Are we all white racists?

I was seven when my dad brought home a workmate - he was black and in north Wales we’d never seen a black man before on (limited) telly or in real life. It never occurred to me that it was strange, until he refused to go to the Legion with my dad for a pint although they’d both served.

He assumed it would cause trouble and my dad, the local hard man, assured him he’d be fine.....I know not to be racist and anyone who assumes I am because I’m white couldn’t be more wrong.

Less problems in those cities mentioned---strange, that.

EllanVannin

No person of colour gets neglected in my local maternity hospital. Our SCBU unit is one of the best in the country.

Why have so many died in London with coronavirus ??

You can’t possibly know that with certainty

Glasgow--Birmingham and Liverpool have taken in the most immigrants and asylum seekers. No mention of London, so what have they all got to grouse about ? ! Yet their rallies/protests are the nastiest.

No person of colour gets neglected in my local maternity hospital. Our SCBU unit is one of the best in the country.

Why have so many died in London with coronavirus ??

I’m sure that the majority on here are not racist.
Some will be.
Why is it assumed that all racists are white?

I wasn't suggesting for a minute that you are racist, Missfoodlove, just think it would be better if the police and others didn't make those assumptions, then he wouldn't have to take it on the chin.

Ilovecheese, I have been wrongfully accused of racism on another thread so I’m very wary of what I write.

My SIL openly admits that when he pulls up in his car in the rural idyll he and my daughter now live the neighbours must think “ the drugs have arrived”

He is just accepting, the Police are respectful once his details check out.
He is aware that if the day comes and his car is stolen then he will be happy for the Police to have pulled someone over.

If so, can you please explain the anger that's been evident during the recent demonstrations over the US police killing?

The anger comes partly from deep seated issues around the sanitised version of history that is presented for public view...the Colston statue is a perfect example of that!! The way the Empire is presented in the History Curriculum. The ignoring of different racial groups contribution to huge areas of our cultural development. For example:

Mary Prince, Phyllis Wheatley, Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano."

Have you ever heard of any of them? They were very prominent and influential slave trade abolitionists...whose work enabled the eventual Wilberforce Abolitionist Bill. WHY don't we know about them? Why isn't that part of the public, taught "Abolition of Slave Trade" history

The murder of George Floyd has acted a s a catalyst for an anger that has been simmering because of the experiences of so many in different situations. The bloke who gets stopped when walking out of Sainsburys with a bag of spinach for his Gran! (wearing a grey v neck jumper and a pair of jeans. Very suspicious eh!!) The fact that if you have an "ethnic sounding" name your chances of being shortlisted/interviewed for a job are statistically massively reduced compared to someone with a "white sounding" name despite being equally qualified and experienced! The fact that people have to "take it on the chin when they are driving their own "nice" car, wearing a "nice suit" ...but they "happen to be black" …

The point is, the justifiable anger over the murder of George Floyd has served as a catalyst for so many areas of society where experiences link to colour. The "Black Lives Matter" movement is not about saying that other lives DON'T matter. It is about saying that Black Lives Matter just as much as all other lives....

I think any racial prejudice is partly caused by the attitudes of people who have come to live in this country. The whole of Europe, not just Britain, has opened its arms to people from other countries, giving them the opportunity to make better lives for themselves. Yet, whatever we do, it is never enough.

Anniebach

Again, are black pregnant women neglected by the NHS ?

www.aims.org.uk/journal/item/mbrrace-bame

Missfoodlove I know that you are proud of your son in law for taking things on the chin but wouldn't it be better if he didn't have to.
Anniebach No one is accusing the NHS of neglect, just asking that the greater risk of mortality is acknowledged.

Again, are black pregnant women neglected by the NHS ?

I'm white, but I understand the demonstrations. I think we all possess an inbuilt and natural distrust of things and people who are different. No matter how much we may protest that we are not racist sometimes our actions or reactions may seem so. We need to be constantly examining our motives and actions. We need to inform outrselves about the inequalities for BAME people. Things like the maternity mortality rate which is so much higher, the justice system which convicts more and gives harsher sentences and the education system.
And we should understand the terrible legacy of slavery, how it funded our society and the profits made. It also helps to recognise that our Empire was a system of exploitation and not the philanthropic process it has been presented as.
And even when you try to understand you have to recognise that you do not live your life with such discrimination.

Oh I give up!
I try not to upset people, and of course I understand the knee on neck situation ............. and OK demonstrate about it, but WHY turn it into a riot about long ago slavery?
Personal attacks on me are not helpful.

I agree Niobe I think on the whole we are fairly moderate and most of us believe in fairness.

There is racism here but not nearly as much as in USA.

Posted too early. I must add that the British as a rule are not racist but I am aware that as an Asian I probably have very different experiences and opportunities than those of Afro Caribbean people.

I’m Asian by birth and British by nationality and find the OP puzzling. As Riverwalk said which bit of knee on the back of the neck leading to death don’t you get?

Perhaps you ‘got’ the case of the father and son who hunted down and killed the black jogger in their neighbourhood or the dog walker phoning the police in hysterics because a birdwatcher asked her politely to put her dog on a lead or the black middle aged couple in Ipswich who were asked for ID as they were driving a car? Of course being black they must have been up to no good even though they were outside their own house and had committed no traffic violation.

I sincerely hope not.

I am white, my son in law isn’t!

He believes that we are not a racist country, he was born in the Middle East but educated predominantly in the U.K through the state system, he got a degree from a US university and a masters here.

He was from a single parent family and raised on a London council estate, no silver spoon!!

He is now in the top 5% of earners in the U.K.

His view is that if we were so racist he would not have become as successful.

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

The opportunities he was given were the same as most of his friends growing up, many of them got into gangs and involved with crime.

He is against the current protests.

What bit of knee on the back of a neck that ended in death don't you understand?