Was the ‘race card’ pulled??

[Glittercloud17]

So just got back from vacation. At the airport, my daughter and I were queuing for passport control when a girl/teen pushed past in front of us. 5 seconds later I heard a lady say to me “excuse me, we just want to join our niece” pointing to the girl who’d pushed in. Without focusing too much attention on her or the family, but seeing an additional 3 people (another teen and two women) I said “sorry, but that girl just shoved in, so maybe it’s better she joins you instead” (meaning the 1 girl who’d pushed in should join her family behind my daughter and I, and not the whole family move in front of my daughter and I.

The lady said “oh, I don’t think she pushed in, darling” in a clearly sarcastic tone, but I didn’t reply as the girl/teen then walked back to join her aunt behind us.

Then I heard the woman say to the girl “you know exactly why she thinks she needs to be in front of us, this is another example”. At this stage I assume she meant I felt entitled to say this because they were a family of colour! So instead of pulling up the teen for pushing past us, the adult put the responsibility of this situation on me, insinuating I was bullying them for racially motivated reasons!!

It hadn’t even crossed my mind that they were black/white/asian whatever family! Only that a person had pushed past my daughter and I and the family felt they then had a right to go in front.

Comments continued among the adults in the family to the teens around how this was another example why the teenagers had to be more assertive “in this world” and that I, “the lady” was in the wrong.

I didn’t react, or say anything as I didn’t want to escalate something that clearly wasn’t there, and continued to look in front (not in their direction) or be accused of anything especially in an airport with a flight to catch! Later after passport control, I was standing talking to my daughter when the other adult (who I hadn’t looked at previously) violently pushed into my back as they walked past. I was very shocked by this (again I brushed this off).

People who have genuinely experienced racism - was I unreasonable, and were they justified to jump to this conclusion? I understand there’s a long, complex history around race, but I am not aware, at least on a conscious level, of discriminating against anyone like this??

How has the titile or this thread been allowed to stand? Has anybody complained about it? (I am going to do so now).

Just looked at some more of the thread. Horrifying. I am a partucular fan of the eugenecist woman, who more or less "proves" that black people are ",more violent" (by sharing statistics around knife crime). but then, because she is not a racist (oh no, not she!) generously concedes it may be down to "culture" instead. Which obviously isn't a racist thing to say, at all.....

Becayse, obviously, crime statistics accurately reflect actual crime committed, don't they? (And rape and abuse are very rare crimes....)

I mean that's only one example - impossible to know where to start on a thread like this.

I have reported it tho. I think it's dodgy as fuck. OP doesn't sound like she is the sort to stand mildly vu while someone supports her in the airport. And I see know evidence in any of her responses that she is genuinely considering whether she could, in fact, be in the wrong. Strongly feel like OP just wants a platform to air her racist views, and it's probably best not to give her on, hard tho it is to ignore these rantings.

Why what's wrong with it? or do you not like people having opposing opinions to you?

That’s a complete and utter misrepresentation of what I posted! Libelous even!

@Ilovelurchers

It’s completely disingenuous only to use the facts that support your position, and discard those that don’t as being inaccurate (without evidence!)

Government data shows that Black men are disproportionately more likely to be stopped and searched.

Government data also shows that Black men are disproportionately more likely to be perpetrators of knife crime.

The two figures are broadly similarly disproportionate which, on the face of it, appears reasonable.

You can’t reasonably use one data set to prove your point, but dismiss the other because it doesn’t.

And I was very clear that I did NOT believe that high levels of knife crime seen in Black men mean that Black men are inherently more violent. To repeat, I do NOT believe this.

But to explain this knife crime phenomenon as caused by systemic racism, and place the blame onto those who supposedly are responsible for this, the White British, is completely wrongheaded. It’s divisive and deflecting.

I am outraged by your vile and heinous assumptions. I don’t think you’ve understood, or care to understand a thing about the views I have expressed here and have only jumped to conclusions.

Reporting your hateful content.

The disparity in educational attainment between Black Caribbean and Black African pupils can be critically examined through the lens of the model minority myth. Commonly applied to East and South Asian communities, this myth portrays certain ethnic groups as inherently more successful due to cultural traits such as discipline or work ethic. When applied to Black African pupils, it risks pathologising Black Caribbean communities by framing educational outcomes as a result of cultural inferiority rather than structural inequality.

The myth is also frequently used to dismiss or deny structural racism by implying that success is entirely based on individual effort. This can lead to dangerous conclusions, such as blaming Black Caribbean pupils for their lower educational outcomes while ignoring the institutional and societal barriers they face. Furthermore, it overlooks the fact individuals from African background, despite higher academic performance, often encounter significant barriers in employment due to racial discrimination.

Additionally, the model minority myth fails to consider important factors like migration patterns. In some countries, immigrants tend to come from middle or upper socioeconomic backgrounds, often bringing educational capital with them. In contrast, other immigrant groups may come from working-class or disadvantaged backgrounds. These differences can significantly affect educational outcomes and opportunities.

To understand the current experiences of Black Caribbean pupils, it is essential to consider the lasting impact of colonialism and class structures in Caribbean societies. During European colonial rule, the Caribbean was organised into rigid class systems. At the top were white colonial elite’s plantation owners and merchants. Beneath them was the mixed-race or coloured middle class, who had limited access to education and property. At the bottom were the majority of the population: enslaved Africans and their descendants, who were forced into brutal labour and denied basic rights.

Even after slavery was abolished, this hierarchy did not disappear. Access to wealth, education, and land remained concentrated in the hands of a few, while most Afro-Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean people continued to be economically and socially marginalised. These deeply entrenched class divisions, shaped by slavery and colonial exploitation, still influence Caribbean societies and diaspora communities today.

One of the most overlooked but important consequences of this history is its impact on family structures. The transatlantic slave trade and plantation system disrupted traditional African family systems. Enslaved people were denied the right to legally marry, and families were frequently separated. As a result, matrifocal (female-headed) households became common; a pattern that still persists in many Caribbean communities. The high rate of single-parent families is as a legacy of historical trauma, economic exclusion, and systemic violence imposed through centuries of slavery and colonialism. The Caribbean and America are plantation and colonial societies and this still reflected in modern society.

In summary, invoking the model minority myth to explain differences in attainment between Black African and Black pupils is both reductive and harmful. It reinforces racialised hierarchies, deflects attention from structural inequalities, and ignores the historical and socio-economic contexts that continue to these. Furthermore, the model minority myth serves as a divide and conquer tactic, positioning one racial group as a ‘success story to implicitly criticise another. This undermines solidarity and deflects attention from the structural inequalities that affect different marginalised groups. By promoting a racialised hierarchy of achievement, it reinforces existing power structures and weakens collective efforts to challenge systemic racism.

Above post sounds like an AI generated essay. If I was a sociology lecturer being handed this I’d be a bit suspicious.

I think you have tagged me by mistake? I haven't posted on this thread.

Apologies @Tambora … this was in response to @Tandora !

@GoodPudding no worries , thanks for clarifying. 🙂

@Lavenderflower

Interesting and thought-provoking post… However, I think it is nonetheless very flawed.

The fact that, on average, Black people of African heritage do as well or better than White English students, and Black people of Caribbean heritage do worse than White English students demonstrates unequivocally that, whatever the cause of the difference may be, it can’t be ethnicity or race!

To put more starkly, if Black people from one background do better than White British people, and Black people from another background do worse than White British people, it’s an obvious logical fallacy to say that the primary reason that the second group performed worse is that society is skewed against Black people. Rather there must be other, more complex and nuanced factors at play.

And yet, despite this, your response nonetheless implores Black people to show solidarity and stick together, despite not necessarily sharing experiences of inequality, backgrounds or cultures, and corral them together into a single group whose only common denominator is their skin colour… and then pit them in an existential battle against “whiteness”, as personified by the White British population.

This unmasks the whole philosophy, and exposes that it’s not really about it social justice and equality at all… but rather is all about promoting tribal allegiance based on racial identity in its most basic, crudest form… skin colour.

I’d argue that this philosophy is fundamentally and profoundly racist in its conception (using the standard, matter-of-fact, definition of the word).

I hear what you’re saying. I have to disagree. My use of title was little thought through, and while it may be argued in some cases, this doesn’t indicate that one is ‘fundamentally and profoundly racist’. That’s a huge generalisation.

ultimately, the decision I made to reprimand the teen wasn’t based on skin colour, but comments were made back to me that could be anything.

I think we may be talking cross-purposes.

I wasn’t saying what you did was ‘fundamentally and profoundly racist’, but referencing a post that seems intent on grouping people into “tribes” based on skin colour irrespective of whether they have any other similarities or common ground, and using that as a basis for agitating for against “whiteness”.