Do you find this offensive?

[Meeting]

The Theatre Royal Stratford East is putting on a show and have blocked out 2 dates as "Blackout" nights where they encourage (but I don't think plan to enforce) that only black people may attend these performances.

I saw them discussing it on Piers Morgan and neither of the guests advocating for it were able to convince me that this type of segregation was at all beneficial.

Does anybody think this is a good idea? Personally I think segregation based on skin colour has no place in society, no matter who benefits from it. But I'm interested to hear from others who might away it differently?

I wish people wouldn't keep making the argument that white people a not banned. The whole idea is for white people not to go, obviously they can't legally say that but the intention is obvious

This is the difference between Martin Luther King (who aimed for a colourblind world, achieved peaceabl) and Malcolm X (who aimed for black supremacy, through violence). Sad this is the way things have gone.

Actually I'd like to redact my last post and just echo this which articulates it perfectly -

I mean look at these posts on this thread. Imagine you’re a black person sitting in the Q&A after something like Slave Play and having to listen to a white person raise their hand and whinge ‘why were all the white characters baddies? If there was a play with all black baddies there would be outrage! This is just like apartheid, it’s divisive and it makes me feel bad!’ Maybe they want to ensure that will be avoided and they can participate in a performance that reflects their experiences and history without having to be aware of other people’s feelings.

Thanks to kanaloa for that

Totally agree. I hope MN don't delete the thread because I'm interested to see if any of them share their voices. A few have

WHITE PEOPLE ARE NOT BANNED. IT IS NOT A 'BLACK ONLY NIGHT'.

//

Aaaand this

Dividing people and drawing attention to skin tone isn't the way to achieve that.

Same , never ceases to baffle me why some get so offended over stuff like this "What about white day?!"
It's kind of like men whining "What about International Mens Day?" on women's day.
Sit down, stop moaning, sometimes it's not all about you.

OP maybe try engaging with some opposing views so you can see this isn't segregation.

Or perhaps you're busy buying your ticket for the show?

Because black people in UK society are discriminated against because of their race in multiple ways and suffer poorer education, health, employment, housing etc. than their white counterparts.

White people already experience society as the majority. In many spaces, such as theatres, they can be an overwhelming majority.

Thinking a bit more, I would just add that, in apartheid South Africa, a very oft-heard justification for apartheid (by white people obviously) was that "they" (i.e. people who were not white) would PREFER "their own" spaces, schools, beaches, transport, cultural facilities etc etc, so they could be with "their own" people. And that we were doing them a favour, helping them "be themselves" by letting them have these (cf the "homelands", supposedly "their" own special places to be. Look them up if you don't know about them. A piece of history that seems almost unbelievable now).

This has a bit of a flavour of that and so makes me very uncomfortable, even though that is obviously not what is intended.

I've tried, nobody has given any explanation as to why separating black and white people is not segregation.

All people seem to be able to focus on is the fact that white people are "technically" allowed to attend. That's clearly not the objective or the Blackout event wouldn't exist at all.

The Theatre Royal Stratford East, in east London aims to create a “safe, private” space to allow an “all-black-identifying audience” to explore race relations “free from the white gaze”. This is the actual wording.

I agree, @Stompythedinosaur - well said.

I agree @Meeting Any kind of segregation like this is really poor form IMO. Bit like the council and local authority/government jobs with their 'applications are positively encouraged from people from ethnic minorities' blurb. Don't know if they still do this as I haven't looked for a job in 15 years, but it used to feature a LOT in the 1990s and early noughties.

Pretty bad, as it suggested that they would very likely employ someone for the job even if they weren't suited, purely for the box-ticking. It is also an insult to people who are in any ethnic minority group, because they know they are only being favoured because of their skin colour. It's patronising and 'othering.'

The reason the vote is not coinciding with the comments, is that many people are afraid to comment for fear of retribution.

Segregation like this, and having 'black only' theatre nights is bloody awful IMO. I thought we had moved away from shit like this DECADES ago!

It's actually white working class boys which are faring the worst in these areas. Hence why dividing people up by race to predict outcomes is too simplistic. It's far more complicated than that.

*I've tried, nobody has given any explanation as to why separating black and white people is not segregation.

All people seem to be able to focus on is the fact that white people are "technically" allowed to attend. That's clearly not the objective or the Blackout event wouldn't exist at all.*

As long as the same people who think it's fine, wouldn't complain at a whiteout evening, that's fine.

I feel like society is moving in a very strange direction with all this sort of boxing off of people. It's a shame they feel the need to do this.

@Stompythedinosaur

It is not racist to notice that black people, because of their experiences, may be more comfortable in the absence of white people.

Maybe not racist, but it is VERY patronising, and condescending, and 'othering.' More comfortable in the absence of white people? WTAF?

I can only speak from an American perspective but here segregation was the forced separation of people based on their race. It was enforced by law, and black people could not use white facilities is they choose to do so. The facilitates for black people were often much less desirable than those for white people (dirty restrooms, etc.). Using a theater as an example, there were sections for white people and sections for black people, and the sections for black people were often farther away from the stage and not as clean and well maintained as the sections for white people.

This is not the same as that in any way.

And yes, my son keeps sending me adverts for job applications he would have been interested in applying for except the criteria specifically states he is not allowed to apply.

I appreciate where you are coming from.

Anyone criticising someone on MN for not being a mum is unprepared to see other peoples opinions. Bizarre as others opinions matter and so I agree.
Women not wanting to share spaces with men is different as there is a safety concern.
Women not wanting to talk about rape, their bodies, childbirth and so on are personal private and sometimes sexually related issues and so I am in favour of women being allowed to discuss that with other women only especially as many will be looking for support in what may have been an extremely traumatic experience. Although on an open forum rather impossible, I do know that. Personally I would say I don’t have a problem with being enlightened by who ever you are….but I’m guessing I’m in the minority.

I understand that some people may be more aware, than myself, of stares discrimination and so on. That’s a possibility of course. But now in my mid 50s and having lived here all my life and after my parents also took us to the theatre I can hand on heart say I have never experienced anything in the theatre, cinema, art gallery or museum ( ie cultural spaces ) and neither has my family.

I hope concerns of this nature don’t put people off from getting out there and enjoying everything that is on offer. It’s there for everyone.

I don't think it is inherently a problem if different social groups want to have a space or a night where they want to discuss certain issues. I listen to the interview and I think the woman was being disingenuous. I also think as much as i hate Piers you can guarantee other people would have a problem the other way around no matter what the context and that is probably what peoples biggest problem is.

If you cannot understand the reasons why the two are not comparable, then 🤷‍♀️

@steff13 it's not the same but has a kind of flavour of it. In SA when I was a child there were no different sections in a theatre because black and white people were not have been in the same theatre. Justification (by many) being that "they" "preferred" to be in their "own" theatres and would feel uncomfortable and out of place in "our" theatres. So we were doing them a big favour by excluding them and letting them instead be all nice and happy in "their" theatres (see also music venues, beaches, swimming pools etc etc)...this reminds me too closely of that for me to feel OK about it...

Stop using the pejorative word ‘segregated’ - you sound like the sort of bloke who wants to bust into women only gym/ swim sessions cos of equality.