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#GeorgeFloyd (Thread)
When you're a big lad with plenty of tattoos on show, people treat you with suspicion. When people find out you're ex-Army, assumptions are made about your political beliefs. People think you won't like Muslims. People form opinions of us all the time.
When you're a big lad with plenty of tattoos on show, people treat you with suspicion. When people find out you're ex-Army, assumptions are made about your political beliefs. People think you won't like Muslims. People form opinions of us all the time.
(2) Growing up on "the worst council estate in town" (mate who is a PC), with a brother that's done time, on more than one occasion, and you're the son of immigrants to the UK (no dogs, no blacks, no Irish), have had FSM and 5 ACEs, you tick lots of disadvantage boxes.
(3) We did a 'privilege walk' during ITT. Some weren't happy a bloke like me was in the bottom 3rd. I sat & listened to people like @Mx_THunter & @GEO_MissOrotayo talk - both very different experiences.
I will always have three things going for me.
I will always have three things going for me.
(4) I am straight - Although @Mx_THunter will always tell me I'm an ally, and part of the LGBT+ community. People don't know my sexuality unless I tell them.
(5) I'm a man - one that can be a bit larger than life. I'm not a small fella, & I'm told can be intimidating - I kept my beard because I was told I looked 'softer' with it. I've done what I can to be more Hagrid. Those that know me, know I'm a teddy bear, and a Hufflepuff.
(6) If I catch the train into London in shorts, Slayer t-shirt, with tatts out, people move out of my way. No one asks to sit next to me. When kids smile at me & I smile back, mums pull their kids closer (no exaggeration).
(7) I am white.
When I put on a suit, people ask to sit next to me, mums with kids ask for directions, & if I'm standing, I have been asked to sit in 1st Class.
Every disadvantage I have ever had becomes invisible as soon as a put on a suit. It is that simple.
When I put on a suit, people ask to sit next to me, mums with kids ask for directions, & if I'm standing, I have been asked to sit in 1st Class.
Every disadvantage I have ever had becomes invisible as soon as a put on a suit. It is that simple.
(8) This *is* the very definition of 'white privilege'. I've mates who have been stopped and searched, and I've not. My mate @GEO_MissOrotayo, for whom I have so much love & respect comments on this thread that she feels "not good enough" - it is wrong - she's an amazing human.
(9) I 100% agree "All lives matter" - but to believe this, you have to honestly acknowledge that no one has put a pipe bomb in your pub because those who drink there are LGBT+.
(10) "All lives matter" because BLACK LIVES MATTER - and until you acknowledge that the fact you are white means you *do* have an easier ride in society, you can't claim that "all lives matter".
I have seen how mates have been treated differently, just because they are black.
I have seen how mates have been treated differently, just because they are black.
(11) I've done this privilege walk twice. Both times, some with privileges only look at those who are in front of them. They only view it from their point of disadvantage. Both times, it has been members of the LGBT+ & BAME community that have shown solidarity with me.
(12) They stuck up for me when others demanded to know why I was there. For what it is worth, I've got your backs - just as I have done in the past. Because all I need to do is wear a f***ing suit to blend in.
(13) Remember names like George Floyd, Christopher Alder, and Stephen Lawrence. Three different deaths - one reason at the heart of them.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
