was Charles dickens a racist please log in to view this image Charles Dickens museum defaced with graffiti calling the author 'racist' A former local councillor for the Green Party has admitted to carrying out the vandalism on the Charles Dickens museum in Kent
please log in to view this image #BlackLivesMatterUK @ukblm As a public prosecutor, Sir Kier Starmer was a cop in an expensive suit. While black people are now incarcerated at the same rate as African Americans, the prison population in Britain has almost doubled since the 1980s. This has affected all working class people in Britain. The expansion of police and prison power has not made our communities safer. We can no longer allow governments from any party to police or imprison away social problems. Neither can we allow former Prosecutors to tell us what our demands should be.
even the football commentary is racist now Groundbreaking report reveals racial bias in English football commentary Players with lighter skin more often praised for intelligence Power and pace referenced more often if player has darker skin Sachin Nakrani @SachinNakrani Mon 29 Jun 2020 22.30 BST Last modified on Mon 29 Jun 2020 23.43 BST Shares 360 please log in to view this image The study by the Danish research firm RunRepeat found black players are often praised for physical attributes rather than mental ones. Photograph: David Madison/Getty Images Racial bias is a clear and significant problem in English football commentary, according to a groundbreaking study that found players with lighter skin are regularly and overwhelmingly praised for intelligence, work ethic and quality compared with those with darker skin, who are reduced to physical and athletic attributes. The study has been carried out by RunRepeat, a Danish research firm, and is the first aimed at understanding whether the football media talks differently about players depending on their skin tone. More than 2,000 statements from commentary on 80 games across the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1 were analysed. please log in to view this image Troy Deeney urges social media firms and government to tackle racism Read more RunRepeat ratio-adjusted its numbers to account for the fact there were 1,361 comments about lighter-skinned players and 713 about darker-skinned players and found the former group more widely praised for intelligence (62.60%), hard work (60.40%) and quality (62.79%). Commentators are also 6.59 times more likely to talk about the power of a player if he has darker skin and 3.38 times more likely to reference his pace. The study also found that 63.33% of criticism from commentators in regards to the intelligence of a player is aimed at those with darker skin, while the figure for quality is 67.57%. RunRepeat’s findings are timely given the focus on racial discrimination and inequality generated by the Black Lives Matter movement and the study has received the backing of the Professional Footballers’ Association, which has called on the football media to be more considerate in how they speak about and analyse players in order to break longstanding and damaging stereotypes. Advertisement “To address the real impact of structural racism, we have to acknowledge and address racial bias,” the PFA’s equalities executive, Jason Lee, said. “This study shows an evident bias in how we describe the attributes of footballers based on their skin colour.” RunRepeat’s research took six months and centred on 20 games from each league in the 2019-20 season. Only English-language commentary was analysed in order to avoid errors caused by inaccurate translations and this was sourced from seven broadcasters: Sky Sports, BT Sport, FreeSports, beIN Sports, TSN, NBCSN and ESPN. The focus was on commentators and co‑commentators who speak as games are happening, and not on studio pundits. About 5% of the commentators and co-commentators were from a BAME background. please log in to view this image Sign up to the Media Briefing: news for the news-makers Read more In the commentary analysed by RunRepeat, 643 players were referenced and each was designated a skin-tone value between 1-20 based on those assigned in the database of Football Manager 2020, the latest version of the popular computer game, with 1-11 classified as “lighter skin tone” and 12-20 as “darker skin tone”. RunRepeat focused on skin tone because it felt focusing on race would lead to misidentification. A total of 2,074 commentary statements were collated and split across 11 categories, with the differences in praise, criticism and references to intelligence, quality, hard work, power and speed the most startling. As the report states: “Players with lighter skin tone should receive the same proportion of comments about, for example, their intelligence or their work ethic as players with darker skin tone. The fact this is not the case across a large sample size indicates there is bias in the way the media discuss players based on the colour of their skin.” The Guardian has seen a selection of the commentary statements collated and analysed and in isolation they appear harmless. For instance Sheffield United’s Billy Sharp is praised for how “cute and clever” he is, and Real Sociedad’s Alexander Isak is criticised for poor “decision taking”. But along with the piece of commentary that focuses on how “fit and strong” Real Madrid’s Ferland Mendy is, they harden the view of black athletes being less intelligent and hard‑working and able to succeed only because of their “God-given” physical and athletic attributes. That leads to racism, including the lack of opportunities black former players receive in coaching, management and at boardroom level. “Commentators help shape the perception we hold,” said Lee, the former Nottingham Forest, Charlton and Watford forward. “It’s important to consider how far-reaching those perceptions can be and how they impact footballers once they finish their playing career. “If a player has aspirations of becoming a coach or manager, is an unfair advantage given to players that commentators regularly refer to as intelligent and industrious, when those views appear to be a result of racial bias?” It will be intriguing to see how the football media, and broadcasters especially, react to the study. Sky Sports already holds sessions with its presenters, reporters and commentators in which the importance of the language they use to describe athletes from different backgrounds is discussed. In conjunction with the PFA, extra sessions have also been held in regards to the language staff use when specifically discussing any stories and issues concerning Black Lives Matter.
Thought this was a nice story I didn’t know of before. Not really politics per se but whatever. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53184615
This ****s getting real House prices fall by point one percent How much did they go up in the last 12 months
It seems if you look hard enough for racism, you will find it whether it exists or not. In a discussion with a Facebook friend about defunding the police, I asked my FB friend if he would of sent his fluffy civilian workforce to the fella in Glasgow with MH issues (Who ended up stabbing 3 people).....outraged my FB Friend bitterly said that if the attacker wasn’t white and was Muslim, then I would of accused him of carrying out a terrorist attack, not having MH issues and I was obviously (unknowingly) racist. After pointing out the gent concerned was a Sudanese asylum seeker with obvious MH issues, and then supplying a photo clearly showing the ethnicity of the man concerned........it’s all gone suddenly quiet from his end. Strange that.
Seems there’s more than a few in the football world who are now trying to distance themselves from the BLM movement and ideology.......any of our resident supporters on here thinking of doing the same ?
Nice story.....the man deserves a statue in his honour. Out of interest, have you ever heard of Walter Tull ? Another good story (dunno how to do a link)
The Premier League has said that its support for Black Lives Matter is not political. Of course it's not, it's about anti-racism. However, certain elements of the BLM movement are intent on capitalising on the groundswell of anti-racist sentiment following the death of George Floyd to push their more extreme political agenda and this is something that football would be right to distance itself from.
Indeed....and what I’ve been saying all along. So.....are the supporters of the BLM movement on here still vocal in their support ? Or are they just conveniently ignoring the bits they don’t believe in ?
It's perfectly possible to support the Labour Party while disagreeing with some of its members or policies. It's possible to support QPR but strongly disagree with the manager, or a player, or the owner on a decision or statement. It's possible to support the civil rights movement but condemn the black panthers. It's even possible to support the reunification of Ireland, but to strongly condemn the actions of the IRA. In your case, Staines, it's perfectly possible to support Brexit, but to disagree with some (perhaps even much) of what Vote.Leave argued for.
I agree it’s perfectly reasonable to agree with anti racism without supporting the BLM movement (as that’s firmly where I stand) Using your analogy, I could support the unification of Ireland while bitterly opposing the actions of the IRA.....and would find supporters of the IRA weird in their thinking, if they supported their aims but condemn their actions......and wore an IRA badge or salutes at a parade. You can’t have it both ways. Hope that makes sense
