Postman Brap, Tokenism and Maintaining the Status Quo

[Dastardlythefriendlymutt]

So Royal Mail has 4 postboxes painted black for Black History Month.

Please watch Munya Chawawa's skit on this

twitter.com/munyachawawa/status/1311353453025820677?s=19

Meanwhile only 168 Windrush scandal victims have been paid compensation amounting to £1.3m, an average of £7,738.09 per person.

That's on average 5 months pay at minimum wage, after lives were ruined, people died, were made homeless, lost their pensions and their jobs.

No justice or recompense, just performative vibes and more tokenism like the black square drama.

Royal Mail and The Post Office are separate companies and not directly linked to the UK government's shitshower that is Windrush.

The Royal Mail is owned by shareholders so is privately owned, while The Post Office is a company that is not directly linked to the government.

The postboxes are owned by Royal Mail not The Post Office.

Both the Royal Mail and The Post Office have an issue with racism.

The Post Office sent to prison and/or destroyed the lives of many post masters/mistresses, who include lots of non-white people (don't know how many are black) by accusing them of fraud when it was their software that was the issue - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50747143

The Royal Mail who I've had family and friends of various ethnicities work for, has been caught out many times in employment tribunals with racial bullying. Oh and the fact that white staff walkout in support is because they are all treated like shit by Royal Mail management.

I stand corrected about the connection between the two. However that is not the point of my post.

My point is about tokenism and performative activism by private and state entities while Black people are affected by real problems nobody wants to actually fix or address, Windrush being one of them. Instead of putting out black boxes- point that out.

Companies putting up black squares and then doing absolutely nothing beyond lip service or adding their voice where it counts.

I'm not impressed by black squares and black post boxes. If you want to do something for Black history month as a company add your voice to things that actually matter, donate to things that disproportionately affect Black people, transform your own hiring practices and make your work place environment safe for Black people and people of colour.

Tokenism like this is a feel good cop out that achieves nothing

I do apologise for the conflation between the two but it still seems from your post RedRumTheHorse that both are problematic and have some work to do in this regard.

I would be so surprised if a black person advised them to do this! Kmt