Is this the mother of all calling out - Katherine Birbalsingh

[DramaFatigue]

Katherine Birbalsingh has done the mother of all calling out and I can't help but sit here with my jaw on the kitchen table in awe.

She has written a 4-page open letter to Sir Kerr Starmer calling out Jess Phillip's behaviour online. Whilst I don't always agree with KB's methods of the school she runs, I do think that Jess Phillips behaviour towards her is shocking and unbefitting of someone who could be running the country. JP should resign TBH.

https://news.sky.com/story/headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-brands-labour-mp-jess-phillips-social-media-posts-racist-and-bullying-12913139

I think KB is awful in many different ways- but why would you say she isn't black?

Her schools own complaints policy make it near on impossible to complain.

Yet here she is publicly complaining on schools headed paper against her own policy in so many ways.

She's bringing the school into disrepute. In most schools that would be a disciplinary matter.

I get what people are saying on mn and elsewhere now when KB and others talk about unconscious bias

Reminds me of the Kemi Badenoch threads, and sometimes with Sunak too

Imagine if someone said that about someone a left leaning person. That a black person is appropriating black heritage or playing at being more black for cynical means. There purl be outrage at the racist comment.

But apparently it’s ok to say things like this about black people with right leaning views.

Disgusting and vile.

Such comments aren't appropriate.

No, it's not ok to say such things and that view should be called out.

I agree.

She's already said that she wasn't saying JP is racist. But you would struggle to believe that given the recent "news" coverage in GB News and other right wing media outlets - who have their own agenda and their own biases. And with all the interviews she's given where she hasn't addressed or been challenged on what's she's said.

This is the headteacher who said we start with the standpoint that children are naturally bad due to 'original sin', lied about inaccuracies in motivational quotes displayed in her school and said that if a child complains about a teacher, the default position is to believe the teacher and to let the child know that is the case. Great professionalism and safeguarding principles there. Criticism of KB isn't justified due to her ethnicity, that's abhorrent, but is entirely justified in terms of religious mumbo jumbo, dishonesty and dangerous and harmful safeguarding practices.

Absolutely this.

But it's obviously a good defence for KB to say she believes it's about race because it means she doesn't have to look at her own behaviour. She can say it's others prejudices.

I'm sure there are people out there who don't like her because of her race and also because she's female. And for some being both will be a step too far. Very abhorrently racism does exist in their country and worldwide.

But in this case she's been called out for her actions. What she posted. And for a complaint letter littered with inaccuracies she penned.

This isn't people attacking her for who she is. But what she did.

This isn't people attacking her for who she is. But what she did

Which goes back to a question before - when something happens to you, is it because of your actions / how you behaved or is it down to discrimination - sexism, racism, religious discrimination, homophobia, transphobia etc...

And how do you know?

This doesn’t sound like an offer

‘that head teacher woman’ - how is that constructive, it’s trying to belittle

JP wrote tweets from anger, not great for an MP, she obviously has built up an image of KB in her head and is responding in line with that

All those saying KB is an arse or whatever I’m sure she gets that kind of thing just for being a minority woman anyway

So you don’t think KB has made any mistakes either originally in posting the tweet or subsequently?

That might work if the same people didn't make it obvious that they loathe equally white people with similar views. You will see the same people taking the same attitude to the likes of Johnson, Rees-Mogg, Hancock, Truss, et al.

KB is a woman who sees no reason to make adjustments for disability in her school, who says that children who claim they have been the victim of racism by adults should automatically be disbelieved, and who believes in education by rote learning rather than letting children learn to think for themselves. She is a self-publicist for very anti-libertarian views. And she lies, as this article demonstrates.

Unsurprisingly, some people tend to dislike that, irrespective of whether they are right or left wing, and irrespective of the skin colour of the person involved. KB doesn't get to demand a free pass for her deeply unpleasant views on that account. That in itself would be racist.

JP wrote tweets from anger, not great for an MP, she obviously has built up an image of KB in her head and is responding in line with that

I'd agree with the anger bit - I would say she is very familiar with KB as KB does have a reputation, she has said many things that some people see as controversial, she spoke up at the Nat C conference and JP clearly watched that - so yes, when she saw KB had tweeted a picture of Tina Turner with Ike and used the caption "Good Times", you can see how that would stir up the emotions of JP who is a prominent campaigner against DV and VAWG.

That's the thing about Twitter and social media - it's easy to react quickly. It also feeds of people reacting to things they don't agree with.

However - it's clear that KBs response, her lies about screen shots, ,her misreading of Aslan - which she used in her letter to show evidence of JPs racism, her claim that she made a mistake with a GIF which has been shown to be inaccurate must raise questions.

And the follow up media round is a fascinating study into media bias.

This whole episode would make a very good case study in psychology and media bias.

Agreed

Because I've got eyes?

@PerfectYear321 "Because I've got eyes?"

And a colour chart? 🤣

But then, you're the person who thinks Johnson was merely "unwise" to appoint a sex molester to a position of power within the party, and then to send people out to lie for him. I'm not sure your perceptions are reliable.

There are hundreds of black, asian and mixed race head teachers in the UK and the vast majority get no publicity, no racism, no headlines. I wonder why?

In this instance racial bias, unconscious or otherwise, is a red herring. It is patronising to suggest no criticisms can be made of POC because those criticising may be biased. Her many, many blatant untruths, double downs, tantrums and dubious 'theories' are down to her, not her opponents or her ethnicity. JP has called her out on inaccurate statements and safeguarding issues before. To call JP a racist is lazy and highly insulting.

Accusations of racism from K Birbalsingh are really rather ironic, seeing as she's the one in charge of the school, which was found to have racially discriminated against a Black girl, over her hair.

Birbalsingh later gloated that the "troublesome girl" had left and gone to another school.

TBF to KB, after several days of tweets, media rounds and articles, she did say she wasn't calling JP a racist.

At least not in the typical sense.

You'd have been forgiven for thinking that - given the articles about what she said

"My view is that Ms Phillips' extreme and unprompted hostility towards me is motivated by my race. By this I do not mean that she hates all people of colour.

"Her behaviour is a clear example of 'unconscious bias'. I mean that she hates me, despite not knowing me, because she subscribes to the idea that Black and Asian individuals in public life owe a duty to voice opinions that match with a left-wing view of the world, or they are worthy of her contempt."

It's obvious that, when she talks about tweeting under her own name, she is referring to the fact that KB doesn't.

What is the relevance of when he screenshot the tweet? The simple fact is that KB accuses JP of starting the pile on, when the evidence plainly available demonstrates that it started well before she first tweeted about the photo.

I blame the parents

Why would you send your kid to her school?