It's black & white: anti-racism protestors killed BAME people today

Today brought scenes of illegal, crowded and occasionally aggressive protest in the UK. At a time when the entire country is being asked to act selflessly and put liberty on pause for the greater good; at a time when many are saying that one man's failure to follow the rules could bring the whole fragile arrangement crashing down; at a time where, for reasons yet unknown, people of certain races are statistically more at risk than others; many flocked in their droves to stand shoulder to Covid shoulder and shout (sometimes from uncovered mouth directly at police just in front of them) their protests.

I can understand why people in the US are protesting, and I can understand why they are protesting now. Some of the police response in the US only goes to prove how they have little other choice, and how could they stand by in the face of such very immediate, very violent events?

But the situation over here in the UK is not the same. I don't mean for a second that we don't have to address issues of racism in this country, but where were these protests six months ago, twelve months ago? What has changed? Or do the protesters really think that protesting over here will make the slightest difference in the US? It won't.

If the protesters are aiming at institutional racism, then their timing is deeply misguided. More BAME people will die as a result of these protests than could ever be saved by the impact they're likely to have. I don't mean we can't change things, but the difference made while the Covid risk is so high is surely minuscule. This is not something that can be solved overnight, and I worry that if all these people being so vocal about BLM in the UK right now can't wait 6 months to have this fight, what is the chance they will have the stamina to still be fighting it in 6 months having started now? Unless we're in it for the long haul, it will achieve little.

But waiting isn't even necessary. There are many more forms of protest than taking to the streets. Many are staying inside and taking other approaches, and that seems like a more appropriate approach.

Racism is a great evil, and hopefully one day it will a part of history that needs to be explained to baffled students. When it is, I very much doubt that they will learn that the turning point was when brave protesters widely shared a deadly virus.