Are we all white racists?

Rosenoir, I think that was what Patrick Hutchinson said when he was interviewed after rescuing an injured white man.

He is absolutely right.

It is not about personal judgement by colour.

I think what happened in the US was utterly appalling and like has been mentioned by others, it was "The straw that broke the camel's back". Hence the riots. In the US I am sure that racism is alive and well, and condoned by that joke of a President they have. The UK is a very different place in my opinion and although there are undoubtedly pockets of racism here, especially amongst the older generation like my dad, it is nothing like the US. I judge people on their behaviour, not their class, colour or creed. Sadly, I think a lot of the public have seen rioters in the US looting shops, and this will undoubtedly make them less inclined to sympathise with their cause. Riot by all means, but don't use it as an excuse to loot.

I think we have to separate the looters from the protesters. They're NOT protesters, they're opportunists who use the situation to commit criminal acts. A totally different group.

“The present prosperity of the UK and America is built upon the enslavement of West Africans.“

That’s not true. Plantations ceased to be profitable long before slavery was ended, prosperity of developed nations has its roots in the industrial revolution from the 1850s onwards. Steam power, railroads shipbuilding, Britain supplying the colonies with technology to improve infrastructure which in turn fed and supplied the UK with raw materials.

Some would call that exploitation, maybe so but it was not slavery, rivalry between nations caused 2 World wars in which countless millions died, colonial rule ended quickly in the 1960s. Have former colonies thrived?, in most cases no because investment was taken away, our prosperity lies in the exploitation of developing nations now, not 200 yrs ago.

Madgran I agree about all those you have listed. It isn't only restricted to prejudice about race. I think that Alexis Soyer should have a statue and people should learn about him in school (I think some do now when learning about F.Nightingale and M.Seacole). I am sure that he was written out of British history because he was French and lower class.

Anneishere I have watched some of her YouTube videos and she is very good. She does one about maps which show Greenland as bigger than South America - and are still used in American schools.

Jaycee, Really! Lower class!
The use of the term lower class takes us back decades.

Mary Seacole was a British Army Officers daughter and was held in high regard by her fellow Jamaicans and British counterparts.

We have a sanitised History Curriculum that ignores the whole story

We have significant data that shows that certain groups are disadvantaged. Its easy to say that that is their fault. Research shows it is not!

It just isn't about individual racism; it isn't about judging by colour or creed; it is so much bigger than that

We do. There is a call to have Britains REAL colonial history taught in schools instead of the 'we gave them railways' version we currently have.

Gagajo Good! We need the good, the bad and the ugly of outd History ie the full picture. And we need to understand some history of other nations so that we understand that they were not just waiting to be rescued/developed/ saved!!

I don’t think history is taught that way now GagaJo, at least not at DGDs school. She is fully aware of the bad bits of our Empire colonisation days. She also knows that racism isn’t just a ‘white disease’ as is projected in the media here. That slaves were bought by white people, but that they were already slaves. I think she has an excellent history teacher.

I've taught history (unwillingly - I trained as an English teacher) and the curriculum doesn't have a focus on the British role in the slave trade. I think pre-IGCSE the teacher has more choice. If the holocaust is taught in graphic detail, we should do the same thing with our role in India, Africa and the slave trade.

Even when I was uni (which admittedly was pre-dinosaur!) the only focus on slavery from an economic perspective.

Missfoodlove Jaycee wasn't referring to Mary Seacole (who, although coming from a middle/upper middle class background has only relatively recently been acknowledged for the work during the Crimean war).

She was talking about Alexis Soyer and her use of the term"lower class" was to suggest that, had he been part of the "upper class", his contribution would also have been more widely known about.

I'm rather sorry to say I had never heard of him until Jaycee mentioned him and, having now read something about what he did, I agree that he should be better known.

To get public recognition and honour, it certainly helps to be part of the upper or ruling classes. Having said that, such class discrimination should not be used to detract from the racism that is experienced by black people, whatever their class. There was a black professor on television a few weeks ago who recounted a couple of incidents where it had automatically been assumed he could not possibly be the guest speaker at a professional dinner. A black female MP has in the past been told to use the cleaner's lift because it was automatically assumed that she could not possibly be an MP.

"He was often pulled over by the Met Police as he was “ of colour” driving an expensive car, he takes it on the chin"

O M F G ..

I don’t believe Dawn Butler , Diane Abbott and Oona King were MP’s when she was elected plus Bernie Grant and Paul
Boateng

an irrational class system
That's rather a prejudiced view in itself. Many of the BAME people I have met have been and are what I would term 'middle class'(unlike me who was brought up working class).

Mary Seacole was 'middle class' too if we are going to refer to a class system as a reason for prejudice.

I’m afraid I don’t understand. Black women have greater mortality during childcare as trisher says, I don’t know the stats unfortunately, but I don’t think racism contributes to this. All women in the UK are eligible for NHS care during their pregnancy and birth. Are black women more likely to be diabetic? A diabetic is high risk during pregnancy. Are there other health issues that would contribute to make black women more high risk? Is it living conditions or number of births?
I don’t understand why black women are more high risk and would genuinely like anyone who has the knowledge to explain to me. Have any studies been done about this, as I feel this should have happened. There must be a reason, but what is it?

Ah, just seen summerlove’s link. So it seems to be mainly thrombosis. And high levels of suicide after the birth. Still don’t know why? Why more thrombosis? Why higher levels of suicide? Those are reasons but not why these happen. Must be more to it I feel.

maddyone, being treated as less than- They have access to health care but are not treated the same as white people-

As in they don't receive the same "care" from the staff-

So medical staff treat black pregnant women differently to white pregnant women ?

I find that very difficult to believe, to be quite honest.

There will be other reasons, social, health, but no, I don’t believe that staff treat black women differently.

Perhaps you could give us some evidence, rather than your opinion.