AIBU to think some people on here are way too obsessed with not being seen as racist?

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I’m posting in AIBU because this has been niggling at me for a while with the tone of so many threads lately, but it's really blown up following the bodycam footage of the Henry Nowak case.

There seem to be loads of posts these days where people are basically showing off how not racist they are, or how much they hate racists or the 'far right', or jumping in to call something racist at the slightest thing. It feels performative, like they’re desperate to signal their virtue and make sure everyone knows they’re on the “right” side. I get that racism is bad, obviously, but it sometimes feels like it’s taken over to the point where common sense goes out the window.

Henry Nowak shows how dangerous this mindset is. This poor 18-year-old student was stabbed multiple times by Vickrum Digwa, who then lied to the police claiming Henry had racially abused him. The officers took that accusation at face value, handcuffed Henry while he was lying there bleeding out and saying he couldn’t breathe, and didn’t treat him as the victim urgently enough. He died in police custody essentially. The mindset of those officers sounds exactly like the over-the-top “must not be perceived as racist” attitude you see in some threads here. They sidelined a dying boy because of a racism claim (which turned out to be a complete lie). That’s not just sad — it’s dangerous.

This isn't a left wing / right wing post and I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist or that we shouldn’t call it out when it’s real. I also hate the phrase "virtue signalling", but I can't think of a better one than it. This constant virtue-signalling and knee-jerk reactions make situations like Henry’s more likely, not less. People (including police) become so paralysed by the fear of getting it wrong on race that they get it horrifically wrong on everything else.

Am I being unreasonable? Or has anyone else noticed this shift on MN and in general?

I think it benefits everyone that policing is fair and, when necessary, confronts uncomfortable truths. ‘Community cohesion’ should never come before individual victims. We’ve learned the hard way that leaving things to simmer, and affording certain groups more lenience because of their characteristics, is NEVER the best course of action.

Who said it works one way? I also think your claims on French banlieues are inaccurate.

It’s despicable for you OP to claim that his death was caused by some nebulous anti-racists virtue signalling phenomenon.

The person responsible for the killing of Harry Nowak was Vikram Digwa. The fact the police believed Digwa and handcuffed Nowak was part of Digwa’s cruelty.

Even if the police had not believed Digwa, it is unlikely Nowak could have been saved as he died within minutes of the police arriving.

It is possible that Digwa was racist towards the Polish and targeted Nowak as a result.

Were the police being nice when they ignored the grooming gangs because of community tensions?

Are you saying it's okay to be racist, because we all judge each other anyway?

If you think people are being performative to appear non racist, that says more about you. Whats wrong with people wanting to be nice to others'? Such a strange thing to complain about
If you want to be nice to others, call it that. Being nice to others, not making it about racism and pointing the finger on anyone who decides who is and who racist based on their own perception.

I agree with you, I'd love to bypass all that nonsense and make it all about just being nice and respectful. Much harder to argue. But arguing is what it is all about for some.

It’s definitely part of a wider discussion, the cancel culture and smearing of anybody who had valid concerns about race or culture related crime in the UK lead to a mindset where ONLY white Brits could be racist or bigoted in any way. Which in turn was responded to by this sort of policing.

There was a large class element to the grooming gangs. The girls being raped were not from naice families.

I completely disagree. You are saying that Nowak was murdered due to antiracism efforts when he was murdered by a racist.

You know what, I completely agree with you.
Ethnic minorities have been clamouring for fair and just policing for decades; and I'm glad we all want the same thing now.

Affording certain groups more leniency has been the bane of our existence for a long time, and I am ready for the entire criminal justice system to treat us all equitably.

How’s that come about? The police have never been very good to victims not even when they were just Peelers.

But the issue is that any crime committed by any ethnic minority in Britain is automatically viewed as “race and culture related” and it’s never “race and culture related” when the perpetrator is white.

As is the claim that this example of police mistake must be due to the belief that only white people can be bigoted (which few believe.)

I agree. Police need to be better trained and not have knee- jerk reactions. I have said this on another thread, but racism- if any- can be dealt with later once everyone is unhurt. In this case, the racism allegation was false. The police seem to have rushed in because Dickwa's brother called them.

I read that the policeman involved got a medal for bravery, which makes it even more tragic all round.

Do we? Do you?

This^
It is so tiresome.

This.

OP’s post is way off.

I mean on this thread alone it didn’t take long for people to say things which would be considered racist 😆

Can you give me a case where a white perpetrator has done something clearly racist and there has been no coverage or condemnation?

Like what?

The murderer was responsible for Henry's death. The murderer (and his hateful family because of their lies) and the police, were responsible for the manner of his death, lying face down on the pavement, handcuffed and without kindness of any sort.
No one blames the police for Henry's death. I blame the police for the manner of his death. It's a lesser evil, but it's still a disgrace.

Absolutely not. Gold star for shoehorning in “banlieues” in the supposition or hope I didn’t know it…

I don’t claim to not be racist because it’s fashionable, or “performative.”

I claim to not be racist, because I’m not.

Anti-colonialism as a mainstream concept in our public institutions is new. Twenty years ago, no one was talking about anti-colonialism as a euphemism for making things less white (i.e. decolonising the curriculum, decolonising farming etc)

Yes and note how differently things are approached. In Scotland where I grew up there was a massive knife culture issue among the predominantly white population until quite recently .

The government tackled the issues using a more compassionate and effective health model. Overall they didn’t demonise white working class boys and the police were typically not overly brutal with them the way the Met are to Black youths.

We see a completely different and far more punitive treatment towards knife crime issues in London where it lies disproportionately within young Black males.

And if white males get the worst exam results it’s “aww the system is failing them”, if that were say black or Pakistani males there would be all this discussion about fatherless households and investigation into cultural issues which cause the lack of attainment.

I was literally going to make the Glasgow point which the impressive Akala has made many many many times in his talks and his (brilliant book on Race and Class in the post empire period) in how the exact same drivers leading to the same outcomes in poor areas of Glasgow, London, Liverpool. When the discussion is young white working class boys their race / culture is irrelevant, when the discussion is black (and increasingly muslim) young working class boys, their race / culture explains everything.

And the point on school achievement is also true. I found the difference in media language when white working class boys underperform at school (“society is falling them”) vs. when black working class boys underperform (“their culture is to blame”)

I honestly think (and hope) that they're bots.