Should MN have a People of Color Section?

[KickAssAngel]

Firstly: I am deeply ashamed that it has taken me 13 years to even think of this.
Second: My apologies if there is such a thing but I looked under the Talk headings and couldn't see one.

Like most of mainstream UK/Westernized culture there are certain POV or voices on MN which are more dominant. In an attempt to create a bit of space for people who somehow don't fit that kind of profile, MN has a few areas for those people. Cat lovers have the litter tray, there's a special needs area, and feminism topics (and others). I see those areas as places for people who are particularly interested in those things as being able to post there more specifically about their lives, hopefully (although not always) without being railroaded and drowned out by people who don't share those experiences.

BUT - I see nothing that provides people of color with a space.

I wouldn't want to invade there, but as someone who is white, and very aware that I pretty much just get the 'white story' from all areas of society, including MN, is this something that should be established?

I would see the potential benefits as 1. People who might want to share their experiences with others who would more immediately understand/agree with them could do so, and 2. I would want to lurk and hear the 'voices' of POC in order to drown out the white dominance I've grown up with.

I really hope I have raised this in a sensitive and appropriate way. I was prompted by a couple of things - one thread here about why women may not want men joining in a lot, which got taken over by a load of men joining in - and also, in RL, when a white friend shared some problems she's had as the partner of an African American, which really shocked me. I realized after that story that I have NO idea just what it is like to live with everyday racism, and then noticed how there isn't a space for that discussion on MN.

Would posters want this, or is MN so 'white' that other forums are being used instead?

ComeJoin - It's sad because mansplaining is a well-known phenomenon and women are very aware as to how it works, yet there seems to be this ignorance with regards to race and you see it on here all the time.

In addition, is the modern attitude that everything must somehow relate to you personally, otherwise it isn't important/you don't have to care about it.

Sorry OP, but that really is a ridiculous idea. I'm mixed race, would you be applying the one drop rule?

How very fucking patronising.

Surely the suggestion would be just like the step parenting or lone parenting or SEN or Scotsnet boards. When you want to talk about Bake Off or frocks or Guinea pigs or lemon drizzle cake recipes or the appalling Bridezilla behaviour of your SIL then you post in the normal place as usual. But if you think that the question you want to pose will have a dimension which will be better understood by people who know where you're coming from then you post on a special identity board. I find it hard to believe that people have a problem with this fairly simple concept.

Whether it's actually desirable though I dunno. BME covers such a huge cultural range in the UK that such a board might still struggle to find a quorum of members who understand a particular poster's background - but maybe MNHQ might like to canvass opinion.

If it helps in the Clinique make up range I'm foundation colour 7. Would we number it? Or have like Pantone colour headings?

What a fab idea....I'm blue and my husband is green...can we have our own corner pls? ...why not? You can't prove what colour I am.. And even if you could.what difference does it make.....so the award for the worst idea on mumsnet goes to..kickass

Farrow & Ball have a nice, descriptive range of colours. I'm vying for Elephant Breath.

Clunch is mine. Sounds a bit too much like clunge for my liking

I think MN could have a Racism Issues board board - if there was enough demand.

That's not the same as a People of Colour board though.

Racism Issues is a topic. An area of interest and debate. Like Feminism, or the Litter Tray.

People of Colour is a segment of society. Not an interest.

I think you have the germ of an idea OP (and are being a bit unfairly hounded) but think it through a bit more.

helmet, I can't tell if you're kidding.

Racism issues - yes, but it's good if they're not on a special board e.g the current thread about Driving While Black. That way more people would read about them.

i know feminism has its own board but some of that does get very academic.

This is beginning to read like "colour blind bingo"
There is only one race - the human race! Check!
Skin colour doesn't matter! Check!
Everyone has a colour! Check!
Being called "whitey" is racist! Check!
I don't care if people are blue or green! Check!

I am White (not entirely British but nobody would tell if they met or saw me). One of my DCs is mixed race and I'm on a few Facebook groups for those involved in transracial adoptions. The UK one uses BME and also "ethnicity" rather than "race", generally, as the default term. The US one uses POC. However, the UK one is not particularly aimed at families with a child of a different ethnicity, but who appears to be the same race as, their adoptive parents.

We do actually have a "multi-cultural families" topic but it's mainly around mixed marriages, issues to do with DCs (especially "why is my DC having a hard time now I've left their black DF and am living back in my rural whiter than white village and why shouldn't I leave their hair free all the time").

It's not very active but it does manage to have separate discussions around "what do do about my Muslim MIL" versus "where to find Black hair products in Devon", for example. No need for a "Muslim Multicultural Families" topic and a "Black Multicultural families" topic.

In general, if someone posts on a feminist topic on the main boards, they get a lot of "you're being too sensitive". I recall a thread by someone who is BBC who posted on the main boards and was also told this. You also get this on the Feminism topic but less so and posters are reminded it's supposed to be a safe space.

Though it's not that active, I like the Multicultural Families topic and would like a space like this, though as a white mum I'd probably mainly listen though it would be nice to be able to ask things too.

If you are someone from a minority ethnic community but feel that this kind of thing is irrelevant/you don't want to be pigeonholed, then I don't quite understand why you'd object to its existence, as it's not going to be the only place BME people are allowed to post, is it? Just like Feminist Chat isn't the only place, er, women are allowed to post on MN, and the Special Needs boards aren't the only place adults with disabilities or parents of children with special needs are allowed to post.

helmet are you for real?

Lorelei I wouldn't mind seeing and (joining in) the academic deconstruction of everyday topics affecting BME people somewhere, for example, "The Steven Lawrence murder, still a big deal? Discuss.

I've learnt a lot from the feminist boards and would like to see an equivalent BME board.

They're not my thoughts, no- but it's clear with all this hilarity and guffawing at the idea of minority racial identity and experience that it's not miles away from what posters are getting out.

Helmet - I have reported your post. How can you be so dismissive? I think that is a disgusting post

Helmet, is it?

Bloody hell, I'm so glad I don't have kids

What, like a ghetto?

I think it is - all this stream of: 'Ooh, I'm left-handed, I'm freckly, I'm Cornish, I've got one tit bigger than the other' shit. What do you think they're actually trying to say?

Yeah, maybe report it though. Clearly, when it's among all the other twatty posts, the fact that it was a piss-take was not clear enough.

Helmet "What do you think they're actually trying to say? "

The same as I'm trying to say, I don't care about skin colour. Does that make me a bad person?

You think?

Well, there's a difference between I don't care about skin colour and I don't care about skin colour AND I refuse to accept there are any inequalities/discrimination based on colour. And in fact, I find the very idea hilarious!

I would say...a lot of posts fall in the later camp.

Salem said it way better than I have. Pretending you are oppressed for being left handed in a jokey way of minimising racism makes someone the worst kind of cunt, IMO.

But hey, they might be ginger! In which case, they know all about oppression!

It doesn't read as 'a piss take' to me Helmet

If it was meant in an ironic way, then I apologise

It was meant to be ironic, but I appreciate it didn't work.

I will ask for it to be deleted because I don't want the casual reader to put me on their spreadsheets as the kind of person who says, 'Works both ways, and 'ooh, I'm oppressed because I'm left handed' etc.

I don't care about skin colour. Does that make me a bad person? no it just makes you ignorant.

I do care about skin colour (and race) My skin colour affects how people respond to me in various different contexts. Occasionally, I feel like having a rant about it, or want to canvass some opinions from people who may be in the same boat.

helmet I reported your post. But I get what you're trying to say.

Helmet - I read your post as a piss take as sadly it's what I've heard in RL by people who should really know better. 'People are murdered every day - they keep going on about Stephen Lawrence; was his life more important than a white kid just because he wasn't? Why so much focus?'.

Why black history month? Why music of black origin awards? That's discriminatory isn't it? We don't have white history month. EVERY month is white history month you idiot!.

And yes; the 'I don't see skin colour, we're all members of the human race'. A) you do see skin colour; everyone does and everyone including me holds some unconcious beliefs about race whether positive or negative. It's a bit like saying 'I don't see gender' - of course you do, there's no possible way you don't unless you were brought up in a lab with no contact with the rest of the world and all its messages.

B) Just because you don't conciously see a difference between races - millions of people do and the inequalities can be evidenced repeatedly.

The fact that you think it doesn't matter doesn't make you a bad person - just spectacularly naive.