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.

MrsSkylerWhite

Today 00:46 EmeraldShamrock

Why is that in any way, shape or form offensive?
Because it is "white woman“

Actually, that’s offensive. What’s wrong with describing a black person as black?

@MrsSkylerWhite my whole point of this thread was that I wouldn't run to warn a community about a black man if that was the only description I had off him. Facebook is already full of hate and this is fuelling a fire giving people more of a reason to be racist and wary of black people. Including his race with other details off him yes that's fine I wouldn't even give it a second thought.

As I said it's caused nothing but racist comments it wasn't helpful in the slightest.

It's doesn't sit well with me that parents are going to be warning their children now of local black men in the area. We live in a diverse area they can't be worrying about every black man that's comes in there proximity.

If it was a white man they probably would have just said a man.

From a warning the locals point of view the important part is someone was approaching children offering sweets and for parents to remind their children not to go with strangers not what colour the man was.

I absolutely do not hate black people, tiredandfrumpy. I don’t hate anyone. Most people don’t because they’re not ignorant. Am I/we supposed to dodge the question though, if I/we are assaulted by someone who is black and are asked for a description of the assailant.
I’m sorry but I just don’t understand how stating fact is offensive ?

Being black is nothing to be ashamed of and therefore it is not an insult to describe someone as black if they are.

The way some carry on, you would swear that to describe someone who is black as black is an insult.

Thank you very sodding much!

YANBU. The vilification of black men is such that I've spent countless hours lecturing my nephews on how to conduct themselves in all manner of situations.

@MrsSkylerWhite I never said you did hate black people. No your not understanding I am not talking about police reports. You always tell them of the race of the person. I don't want to keep repeating myself it's getting boring.

@YearsSinceISawYou your missing the point too. No one cares about being described as black all I am trying to so say is if you are warning people of a suspicious PERSON THEIR SKIN COLOUR ALONE IS NOT SATISFACTORY AS A DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL.

I am not replying to this thread anymore it's exhausting.

I understand your point of concern OP, completely. It is however a young child, if I say a white, that is 87 percent of Britain, if I say black that is 4 percent. That is their reality, and it is very simple. But the fact that she couldn't discern any other features of the person is an issue if the child could see a similar white man doing the same and give extra information. But can she? Is it the child or the parents? It was relevant to that child.

A woman was pushed into the path of a subway train last week in NYC and suffered serious enough injuries. They were looking for her attacker on bulletins and offered up everything that she was wearing beforehand, carrying and age, height... never once mentioned her race or skin colour. 13 million people, the skin colour is a major descriptor and one they are obviously afraid to include now. (She was found and charged). There is a middle ground.

I'm not understanding what's so difficult to understand here so it can only be wilful ignorance.

Is it ok to use a persons skin colour when describing them? Yes

Is it ok to use ONLY the skin colour of a person when describing someone that the community should be wary of? No

Very straightforward.

The UK is far more racist than I imagined. Jesus, this thread is unbelievable.

If the scenario was true, which I highly doubt because people just post these ridiculous suspicions for attention, how the hell does it even help anyone? Surely children should be wary of anyone offering them sweets, no matter their skin colour??

If another black man offered a different child sweets, it could be a completely different man?

You people who don't get this need to have a good look at yourselves. You're all racists and the reason this country is rife with inequality.

OP I share your frustration with some of the responses on this thread. What is it that people aren’t getting? She described the man as a black man. That’s it! How useful is that information and what was the motive behind it? It’s almost like she felt that it was all she needed to say, you know “a black man, nudge nudge wink wink. We all know what they’re like”. (See also Eastern European). Nobody is saying that you aren’t allowed to mention skin colour, just that if he had been a white man that wouldn’t even had been mentioned, other descriptors would be used. Why couldn’t she have used other descriptors as well as skin colour? What use is just skin colour? All black men are the same are they?

People ought to be responsible in how they mention someone’s race if the person is black because society is biased against black people particularly young black males. As I said earlier, the papers used to report like this in the 80s - “she woke up to see a black man looking through the window” - and it cannot have failed to have conditioned minds.m ie that a black man is an extra scary sort of man.

@Roguehair

OP I share your frustration with some of the responses on this thread. What is it that people aren’t getting? She described the man as a black man. That’s it! How useful is that information and what was the motive behind it? It’s almost like she felt that it was all she needed to say, you know “a black man, nudge nudge wink wink. We all know what they’re like”. (See also Eastern European). Nobody is saying that you aren’t allowed to mention skin colour, just that if he had been a white man that wouldn’t even had been mentioned, other descriptors would be used. Why couldn’t she have used other descriptors as well as skin colour? What use is just skin colour? All black men are the same are they?

The child may not have been able to remember or explain any other identifiers. Not many small children are likely to say ‘yes it was a Caucasian male, late 30s to early 40s, green eyes, about 6’2.’ But they could say ‘he had brown skin/he had long hair’ etc.

And nobody is suggesting all black men are the same, what an odd suggestion. Simply that in this case a woman has suggested her son was approached inappropriately by man who happened to be black.

Perhaps the FB post should have read 'the suspect is a black man. Apologies, but I have no further details at this stage'? Would it have made it sound better?

She described the man as a black man. That’s it! How useful is that information and what was the motive behind it?

There was no motive. It was all the information the daughter had provided

she woke up to see a black man looking through the window

It's likely race would also have been mentioned if it had been a white man looking through the window in country where the majority was non-white, as it would have been unusual?

A woman was pushed into the path of a subway train last week in NYC and suffered serious enough injuries. They were looking for her attacker on bulletins and offered up everything that she was wearing beforehand, carrying and age, height... never once mentioned her race or skin colour. 13 million people, the skin colour is a major descriptor and one they are obviously afraid to include now

This is awful. We absolutely cannot get into a situation where offenders remain at large because victims cannot provide (or the police cannot publish) basic and critical details of their appearance

@Zarene

We have lots of this on NextDoor.

I’ve never, ever seen a post saying ‘White man acting suspiciously’.

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.

So yes, I suspect the majority of people posting in this way are racist.

Not true at all.

@Skittles98

The UK is far more racist than I imagined. Jesus, this thread is unbelievable.

If the scenario was true, which I highly doubt because people just post these ridiculous suspicions for attention, how the hell does it even help anyone? Surely children should be wary of anyone offering them sweets, no matter their skin colour??

If another black man offered a different child sweets, it could be a completely different man?

You people who don't get this need to have a good look at yourselves. You're all racists and the reason this country is rife with inequality.

The U.K. is one of the most inclusive countries in the world. Try going to Spain or one of the Baltics and you’ll soon see this.

It's likely race would also have been mentioned if it had been a white man looking through the window in country where the majority was non-white, as it would have been unusual?

I can’t think of somewhere in the world where white people are a minority and where white men are stigmatised as aggressive and dangerous resulting in non-white people (including the police) being scared of “whites” and over-reacting to them. That’s why it’s irresponsible and I believe, deliberate. Being white is not loaded in the same way.

Its not what you say it’s how you say it.

@EarPlugAfficionado of please back up that claim with some data.

Could have equally been a bald white man, a ginger haired woman,

By all means @Porcupineintherough

“ As Max Fisher demonstrated at The Washington Post in 2013, it’s possible to roughly compare levels of racial tolerance by focusing on one question in the multinational World Values Survey that asks respondents which sorts of people they wouldn’t want to have as neighbors, and offers “people of another race” as an option. By this metric, intolerance appears more widespread in Hungary and Romania than in Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, and much of Scandinavia, but levels of intolerance are higher in France than in Hungary or Romania. Tolerance levels seem to be about the same in Poland, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic as in Italy or Finland.”

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/410800/

@EarPlugAfficionado those are all European countries, now do Africa or South America

@Porcupineintherough

Hi, I’m afraid my knowledge doesn’t stretch past Europe on this subject and I wouldn’t want to assume. Hopefully someone with more expertise will come along to further this discussion.

Fine. Then maybe dont claim that the UK is one of the most inclusive countries in the world, when really you mean in Europe. The world's a right big place.

Why is everyone ignoring the fact that the person on FB completely made up the story?

Its literally the most obvious, biggest pile of bullshit ever.

Why is everyone ignoring the fact that the person on FB completely made up the story?

Why would you not believe a victim?