She only likes diversity when it suits her own agenda.
Lily Pebbles #5 Baby Greige turns one in age; but don't be silly, it's all about Lily!
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Oh, she got torn to shreds on her GG thread for this. It was tokenism, plain as day. She came back with some story that the woman was a childhood friend.
The day of her book cover photoshoot she borrowed the hand of a fellow blogger. Come to think of it, the cover is awful and so is the book.
Quick question (and I am not trying to protect Lily, I am just trying to understand).
Lily is British and the majority of her followers will be British, and, most likely, white. And of course BAME in the UK experience racism, but the situation in UK is quite different from the situation in the US. It is of course bad that there is not a very big number of BAME students attending Oxbridge, but it is not as bad as getting killed by a police officer just because of your skin colour.
My question is why do you expect Lily, Anna or any other British influencers talk about Black Lives Matter if it doesn’t impact the majority of their followers? Would you expect let’s say a Polish influencer talk about BLM, considering that Poland (from what I know) doesn’t have a colonial history, nor did they have black people as slaves.
I am sorry if I am being ignorant, I am just trying to understand. I am Russian, and we have a very multinational country. We did have slavery till 1861 (just like US), but it was the nobility enslaving the peasants from the same country. There is some racism (and it is horrible, of course), but it was never as bad as the US situation. In my school there were quite a few Asian kids, for example, and they were treated exactly like other kids.
Sorry if there are any mistakes, English is not my first language.
Lily is British and the majority of her followers will be British, and, most likely, white. And of course BAME in the UK experience racism, but the situation in UK is quite different from the situation in the US. It is of course bad that there is not a very big number of BAME students attending Oxbridge, but it is not as bad as getting killed by a police officer just because of your skin colour.
My question is why do you expect Lily, Anna or any other British influencers talk about Black Lives Matter if it doesn’t impact the majority of their followers? Would you expect let’s say a Polish influencer talk about BLM, considering that Poland (from what I know) doesn’t have a colonial history, nor did they have black people as slaves.
I am sorry if I am being ignorant, I am just trying to understand. I am Russian, and we have a very multinational country. We did have slavery till 1861 (just like US), but it was the nobility enslaving the peasants from the same country. There is some racism (and it is horrible, of course), but it was never as bad as the US situation. In my school there were quite a few Asian kids, for example, and they were treated exactly like other kids.
Sorry if there are any mistakes, English is not my first language.
Hey
haha childhood friend that she never bothered to follow on insta haha. She probably think she gave free publicity to her friend by letting to feature her hand on her cover
Racism is definitely different here than in the USA and is what I would say is less overt. The brits are great at hiding hatred behind layers of politeness but I think the best way I have seen described why people across the world feel this pain is by sidemanallday.
I think there are more eloquent people here that can explain. I will encourage you to watch Little Fire everywhere on Amazon prime with touches race and privilege, also very entertaining
She's trash.
Also on her blog reveal post that you linked she has named her "fellow blogger pal" as Kristabelle but on her own blog she is Kristabel... did Lily not even manage to spell the name correctly of such a "good friend" of hers?
I guess I wouldn’t be able to fully understand it, because although I am white, as a Russian you don’t experience a lot of the privileges thata British person may have. I do have it better than BAME, but I have been harassed on the streets many times since moving to UK. I had to get of trains and buses after people would harass me for talking on the phone to my mum in Russian. When I had to get a visa sorted in the Home Office in Croydon, the machines didn’t work on me because my skin was “too pale”. I have had people saying to me that my face looks weird, that I shouldn’t be here, that I and other people like me should die (that was after the Skripal poisoning).I think there are more eloquent people here that can explain. I will encourage you to watch Little Fire everywhere on Amazon prime with touches race and privilege, also very entertaining
I have seen the tv show, and I guess the difference is that I was brought up to not see race, but just see a person.
I guess then my question is that why BLM is more important than anything else? No one blamed Lily for not talking about the Uyghurs in China, or the killing of gay people in Chechnya, or any of the other matters like this one?
When I saw her post about running it reminded me of the time when I was harassed near Charing Cross station by a white Englishman. I didn’t think she was referring to black people or Asian people, or “insert race/nation here” people, for me she was just talking about the safety of a particular street. Charing Cross isn’t necessarily black/Asian area, but I don’t feel safe there.
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I think this is a fair question to ask. For me, I don’t expect anyone to speak on issues necessarily. For example if someone chooses to run their insta a purely as fashion and beauty account and never speak on anything else or show their opinions I can kind of accept that.
the problem is some influencers have chosen to speak out on Australian bushfires, environmental issues, feminism, Covid-19 etc. So then when a racist incident happens it almost becomes incumbent on them to speak out (as otherwise why speak out on selected issues but not racism?). Some of them run their account very personally and bring their own personal opinions into it so again, they become under pressure to speak their opinions on current events. in my view, you cannot have it both ways as in, grow an audience based on being real and voicing opinions on current affairs but then clam up on racism.
On one to one basis few people are outright racist. I guess BLM is more focused on the systemic racism. Like black people being stopped more by the police, mistreated by the police, like black people finding it hard to get into certain jobs (like barristers) because white people tend to hire white people. Like black footballers experiencing monkey chants and name calling by rival fans. I think the racism issues in the USA resonate more with the U.K. because there are similarities here with some of the issues. I agree there is some hypocrisy about influencers not being expected to talk about Uyghurs or Rohyinga or Syria but I imagine it’s because of less cultural links to these areas. Not saying that’s right by the way, just my views on the reasons why.
I don’t think it is more important than the mistreatment of other races. Caring about BLM after the horrific killing of George Floyd is just more fresh. Caring about BLM doesn’t mean you don’t care about those other things. And tbh I think influencers should be vocal about world issues, they should do better. On top of all of that Britain had the biggest role in the Atlantic Slave Trade. We brought slaves to the Americas and we should be aware of our history in that way. We are not removed from this.
I quite personally am sick of people comparing racism in different countries. Russia and Poland are both very racist countries, colonial past or not. Please do you research and find out about how ethnic minorities are treated in these countries. Influencers are being asked to acknowledge their privilege and stand up to injustice. And also , it is lazy to assume that only countries with a colonial past have racism. In addition, there is police brutality also in the uk - again, do your research. And if you haven’t experienced racism which you haven’t because you are white , who Are you talk about the experiences of those that have ? Im sure those Asian kids you went to school with would tell you that they were not treated exactly the same.
I defer to this forum's Black contributors to answer this if they are not too tired of explaining.
Systemic racism in the US is exactly that - systemic. It has been built into America's political, social, educational, economic etc. systems that exist and there has been little done to correct that. Laws have not been changed, or are being exploited to benefit white people more. For example, voting. The US has a huge history of redefining voting districts ("redistricting") to further political goals by drawing boundaries to protect incumbents and reduce competition, rather than to ensure equal voting power and fair representation. Another example, Trump trying to do away with the US Postal Service. Many Americans have to vote by mail because they don't have transportation or might not be physically able to get to a polling station. By doing away with the USPS, he's basically guaranteeing millions of Americans won't be able to vote. And what demographic are these Americans? Predominately poor and not white.
Saying you don't see race is white privilege - your skin color has probably never prevented you from getting a job or receiving adequate healthcare. You have probably never been stopped and frisked on the street for no reason and the list goes on. You can go onto any fashion site and see yourself represented. Just because you yourself have been the victim of harassment, the color of your skin has allowed to feel comfortable and secure in your day-to-day life.
If conventional influencers were more vocal about the massive human rights issues in the apparel industry (Rohinga, Uyghurs, crappy working conditions, low wages), they would be ROASTED for supporting brands like H&M, Topshop, Nike, etc. etc. etc. and then there goes their entire lifestyle and income streams.
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When I mentioned Russia and Poland I didn’t say that these countries are perfect and that ethnic minorities have no problems there. I meant that these countries don’t have the same history as UK or USA with black people specifically. Can you imagine having a black general in the USA in 18th century? Or a prominent member of court in England at the same time? Well, Russia had one, surprise. And he was kidnapped from his family not by the Russians, but by the Ottoman Empire.
When I mentioned Asian kids being treated the same, I meant it. No one called them names related to their race. One of them wore glasses, and he was called four-eyes, just like everyone else in school who wore glasses. Teachers didn’t make a difference either - as a child, no one made a thing about them being Asian, we all played together and went into each other’s homes to play.
SOME ( just some) of My experiences growing up black in the uk ( also I’m under the age of 25 )
- being chased around the school with my friends by a white boy calling us black b*tches whilst he threw basketballs at us
- neighbour repeatedly leaving dirty nappies in the driveway for months
- my sister getting in trouble at school for being angry when a white girl stole food from her lunchbox
- racist “jokes” at school and work amongst fellow students and colleagues
- someone shouting racial slurs at work when you’re doing your job
-teachers making mean comments on the lunch i ate at school
- not learning about the racist history of the UK at school so the Uk can carry on hiding behind its racism and pushing America as the number 1 culprit
- being chased around the school with my friends by a white boy calling us black b*tches whilst he threw basketballs at us
- neighbour repeatedly leaving dirty nappies in the driveway for months
- my sister getting in trouble at school for being angry when a white girl stole food from her lunchbox
- racist “jokes” at school and work amongst fellow students and colleagues
- someone shouting racial slurs at work when you’re doing your job
-teachers making mean comments on the lunch i ate at school
- not learning about the racist history of the UK at school so the Uk can carry on hiding behind its racism and pushing America as the number 1 culprit
Thank you, that was the best answer so far. I guess Lily probably just didn’t think (she normally doesn’t do that tiresome process), so that’s why she posted what she posted. I can’t remember if she talked about bushfires, actually, does anyone remember if she mentioned it?
I am really sorry to hear that. When I moved to UK I thought it was better than Russia, but I guess I was wrong. I mentioned Asian kids that went to the same school as I did and nothing like that ever happened.
You’ve already received some answers on this but I would like to add that from what you have written, you have been (sadly and inexcusably) experiencing xenophobia, not racism. You are white and thus have not been targeted because of your skin colour but I assume because you are ‘foreign’. I’m not saying this to diminish your experiences so please don’t take it that I don’t care about how you’ve been treated. I’m sorry you’ve been targeted this way.
There are certainly race problems in the U.K. but that they tend to manifest differently than they do in the US. Racism is acutely entangled with class in the U.K. in a way that makes it insidious rather than always quite so overt. But in the past 5ish (maybe more) years in the U.K. there has been a noticeable rise in overt and open xenophobia and racism, linked with Brexit and other geopolitical trends. This is despicable. There are also historical problems such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which wasn’t that long ago and the controversial practice of stop and search which targets young man black men disproportionately. A race gap also appears within education in the U.K. there is plenty of casual and overt racism on the U.K.
The reason we expect public figures like Lily to comment on these issues is because the George Floyd murder is so unjust and recent. There needs to be a serious change not only in the US but also how black people are discriminated against elsewhere. Lily has a platform and should use it. Whatever she perceives the race of her followers to be is irrelevant. This injustice should affect us all.
We are not saying that other murders or acts of racism hold lesser importance. I do in fact remember there being news coverage of China’s “rehabilitation” of the Uighur people. We have to bring attention when these horrid events happen because inevitably something else will come along and take the spotlight off it. The US is a world power and a centre of global focus right now and what happens there affects other countries.
And without sounding accusatory, Russia has a terribly racist reputation for targeting black people and ethnic minorities. (Not all Russians but a generalised international reputation.) Especially in international football.
racism In the uk is no where near as bad as America but it certainly does exist! I feel That it’s more about using your platform to educate the masses. but I do also feel like although awareness needs to be raised no one should be pressured into talking about it.
I feel like collectively we've provided Lily and others with a Why You Should Examine Your Privilege 101 primer. We've done the groundwork for her, now it's up to her.
Thank you again for a good explanation. Class will never be something that I will fully understand.
I guess the difference is for my experience with ethnic minorities is that I grew up in a city where what would be considered a “minority” in regards to the population of Russia as whole was in fact a majority in that city. That probably helped. Generally speaking, some minorities have it better than others (I suppose Italians in the Uk get better treatment than let’s say Polish people in general) but in any of my workplaces, or the university/schools I have attended I have ever seen people being treated worse than others. There was one incodent in my university where a Chinese foreign student sexually harassed another student, and he was expelled and deported back to China, but the same happened with a Russian student after I graduated. He was also expelled (obviously not deported). I guess some people would say that it was racist to deport that student, but the student visa rules are very simple - if you are expelled for whatever reason from your university, your visa will be revoked. Same as in the UK, actually.
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