Why does it descend into a bun fight?

[Orchidflower1]

Why do people have to do competitive racism? Not a TAAT but inspired by a thread about a Jewish lady who is currently terrified to go out because of the violence and antisemitism in her area. All she wanted was a hand hold and to vent. But people are playing top trumps racism along her thread.

I don’t really know what I want from this thread to be honest. I think I just want to say argghhhhh -racism and all its types are awful enough without people falling over themselves to say one group of people have it worse than others.
Arghhh why can’t people be kind, be nice and not be Xenophobic, racist twonks!!!

And breathe orchid!!

I just wanted to come here to say that really. Please don’t feel you need to reply- I’m happy just to vent but any thoughts welcome.

Ah PineappleCakes "bat signal" is a good way to describe those threads.

My own favourite- the variations on "I don't have white privilege as I'm working class/ dragged myself up by the bootstraps".

Can we stop this false equivalence of white working whenever Black issues come up. Maybe we need to change our language as being Black is not a disadvantage, or an indicator for poor socioeconomic and health outcomes, no, anti-Black racism is the cause of those issues. Maybe if we speak more about anti-Black racism as the cause of these social ills, then people will realise that Black people also experience classism AND anti-Black racism, so you can't opine that being white and working class is similar or the same as being Black as a Black person in your shoes has both racism and classism to contend with.

Sorry OP digressed from your post a bit, but I just had to address that.

I am grateful for BMN. I don't really even feel safe posting outside BMN, the plaster thread was a true exercise in whataboutery and mental gymnastics. Reminded me of when Rihanna came out with the inclusive foundation range that finally gave Black women choices when we often had to deal with 3 shades from most brands if we were lucky while they stocked 40 shades of beige, and then white women trying to act as if they had been heavily disadvantaged before and they also struggled finding their shade - it wasn't just a "Black thing". Yes because some brands may have darker shades but they aren't even stocked in the shops sometimes and only found online and that's the same as having every brand stock twenty or thirty options for white women and just one, two or three options for darker skinned women. It always is "I have it just as bad too" whenever anyone brings up an issue. My question is why does your "struggle" only come up when POC or Black people complain about their struggle, you seem fine with the status quo all the time because it does benefit you. It's only an issue when someone else has an issue because you want to play "poor me" too

Well said @DastardlytheFriendlyMutt.

My question is why does your "struggle" only come up when POC or Black people complain about their struggle, you seem fine with the status quo all the time because it does benefit you. It's only an issue when someone else has an issue because you want to play "poor me" too

Thats it!

And to the previous poster who did the band aid comment🤣

@DastardlytheFriendlyMutt but you must know only white people can be working class.

If you are black your class is just "other"....

Little off topic but I don't want to post on the reparations thread as it just attracts more non-Black people being dismissive of slavery and colonialism, saying we never experienced it and should get over it.

Look at this

1. This woman is 107 and is saying she is yet to see justice in her entire 107 years of living in this earth twitter.com/civilrightsorg/status/1395028682939539456?s=19

I'm 31

1. My grandmother remembers being a young girl in a former colony and a British soldier just cutting a man's hand off for the sake of it circa late 1930s
2. My father was whipped by a white farmer, actual scarred lashes in his back because while they were being moved off their land to make way for white farmers he dared to go back into their home for the only surviving picture of his father. He has never been able to go back to his father's grave now as it is "private land"
3. My 38 year old cousin is the first grandchild on both sides to be born after colonial rule.

So people should really fuck off and educate themselves before trying to have an opinion on things they know nothing about.

Sorry OP

DastardlytheFriendlyMutt I am unable to covey in words how your post has touched me.

@DastardlytheFriendlyMutt

Sorry OP

🤗

Actually these days that should probably be an elbow bump not a hug but get the gist!

@NiceGerbil

The other thing is. I post a lot in a contraversial area.

I want the arsehole posts to stand. So people can read and see how awful.

I mean unless they're off the scale.

If all the prejudice gets hidden away. It does nothing to stop the poster being prejudiced. Others can't read and think fucking hell that's awful. And those who don't know how bad it is, have it hidden from their sight.

Twitter and Facebook are much more active in moderation/ banning etc. I'm not sure it's a good thing. It just hides away the shit. But it's still there.

Have you ever reported racist comments on Facebook or Instagram? They are never removed. I reported a comment which had an obvious racist epithet think the N word (but not that) and apparently it wasn’t racist. I’ve all but left Facebook as they allow incitement to stay up.

While I’ll agree people seeing a post might enable them to realise how horrible those views are my experience is it just snowballs people who are mildly racist see that they are justified in their views as others also agree with them. I do think Mumsnet should comment more on these threads like they do when a thread looks like it might be a begging thread.

Dastardlythefriendlymutt
Also not enough words but just wanted to

@DastardlytheFriendlyMutt 💔

DastardlytheFriendlyMutt

I recently posted a massive rant on the black feminism thread about how racism is treated on this website, so I won't repeat it, but it really is a race to the bottom with them. You can always spot the sketchy threads from a mile away. I knew exactly how that plasters thread would go and sure enough, they did what I expected. Just like you know how a Meghan thread will go or a representation in media thread. It's always the same. And mumsnet will enable them every step of the way.

They love to bleat on about how they totally know a rich black person who went to a nice school while they’re poor so they can't possibly be privileged. Or they were the only white person at work or in a neighborhood and they were treated just so horribly so now they can cry racism. Or they have a mental illness. Or they have a disability. Whatever it is, they claim every shred of oppression they can while denying that we have those problems in addition to being black. And of course intersectionalism doesn’t apply when they’re criticizing men. You’ll never see them saying, well a man is poor so he doesn’t benefit from the patriarchy. But they’ll claim it as an out to white privilege every time, or as a way to invalidate us, while denying its original purpose of highlighting that the combination of blackness and womanhood creates a unique experience not included in traditional talks of feminism. Nope. Intersectionalism only applies to them. Otherwise it doesn’t exist.

Frankly I think many of them do relish in their victim status. They get to be the poor, innocent, hard done by, delicate white woman who are never responsible for anything they ever do. But for some reason when it’s us, it’s all in our heads or we’re making a big deal out of nothing or “that has nothing to do with racism.” But everything under the sun is sexist and against them. It’s ridiculous and transparent.

DastardlytheFriendlyMutt

Thank you everyone, there is worse I can list, and a lot of people can list even worse. This is not unique to me, anyone affected by the Transatlantic slave trade or colonialism has heartbreaking stories to tell, but I'm sick of hearing how the perpretators aren't alive and this was hundreds of years ago. No it wasn't and people should stop misrepresenting things.

These experiences could be written from my 23 year old sister's view, hearing and seeing first hand accounts of the atrocities committed against Black people. It was not a century ago like people would like to believe, or try to gaslight us into thinking.

Dastardly
I'm listening.

@DastardlytheFriendlyMutt thank you reminded me of my own family and close friends situations.

I tend to forget my 4 eldest siblings were born in a country that was still a colony, and how only the children under 12 in one of my best friends' family are the generation who have equal rights in their grandparents country of birth based solely on their skin colour and hair.