OK so the global protests and riots are NOT helping the course. Nicking trainers from a store and battering the store owners are feeding into the narrative that feeds the likes of Trump Supporters ( delete me if you are one BTW, I won’t be sorry to see you go!lol)
Many will be using this issue as an excuse to break out of lockdown. Others will see themselves as supporting an issue that they themselves have ignored for decades. There is still a global pandemic. Nothing has changed. I would love to attend a peaceful rally in support of my fellow Black and minority population. However, THERE IS A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. It will now spread worse than the bush fires of Australia..remember them? Cases will rise and deaths will be in their thousands as protesters infect each other and then return to their lockdown homes and clap the NHS on their doorstep..if that’s still a thing. Think about it, read about it, learn why it is still happening in 2020. I am happy to answer anything racism-related, I am an open book!
Its the subtle racism that cuts to the quick. The ‘jokes’ at our expense, the sniggering behind our back at something offensive. The Alf Garnet style attitude that’s alive and well in this country has to be seen as abhorrent and not funny.
My much-respected late FIL said to me once ‘Rachel, smile its a bit dark we can’t see you!’ I loved him and yet I should have called him out on it….in front of my children and my husband I kept quiet but cried inside.
The neighbor who called me a WOG and I called the police to show my kids it was totally unacceptable. High-level NHS director didn’t lose her job as I elected to caution and not an arrest. The red-faced windburned looking friend of the family who congratulated me on my tan?! Did I call him out, No, I spared his embarrassment? The old lady in the village shop who scowls at the sight of me clutches her granny bag under her armpit when drawing out her pension….Do I look like a fucking mugger to you?
Hundreds of incidences, too many to mention. Never called out on it… Not any more..I am 50 years of age and NOTHING has changed but now I am eccentric I will change my reaction…I will call out on it. I am done
Thanks for reading
An exhausted Black Sheep 😴