THREAD: I am going to speak honestly here. Some people will agree, some people won’t, some people will be incapable of hearing a different view and unfollowing me.. but that’s okay.

There is discrimination against black people in the UK, and there’s a fair bit of it. (1/17)

I feel as though whilst my role has been a good one in providing an alternative view, I have not often enough highlighted instances of racism against black people and for that, people have felt hurt by it and felt that I’m not really about the cause.

The truth is that I am. (2)

I am just not for the promotion of things that are inherently harmful to us.

I personally think the right is equally to blame.

A neglect, mixed with some prejudice, mixed with a dismissiveness has led to an ideological vacuum, causing people to seek out extremes (BLM). (3)

I love black people.

I’ve cried so many times about the struggles we go through.

I feel as though my method is to uplift, but in doing that I haven’t acknowledged the tiredness or the anger.

So I will today.
(4)

1. There is discrimination against black people within the police.

That’s why when looking at stop and search stats, you see that there is an extremely small number of convictions compared to arrests.

Prejudice of young black men as drug dealers or criminals fosters this. (5)

Which has led to many young black men feeling as though the system is designed to tear them down and throw them in jail.

More needs to be done to hold officers that racially profile or use excessive force to account.

That is not to say all police officers are racist. (6)

It is also not to say that the majority of police aren’t brilliant heroes. However when some officers have quotas that they need to reach, sloppy policing and racial profiling can become the norm.

My personal experience with the police has largely been positive. (7)

But then again my experience with white people has been largely positive.

I recognise that this isn’t the same for everybody, especially those who are fully black or who have much darker skin than I do. (8)

2. The generational wealth gap between black and white ppl is partly to do with discrimination.

If we can accept that there was a time that black ppl were blocked from accessing wealth (no blacks, no dogs, no Irish), then we can accept that remnants of that will be alive. (9)

The right has done nothing to really address these generational problems.

The investment that is needed in these communities just hasn’t been there.

Instead they are shoved in ghastly tower blocks and council estates, fostering crime and drug dealing. (10)

That’s not to say that there is some personal responsibility to be had, but I do not accept for one moment the condition of black people has nothing at all to do with past and present discrimination. (11)

It’s way too easy for people to say ‘black people just love to play victim’. I’ve heard this line directed at me whenever I dare to point out that there IS racism.

But ppl know I do not see myself as a victim. So that cannot work with me. (12)

3. And finally, BAME is an insulting term precisely because black people and Asian people are not the same and do not have the same experiences.

In fact, a lot of Asian and Arab people discriminate against black people and are extremely racist towards them. (13)

So when we talk about diversity, simply rattling off a list of Asian people does not relate to me or my situation, because I am not Asian and our experiences are completely different. (14)

E.g. being racially profiled in an Asian shop for being black. An Indian lady locking her car door when I walk past.

These are all things I’ve experienced. (15)

4. Microaggressions do exist.

I’ve experienced it myself. People saying that they thought I was a ‘road girl from London’ (I thought you were from the ghetto), or being made to feel uncomfortable and fetishised in many situations where I am the only black person. (16)

That’s not to say that black people and white people do not live in harmony for the most part, because they do.

But it’s important that I recognise the pain and not dismiss it.

Thank-you for reading. (17/17)

I also want to add that class if a massive definer in our society.

I am privileged in the sense that I have received a good education in a middle class area, and carried that to when I went to a majority asian/black high school and then to college and then to university.