Practical steps to address anti-blackness in the U.K.?

[HideItClear]

I was so moved by the way Africans/black people are being treated in Ukraine. I’ve been following it all over social media and it’s heartbreaking.
It’s inspired me to get more involved with black organisations and I’m thinking of finding real, practical ways to deal with anti-black racism which seems to be a worldwide issue.

Obviously I think we’ve pretty much all experienced racism or discrimination right here in the U.K. so I’ve decided to start right here. I’m thinking of ways to get involved and ways to organise and assist black people here in Britain.

I watched that TV show: We are Black and British and they talked about all the issues we face, racism in education, racism in the workplace, job discrimination, they didn’t really talk about solutions or what we could do to combat this.

I really want to be proactive this year so I’m looking for ideas for things I could do to solve problems regarding racism and discrimination towards black people in Britain. Not just hashtags and retweets but real practical steps we could take as black brits to deal with these issues.

I’ve been really impressed by the way we all came together and organised for the black students stuck in Ukraine. Bringing their issues to light, people have donated money, they’ve raised over £50,000. We’ve had African Americans getting involved and offering assistance. People donating clothes and blankets and medicine. I want to see more of that and more of us coming together because the world has shown us even in war times, we’re all we have really, we’re not receiving much support from anyone.

By the way, I’ve decided to start using the term anti-blackness instead of racism to describe the prejudice and mistreatment black people experience because we experience these problems from every non black group. It feels to me like all non black groups have problems with black people and I’ve experienced mistreatment based on my race from other non white people as well. So I feel we need a more specific term to describe our mistreatment, kinda like Jewish people have anti-semitism. So now black people have anti-blackness.

I agree using a new word draws fresh attention - which can only be good.

It’s hard - I used to genuinely believe that all my many careers stuttered out because I was useless, while I watched other people sweep ahead of me. And at the same time I hated and despised all the gross, insulting BAME initiatives that latterly became the only way people wanted to engage with me. It’s only very, very recently I’ve begun to feel actually supported and encouraged in a new occupation.

That’s all me, me, me - but essentially these things affect people, and need changing, at an individual level. It’s no good reading about good intentions if one doesn’t notice them in one’s own life.

By the way, I’ve decided to start using the term anti-blackness instead of racism to describe the prejudice and mistreatment black people experience because we experience these problems from every non black group. It feels to me like all non black groups have problems with black people and I’ve experienced mistreatment based on my race from other non white people as well. So I feel we need a more specific term to describe our mistreatment

Couldn't agree more. Anti-blackness/ anti-black racism is everywhere, among every group and I'm quite tired of acting like it's not true or "it's not that bad".

Count me in. I'm battle weary.

I’m looking for ideas for things I could do to solve problems regarding racism and discrimination towards black people in Britain.

Simple thing you can do is every time some media organisation or company you spend money on/in does something anti-black is you write a concise but detailed complaint to them. Some companies will give you a snotty reply while others won't reply. With media organisations e.g. The Guardian there will be other people writing in also so they will alter/remove the story even if their individual reply to you is nasty.

I started doing this in over 10 years ago when I got fed up of media outlets online criminalizing black men by always putting photos of black men when they talked about crime. Even though some have stopped doing this, the Huff Post has dug out statistics that prove that police forces deliberately highlight black people's court cases in their press releases, as now local papers can't be afford to have a Court reporter.

I'm quite tired of acting like it's not true or "it's not that bad"
Your plan of renaming racism as anti-blackness sounds like a way to reinvigorate people into realising that it is bad.

Good luck

What?

Genuinely confused.

You're not wrong, but I also don't think it's a coincidence that black people seem to be less insular than other races and experience more race-based mistreatment.
It shouldn't be the answer but you'll never be able to convince people to show less out-group discrimination in any real sense. You can legislate away some of the effects, but that just doesn't change much.
You might be able to convince black people to show a greater preference for eachother, like other races do.

@ToiletPoster

You're not wrong, but I also don't think it's a coincidence that black people seem to be less insular than other races and experience more race-based mistreatment. It shouldn't be the answer but you'll never be able to convince people to show less out-group discrimination in any real sense. You can legislate away some of the effects, but that just doesn't change much. You might be able to convince black people to show a greater preference for eachother, like other races do.

You might be able to convince black people to show a greater preference for eachother, like other races do.

I think most black people do support each other and I think its getting greater and greater, especially across Africans and diaspora blacks in Europe and America and South America.

I despise the gaslighting of 'black on black' crime like its unique to black people. All races mostly kill each other, be they white British, Chinese or white French. Its only highlighting when we do it.

Its the same with knife crime. Due to white flight of the white working classes, the working class in London has a large black bias and working class crime is knife crime. Its easy in a media centered in London to believe knife crime is a 'black issue' when one looks at the data of knife crime, most are white , once you step outside the London bubble.

Its important for black people to know these things, and that's something practical we can all do, is to challenge these gaslighting terms like black men are absent fathers, and turn them on their head. And pass this knowledge on to fellow black people.

@cheekyduck I agree.

@ToiletPoster do your realise that knife crime was common in Glasgow before it was common in London? The population killing each other were white working class males. The Scottish government dealt with it as a public health issue which is why it decreased. So whenever you see anything that isn't racist in the media talking about knife crime, you will find someone from Glasgow who was/is involved explaining this.

Likewise black people are portrayed in the media as being the race having the most drug issues and dealing, when in fact as when it is broken down by race and the percentages are looked at it is white people.

Also don't know how old you are but in the 90s the joke in the media plus amongst all my friends whose parents were separated/divorced, was that the Tories liked families so much they created another one. This is because they were going around having affairs and getting their mistresses pregnant. Then in certain cases gagging their mistresses in Court. At the same time they were blaming single mothers for the issues in society and had a "back to basics" campaign.

Now because of the people currently in power they can't do the single mother thing. However they can blame foreigners and criminalise refugees who they thought would only be black and brown. At the same time they blame black people for not achieving while pretending structural and institutional racism doesn't exist, and also pretending there isn't a link between racism and classism.

I think you've both misinterpreted me (it's interesting how you both jumped to knife crime though).

I just mean most other races form "enclaves" that support eachother at a grassroots level. Some are regional, such as Korean people and New Malden. Others just have a more general ethos.

They create the jobs and community and don't even attempt to integrate with white culture. I don't think black people do this as much so we are not as insulated from the more hostile aspects of the society that we are in.

My point is mainly that there are a ton of social problems that predominantly affect black people and they have been legislated away as much as possible and they're still there. Appeals to white people are not going to help.

I've been steadily building a career in FS and when I have influence over hiring decisions I will 100% favour black people (in the same way that other races 100% favour people who remind them of their family, friends and peers) because we will not get anywhere by asking white people to "be kind".

You have made some interesting points @ToiletPoster. I think that there will always be issues for black people trying to live and bring up families here. I do feel as tough black people are just tolerated, and are seen in the main as not really belonging here. The reaction to George Floyd, and the amount of racism that generated, honestly I have never felt so bad, as I did then. I question why the hell did my family think it was a good idea to come here. I know why they did, why plenty do, but still...

I also think that the legacy of slavery is not to be discounted. The separation, and distrust that the slave masters fostered amongst the slaves, I believe lingers on.

Oh dear I couldn't help myself on another thread.

Anyway @ToiletPoster you seem young. Black people aren't a monolith we have lots of cultures and ethnic groups therefore enclaves like what other ethnicities have built don't work.

However what does work, and actually wasn't rare in the last century when lots of black people migrated to the UK, were black run businesses with all or mostly black staff. (I have older family members, some now deceased, who were involved when I was growing up.) Yes most of them were small businesses with no aims on expansion e.g. hairdressers, bakeries, barbers, restaurants. However those who wanted to increase their profits to sell to more than just black people had to employ or go into partnership with someone white, as white business people wouldn't give them the time of day. (Asian businessmen did/do this as well and also anglicise their names.) The recent most famous case I can remember is the brothers from Diversity saying their black dad had to tell their white mum what to say and agree to in meetings, as people wouldn't entertain doing business with a black man.

Also if you are at the stage of being involved in hiring people in your career, unless it is your own business, you will find there are gatekeepers who ensure you don't see all applicants details particularly at higher levels.