucery

Such a backwards and silly step but hey, I guess Mumsnet have to think about protecting their brand. Business is business!

Thanks @WorraLiberty and @BadBanana. So it was a post made where white people were told not to comment!

Funny how it was white people pushing it through. Woke is definitely the word. Also a fear of not being seen to fall over oneself not to appear racist by disagreeing or discussing.

I don’t want to get told to ‘try the black section’ if posting about my hair in style and beauty, or my grans recipes in feed the world

Surely if you posted about your hair in style and beauty and weren't getting much advice or people who knew about your hair type, surely mentioning you might have more luck in another section would just be a suggestion, not an instruction to go elsewhere?
You could still post wherever you like on here.

@Arthersleep

Aha, so read a bit of the other threads now. An area for general discussion on hair, beauty, parenting, cooking etc. I support this (not that you need my support in any way of course), but I see no difference between this and groups for SAHMs, home schoolers, ex pat's etc. So, good luck and happy bonding!

I've been a mn member for a number of years but I didn't realise I was not permitted to comment on threads that I was not directly associated with or had experience of. That's me told .

But even their cat thinks they are dicks

Nice way of underhandedly calling white people dicks. Nice move.

Because it should have been a discussion between black people, for and against? How come white people got a say for, opposing black people who are against it?

Exactly.

All the white people smugly looking down on black people (and white people) saying they think this is a step backwards and calling them racist should take a look in the mirror.

They butted in to the conversation just as much, if not more. And thanks to them we’ve had this knee jerk reaction that didn’t even stop to consider the pros/cons put forward by black people, because it was drowned out in ‘You go guns!’ and ‘I’m white but yeah sister!’.