Can we have an Asian and ethnic minorities board please?

[KenAdams]

I thought we were included on the Black board but I've been told in no uncertain terms its not for us so could we have an Asian and ethnic minority board please? Global majority is also fine. No one is excluded, everyone can post on it but it will be easier to note those posts that have a particular cultural element to them.

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]@OhReallyThen
white people decided that for thousands of years those of us who were 'different colours' were sub human and treated us as such.

Quite an exaggeration there and not even remotely true. You don’t even know basic world history.[/quote]
It's not an exaggeration when it was my family who was killed in the famine caused by Churchill. It's not an exaggeration when every year around 911 people who look like me receive threats and are subjected to violence because of the colour of our skin. It's not an exaggeration when we were literally viewed as 3/5 of a person in recent history because we weren't white.

It's very true and I'm painfully aware of world history. It's the reason I and many other people who aren't white can't trace our families back beyond a few generations. And when we're being told that there's no racism and 'we're all human anyway' by people in a privileged position of never being looked at as subhuman because of their race it's not melodramatic to remind them of this.

Why? Read the thread, and how it repeatedly refers to us as “Asians”
If it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough for others.

I agree that is being referred to as 'Asians' is awful. It's racist othering and homogenising and I always try and point it out and can't wait for when the general population realise how racists it is and stop using it in common language.

However that is not an excuse to use 'Blacks'. This is also an incredibly racist term.

Rather than 'it's good enough for us so it's good enough for others' we should be using 'you rightly recognise that 'blacks' is racist so why do you think 'Asians' is ok?' - make people think and change their ways rather than dragging everyone down

@OhReallyThen even though I always say 'Asian people' the same as black or white, I didn't really realise that the word 'Asians' is just as bad as the word 'Blacks', as I always saw it as a geographical reference. Thanks for clarifying, and I'll personally pull people up in it from now on when I see or hear it.

I also support an AME board.

Going by previous comments, how about:

Indian Mumsnetters
Jewish Mumsnetters
Traveller/Gypsy/Romany Mumsnetters (or
Traveller
Gypsy
Romany
Mumsnetters)

for a start?

Oops. Sorry purple. I mistook you for a racist poster. Apologies!

PurpleHoodie, for Asian people, why only Indian MNetters? If that's the category, I am not included. I know many Asian nationalities are tiny minority on MN, but I hope we would be included on AME board if there will be one.

@pastandpresent

PurpleHoodie, for Asian people, why only Indian MNetters? If that's the category, I am not included. I know many Asian nationalities are tiny minority on MN, but I hope we would be included on AME board if there will be one.

You are more than welcome to an other Asian minorities section if you want. However multiple people have expressed a want for an Indian mumsnetters section. Indian people are the largest minority in the U.K. We experience many issues specific to being indian not just 'asian'. And many of us resent being homogenised as 'Asian' when we recognise that Asia is so vast and different that an Asian board wouldn't provide the specific kind of advice. You have every right to ask for a board you feel included in. But as Indian mumsnetters we have a right to ask for a section dedicated to us and there seems to be a want for it .

Yes, definitely, OhReallyThen. I have nothing against it at all, for Indian board, as I said before. I only responded to Purple because her suggestion only included Indian people as Asian.

Though, this started to sound similar to when Black MNetter was created. Black people and other AME. Now Indian people and other Asian minorities.

I think I'm out. Good luck with Indian board.

I think I'm out. Good luck with Indian board.
Same here, I'll just have to find other outlets as there will never be a group of families enough like ours on here.

Patricks! How could you - tut, tut

Other people have talked about having/requesting an Indian Mumsnetters board, and perhaps Jewish and Traveller Mumsnetters etc.

I personally think these are good ideas.

If other people want different boards, it's easy enough to request here.

The Black Mumsnetters board is still only days old and is running quite successfully.

To PP, White people don't need one. We do NOT have to deal with racist issues relating to the colour of our skin.

Please don’t speak for us all. You may not experience racism based on being white but many do. I don’t think we need a white people section though but we do experience racism.

Please don’t speak for us all. You may not experience racism based on being white but many do. I don’t think we need a white people section though but we do experience racism

We really, really don't need a white board.
What do you suggest we should talk about on there?
Can see it going to shit pretty quickly topic wise!

I agree that if the term "Blacks" is no longer acceptable, then the term "Asians" should also be challenged and acknowledged as offensive.

I support the idea of an Asian board - maybe we have sub-boards for sub-continent Asia, East Asia and South East Asia? Although realistically how far down the categorising do we want to go?

If we could only have one Asian board though, it would be good if it is inclusive and feels welcoming, so let's try not to jump down each other throats and decry each others experiences.

Quaagars Read my comment again. I said we don’t need our own section.

I said we don’t need our own section

OK, apologies, you did say that
Missed that bit
Your comment is exactly the same type as those who say we do need a white board though, as it's not fair, and how come we don't get one, we experience racism too!" type posts

Can we have an Indian mumsnetters board please www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/4039809-can-we-have-an-indian-mumsnetters-board-please

For anyone in support of the Indian mumsnetters board I have started a thread specifically to ask and hopefully gain support for it.

Quaagars No worries.

@Settleandcalm

OhReally lumping Asian together is wrong, I agree (mixed heritage kids), but then the same applies for black people, theRe are huge differences in culture and they shouldn’t be lumped by skin colour.

But apparently that’s ok.

Thank you. Was just going to say that.

What is "black" really? American? British? African which is the same as saying Asian, so which African culture: Kenyan? Nigerian? Liberian? They're all different.

The whole lumping thing is a mess.

@YouJustDoYou

I truly.do hate the Asian label. "Asia" encompasses so many different people. Its quite insulting to just label an entire swathe of people's "asian".

Yep I agree. Just like labelling a swath of people from different continents as one - 'Black' and expected to all have similar/same experience.

An AME board would include everything from us to Chinese people to Easter Europeans people and people from South America. It would just other us rather than actually giving us a place to talk about our own unique experience that come from being different minorities. Just like the label of 'BAME' does. There's all these talk of BAME issues, acceptance and awareness. All this does is means one group has just got a little more acceptance whilst the rest of us are still left on the outskirts but then we're told to celebrate because there's been BAME progress. We deserve to be recognised as different groups with different cultures, histories and needs.

Understandable. Just like I feel the 'black' term should really be called Black American/Black British so people know which countries are being referred to. Any other country can expressly name theirs when writing a post (Don't think there needs to be a separate board for that though).

I mean a post about an African country has been basically ignored on that board because it has nothing to do with the happenings in America/the UK. So it's clear what 'Black' means and lumping them together is just falsely padding the group to make it look like everyone is of the same mind and for each other.

I'm sure that won't happen though. There's more to gain in using the term.

Whilst everyone is individual, sometimes there are sufficient common experiences to merit a distinct board, even with the differences

True but when it comes to black (people of different continents...DIFFERENT CONTINENTS with different histories), it's mostly perceived/expected common experiences and the majority/loudest countries/culture win. Then start to speak for everyone else.

TBH if that could happen, then i think people of the same continent could easily share a board, then write countries as part of thread titles.