Is their any need to mention race of suspicious person? Facebook..

[tiredandfrumpy]

I'm on our local community facebook group and some lady has mentioned that some black man was trying to offer her daughter sweets and was offering her back to his house.

I could understand if she had a real description but you can't just warn people of a black man? People are going to be terrified if they see a black man now.

AIBU or is that an ok way of describing someone to watch out for?

Not trying to cause a war here just curious on what people think.

Definitely a valid part of a discription. But obviously depends on the area how helpful it might be, around our way pretty helpful, as not that many.

@Hobbes8 hahahahaha oh gosh poor man!

Ah my FIL still calls black people coloured I've gave up correcting him some things you can't change.

@PoetryLaser

If she said "a tall black man wearing a blue hoody and distinctive yellow trousers", that would've been fine; it's a description of the man . But to use his skin colour/race as his only defining feature, it's not.

Why? If it differentiates him from the majority?!

Every -imaginary- crime in our neighbourhood is committed by a man who “looked Eastern European”. These crappy posts are just racist dog whistles and I ignore them and think people that share them online are morons at best bigots at worst.

Yes we get loads of these posts. We also had a great one a couple of months back warning everyone to be vigilant because Peruvians are being flown over to burgle our houses and then flown back out again. And the poster finished the post by saying that at least Brexit should improve the problem.

Anyway, I get it OP and don’t think you’re being over sensitive - it’s the fact that ‘black’ is the only descriptor used. Not even ‘tall black man’ or ‘black man in a green top.’ And frankly that makes me think the story is highly unlikely to be true and is just an attempt at a racist dog whistle.

OP, why bother? Mumsnet will pretend that there is no problem with demonising black men, who are already stereotyped as dangerous just by their mere existence.

If the description was “a white man” it would be equally useless except society does not socialise people into being suspicious of white men as a default.

In any case, you are wasting your time here trying to get Mumsnetters to understand the racial issues that this silly description can cause black men. Clearly they assume that society treats or regard black men as they treat white men.

So many black men have been arrested because they fit the description of being black. Few if any Mumsnetter on this thread would care to have an ounce of awareness of the injustice that takes place even today because of such ridiculous general description.

Mumsnet is not a place to discuss issues facing black people.

I think there is a black Mumsnetter section where you might find it much more useful to discuss your concerns.

@Why2why

I think there is a black Mumsnetter section where you might find it much more useful to discuss your concerns.

Whats wrong with discussing her concerns here?

No different from saying white man or Asian man. It's purely descriptive.

Due to the fact I can't imagine her saying "a white man was offering my daughter sweets" it's racist.

Had she said "a man was offering my daughter sweets. He was black and wearing a grey tracksuit" that would not be racist.

Oh please!

@FitAt50

I think if it had been a white man the person would’ve just written “a man…”

Black men are so demonised so I do think one ought to be mindful. By all means mention ethnicity but personally I would write: “a man offered sweets etc etc. Description: a black male aged about 40 wearing etc etc”-

I distinctly remember reading about a burglary in the local paper as a kid in the 80s “the woman woke up to find a black man in her room”. This was a common way of writing back then and I feel the effect was to imply there are men…and then there are black men ie a much more scary type of man.

This made me remember Liam Neeson wanting to go out on the street and find any black man to beat up because “a black man” had assaulted his sister.

He would not have gone out look for any white man to beat up and kill if it was a “white man” who assaulted his sister.

I used to like him and from that day I listened to his interview I have never watched another movie of his.

Misschan, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45320189

Ohh ffs!. what u want her to say? Is he black? Yeah? So what is the problem. Would it be ok is she said white man? Small man? Fat man? Skinny man?

@lovescaca

Ohh ffs!. what u want her to say? Is he black? Yeah? So what is the problem. Would it be ok is she said white man? Small man? Fat man? Skinny man?

Bingo. That’s mumsnet for you.

@Why2why I agree with you, however it's interesting to see what other will think.

@lovescaca have you even read the thread or are you just getting yourself all worked up? And no I don't think describing someone by JUST their skin tone is acceptable or is it USEFUL.

Which leads me to conclude that white mens’ behaviour is less likely to be seen as suspicious, and/ or people are using ‘black’ as a warning not as a description.

I’m not sure it’s necessarily always being used as a warning (I’m sure it sometimes is), but that the people using it see white as the norm and therefore not worth commenting on. I’m not saying that’s right, but it’s common, people are imagined as white unless described otherwise. You see it in books, often when characters are described physically, the only time race is mentioned is when they aren’t white.

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

So is it ok to describe someone purely on their weight? Height? Hair colour? Dress sense? Speech? Age?

@lovescaca you wouldn't describe someone purely by their weight or hair though would you their would be other details along with that.

I'm not understanding your argument it's ridiculous?

I'm not going back and fourth with you anyway. I have seen your comments on threads over racism. Calling people sensitive.

I can see what your about already!

So is it ok to describe someone purely on their weight? Height? Hair colour? Dress sense? Speech? Age?

It might be acceptable, but it still wouldn’t be that helpful.

‘Man with brown hair’

‘Overweight person’

‘Skinny man’

‘Person in 30s’

All useless descriptions.

Similarly ‘black man’ isn’t a very helpful description. It just means a black male aged somewhere between 14 and 102. And there’s the additional issue that black men are as a group routinely stigmatised as dangerous criminals by our society and by our police force.

YABU. It’s fine as long as it’s true. It’s only racist if it’s a lie.

People need to know who to worry about in such a situation - better to be wary of the right person, than saying “all men” just to be politically correct.

@VestaTilley

YABU. It’s fine as long as it’s true. It’s only racist if it’s a lie.

People need to know who to worry about in such a situation - better to be wary of the right person, than saying “all men” just to be politically correct.

So, be wary of all black men?

What would you have done OP if you had been in this mum's shoes?

Would you have ignored the danger if the attacker's skin colour was the only salient point the little girl could remember (probably because it was different to her own)?

How would you have handled this?

I understand you may be worried about your brothers visiting, but if the neighbourhood is diverse, as you say, there will be many men who will fit that description, so they should have no reason to be concerned

Every -imaginary- crime in our neighbourhood

Why are posters implying that the mum or girl are lying? Aren't we supposed to believe the victim until further investigations are carried out?