Is it my imagination or are there more people pretending to be Black and making bizarre or race baiting comments on MN at the moment?

[Socrateswasrightaboutvoting]

There have been some decidedly odd posts and comments recently. Black women are a not a monolith but there are often some common points of reference.

Didn't see that one at all @GretchenWienersHair however I'm just having a trawl through all the posts now and catching up.

I do find it fascinating how the visitors like to gather here.

I need to set a follow on for BMN so I can keep abreast and wade in when needed.

I wish I hadn't. Some are obvious, some a little bizarre like the poster on this thread who states they are Black and that they and their friends refer to Black people as 'Blacks'. Of course you did...in 1970's South Africa!

Yes, or the posters that ask for "examples" of racism. Funny that if a poster complains of misogyny, there are not a slew of posters suggesting that the OP is imagining it, or is being oversensitive, or demanding examples of said misogyny.🤔

I honestly don’t know what they think constitutes as “racism”. It’s like they expect you to have been spat at and called unspeakable racial slurs in order to have actually experienced racism. Otherwise it’s just “people being unkind” 🙄

That is part of the problem@GretchenWienersHair .They do not understand that racism can be overt, ie being called racial names etc, and covert, ie treating someone differently (often poorly) based on the colour of a person's skin. We know all of this, of course, but instead of listening to Black women, and Poc, and trying to learn, they instead insert their own life experiences, into situations that we are talking about, which the majority of the time, does nothing but minimizes, and in turn silences BW, as they are fed up, of fighting to be heard, above the contant dismissals, and denials of their very real, everyday life experiences. It is this arrogance that I find very hard to deal with. Their behaviour perpetuates, and adds to the constant weight that Black people carry.

@LadyKenya I totally agree. I’m actually past the point of caring if someone I come across is racist or not (in a non-threatening environment, at least. Like work colleagues, for example. Or posters on Mumsnet 😂.) I just wish they’d stop pretending they’re not and acting like they don’t know what “covert racism” is. Just own it, hate me from afar and let us all get on with our day in peace!

If only they would allow us to get on with our day in peace@GretchenWienersHair . Even in my own home, it is not always easy to avoid sometimes, for instance seeing something on tv ect. Even being on MN it is hard to avoid. I now stay clear away from the threads about H&M, Refugees, Is this racist? I am not sure, threads! All vehicles for racist to stick their boot in. Even this is not a safe space!

I hid all the RF threads shortly after joining MN as, I don't actually care for them but anything with Megan in I found myself being drawn out.
There are a couple others I've been interested to see how they pan out including the one about the young man who is now in jail in Dubai.
Interestingly there was one where a poster was complaining about her colleague who had got stuck on holiday when the hurricanes hit. The tone of the OP allowed other posters (I assume mostly non black) to see, and the thinly veiled racism that was implicit throughout the posts.

I find it so hard to know if someone is black or not through their comment - so I may have missed this. But I’d say this platform isn’t the most open to other experiences and races. I have posted once and mentioned race and everyone was quick to talk about the racism part when that was about 1% of the story.

I’ve come to the conclusion that people outside my race seem to refuse to understand when they are dismissing race related discrimination (I say this because as another PP pointed out - other forms of discrimination are seen and often commented on) - and to this day I cannot put into words how one knows if a micro aggression or comment or even the vibe I’m getting it linked to a discrimination that would have never happened if I wasn’t black. So I refuse to explain myself.

I try not to assume what or who someone is as we, as black people, come with different personalities, upbringing etc - and different people influence us.

I do find that MN does not always feel like the safest place to talk about race related stuff though - I’m not surprised if that’s increased as there are plenty of ignorant comments.

I notice both.

1. A LOT of digital blackface. But as you say they end up saying something that clearly gives them away. I recall a PP pretending to be a black woman but kept referring to “women and black people”. As if somebody cannot be both a woman and black. A black woman is not going to do that.

2. To a lesser extent false accusations of digital black face because a not insignificant number of black people still struggle to accept that black people are not a monolith and can have different views on certain topics.

You're right there
White person does a crime shame on him
Black person does a crime shame about the whole race

I've always honestly thought that because the tory party is in such bad shape Kemi Badenoch was given the job whilst they muddled through to something/someone better?
A black AND female gatekeeper that proves they're NONE of the awful things I myself personally feel they really are and have proven on record to be; remembering those thatcherite days who i consider the granny to be of how things are now
But no one should be fooled, still the nazi party eh mr jenrick?

You mean 'unkind' like in pro apartheid South Africa
Or Hitler being 'unkind' to Jews?