Black Lives Matter... in the UK

[OpiateOfTheMasses]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/3 ... s-answered

There have been a series of (admittedly fairly small, but still disruptive) Black Lives Matter protests across the UK today.

I have absolutely no issue with black and minority groups protesting racism in the UK and I really think there are fundamental issues that need to be resolved in America. But trying to conflate the issues minorities face in the UK (which are still serious) with the indiscriminate state-sponsored violence killing hundreds of black people every year in America just feels... wrong.

To put it into context, there have been 8 black deaths attributed to the police in the UK in the last 10 years. I realise the UK has a smaller population than the US, but there's no way the those stats can be compared in any way as being a similar issue to the US problem.

At best it seems naive to say the situations are directly comparable. At worst it seems opportunistic and is trying to capitalise on the awful situation in America to further their own agendas here.

Anyway - just thought I'd post this up. I'm sure I'll get torn apart for being insensitive/wrong/racist/a white privileged bastard.

[aels]

I don't know that they are suggesting they are directly comparable, just that they are points on the same continuum of white supremacy. I mean, the agenda that the British BLM movement is working towards is surely exactly the same as the stated aims of the US BLM movement. I don't think they're saying that black people in the UK are treated worse or equally as bad by the criminal justice system as black people in the US, but that black people in the UK are treated measurably worse than white people, which surely comes down to the same root cause: that black lives are not perceived to have equal value. I think that even if there was a movement for racial equality in the UK under a different name, people would still be drawing comparisons with BLM. It's inevitable, so you may as well become part of a global movement rather than starting your own movement which will make everyone think of BLM anyway. IDK, I don't feel comfortable as a white person validating/invalidating POC protest but I'd be interested to know what American BLM activists think.

[Cassius Clay]

^ What aels said

[OpiateOfTheMasses]

I'm not making any comment on the validity of their protest - I have no issue with anyone peacefully protesting about anything whether or not I agree with it and in this particular case I do agree with what they're protesting for.

The point is that their protest (and for that matter this is true of most protests anywhere in the world) has to resonate with the wider population - not just themselves. So by sitting under a banner which is defined - rightly or wrongly - as being to do with violence against black people when that isn't anything like the issue here that it is America then people aren't going to understand what their protest is about.

We see the news reports of unarmed/unresisting black men being shot by white cops in America all too often and everyone knows that's wrong. So when the "same" protesters go the streets of London or Manchester to complain that black guys are more likely to get "stopped and searched" - it doesn't really seem connected.

And to be frank - they're not even protesting the right thing. We've covered this in other threads. Young black men do commit more crimes than young white men in the UK, but not because they're genetically more criminal. It's because they're generally born into poorer neighbourhoods, with less investment, poorer educational standards, less prospects, etc...

So rather than demanding less "stop and search" demand more investment in poorer neighbourhoods and break the cycle.

And the white middle class folk in Sussex watching the news are meant to come that conclusion from "Black Lives Matter"? Or will they thing "our policemen aren't shooting anyone - what are they going on about?"...