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Post by wirewiper on Jun 8, 2020 17:40:08 GMT
With recent events raising awareness of racism, and the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol yesterday, perhaps it is time to reflect on an event in that same city which turned the tide of race relations in the UK. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Bristol Omnibus Company, which was state-owned, operated an unofficial colour bar that was supported by the local branch of the TGWU (Transport & General Workers Union). Although the company suffered staff shortages and buses often didn't turn up, the company felt that employing black bus crews would downgrade the job and drive other workers away. The local branch of the TGWU also passed a motion in 1955 that it would not support the employment of black bus crews - despite having black conductors in the same company just 12 miles down the road in Bath. At the time the National TGWU was campaigning against apartheid in South Africa, and the local Fry's factory employed hundreds of black people who were also in the TGWU. The TGWU's line was that bus crews in Bristol were not well paid compared to other occupations in the city and were dependent on overtime; employing immigrants would eliminate that opportunity. George Stephenson, a local youth worker who had a white mother, a black father and spoke with an Essex accent, was aware of the colour bar and had in idea to expose it. In response to a recruitment advert, he arranged an interview for one of his protegés with the bus company. When 18-year-old Guy Bailey turned up, he was told point blank that he would not be employed because he was black. Stephenson had been expecting this, and the next day arranged a press conference at which he exposed what had happened at the bus company offices and called for a bus boycott. The local Bristol Evening Post was strongly supportive and condemned the stance of the management and union. The boycott quickly gained pace. Supporters refused to use the buses, marches took place and depots were picketed. Students at Bristol University got behind the protest. Diplomats from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries publicly condemned the bus company. Even the Leader of the Opposition and future Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, mentioned the Boycott whilst speaking at an anti-apartheid rally in London and wished the protestors every success. The Boycott was successful as the campaigners drew comparisons with the Civil Rights Movement in the US, and in particular the bus boycott that had taken place in Montgomery, Alabama a few years earlier. Media from London picked up on the story, headed west and made the comparisons, causing embarrassment to Bristol's civic leaders. And the ordinary people of Bristol also came onside. A key strategy was blocking key routes; white people would ask what was going on, they would find out - and then join the protests. Even the passengers who were still travelling were becoming increasingly vocal when their buses didn't turn up due to staff shortages; they didn't care who drove or conducted them, and were making this quite clear to the crews. As the Summer of 1963 wore on, the bus company and union found themselves increasingly beleagured and isolated, and on 28th August 1963 the Bristol Omnibus Company, with the backing of the local TGWU, announced that there would be "complete integration" on Bristol's buses. The colour bar was dead. Bristol had its first non-white conductor by mid-September, a Sikh man who had settled in the city in 1959. Guy Bailey did not apply. The new Black and Asian crews may have expected to find hostility but actually encountered very little; the most vociferously racist drivers and conductors chose instead to hand in their notice rather than work with non-whites. The Bristol Bus Boycott had repercussions far beyond Bristol, and affected many more black men and women than those who now found they could work on the city's buses. Paul Stephenson believes that the Race Relations Acts of 1965 and 1968, which explicitly banned discrimination in employment and public places, were brought in the the Wilson Government to prevent another situation like that in Bristol from occurring again. Paul Stephenson, Guy Bailey and Roy Hackett, another leading protestor who became involved after his wife was refused a job as a conductor, were all awarded OBEs for their part in the Boycott. The union belatedly expressed remorse; in 2013 Unite, into which the TGWU had been absorbed, apologised for having sided with the management back in 1963. www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23795655
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Post by N230UD on Jun 8, 2020 19:02:35 GMT
Hopefully they will replace the toppled statue of the slaver, with one commemorating the Bristol Bus Boycott.
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Post by wirewiper on Jun 9, 2020 7:11:50 GMT
Hopefully they will replace the toppled statue of the slaver, with one commemorating the Bristol Bus Boycott. I'd definitely support that. The mayor of Bristol, who is himself black, has said that the Colston statue will be recovered from the dock and may be displayed the Museum of Slavery, which I think would be fitting.
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Post by greenboy on Jun 9, 2020 9:05:52 GMT
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Post by george on Jun 9, 2020 9:22:41 GMT
Justice hasn't been served until those officers go to court and get sentenced. As for the policeman who get murdered that is terrible.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Jun 9, 2020 10:01:28 GMT
I think you have lost what the black lives matter cause means. In fact the word is completely inappropitate from what was set out and it has also changed trajectory from what was set out. It was set out against racism and police brutality towards black people in the US. Black on black crime in the US is terrible and it is something that Black Lives Matters should also have been championing but don't seem to (unless I have not read much of it) As for Covid as an excuse it is pathetic now. Cummins lost any credibility to the cause and him not resigning was a blatant middle finger to the whole country. So from that, anyone having bbq's in the park crowding beaches, protesting I do not blame them. Yesterday there was no deaths in London from Covid for nearly 3 months, shows that many has had it or the virus is on its way out.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Jun 9, 2020 10:02:38 GMT
Hopefully they will replace the toppled statue of the slaver, with one commemorating the Bristol Bus Boycott. How about a Bristol VRT, lol
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Post by greenboy on Jun 9, 2020 10:15:14 GMT
I think you have lost what the black lives matter cause means. In fact the word is completely inappropitate from what was set out and it has also changed trajectory from what was set out. It was set out against racism and police brutality towards black people in the US. Black on black crime in the US is terrible and it is something that Black Lives Matters should also have been championing but don't seem to (unless I have not read much of it) As for Covid as an excuse it is pathetic now. Cummins lost any credibility to the cause and him not resigning was a blatant middle finger to the whole country. So from that, anyone having bbq's in the park crowding beaches, protesting I do not blame them. Yesterday there was no deaths in London from Covid for nearly 3 months, shows that many has had it or the virus is on its way out.
Obviously brutality towards anybody is wrong but I just don't understand why there wasn't the same outrage about the murder of David Dorn. I hope you're right and covid is on the way out but I wouldn't want to tempt fate just yet and not everything can be blamed on Dominic Cummings, people were ignoring the restrictions long before his trip to Durham.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Jun 9, 2020 10:30:11 GMT
I think you have lost what the black lives matter cause means. In fact the word is completely inappropitate from what was set out and it has also changed trajectory from what was set out. It was set out against racism and police brutality towards black people in the US. Black on black crime in the US is terrible and it is something that Black Lives Matters should also have been championing but don't seem to (unless I have not read much of it) As for Covid as an excuse it is pathetic now. Cummins lost any credibility to the cause and him not resigning was a blatant middle finger to the whole country. So from that, anyone having bbq's in the park crowding beaches, protesting I do not blame them. Yesterday there was no deaths in London from Covid for nearly 3 months, shows that many has had it or the virus is on its way out.
Obviously brutality towards anybody is wrong but I just don't understand why there wasn't the same outrage about the murder of David Dorn. I hope you're right and covid is on the way out but I wouldn't want to tempt fate just yet and not everything can be blamed on Dominic Cummings, people were ignoring the restrictions long before his trip to Durham. For the reason as what I mentioned, the movement was for police brutality against the public
As for Cummins, it went worst after he flouted the rules with many of the public just giving up and then police forces went and openly said many of the things they were going to ignore as they cannot justify it after his actions.
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Post by vjaska on Jun 9, 2020 10:38:38 GMT
As for Covid as an excuse it is pathetic now. Cummins lost any credibility to the cause and him not resigning was a blatant middle finger to the whole country. So from that, anyone having bbq's in the park crowding beaches, protesting I do not blame them. Yesterday there was no deaths in London from Covid for nearly 3 months, shows that many has had it or the virus is on its way out.
Leaving Cummins and his silly actions to one side, people shouldn't be using that as an excuse to mingle in family homes & on beaches with each other. It's incorrect that there has been no deaths in three months, it's about a week to two weeks but that doesn't mean everything is tickety boo nor does it mean everyone has had it - only takes one complacent action to start it all off again. As for the whole black lives matter movement, no comment from me, far too touchy subject for a white person like myself to comment on right now especially across social media so I'll abstain.
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Post by busman on Jun 9, 2020 11:02:53 GMT
I think you have lost what the black lives matter cause means. In fact the word is completely inappropitate from what was set out and it has also changed trajectory from what was set out. It was set out against racism and police brutality towards black people in the US. Black on black crime in the US is terrible and it is something that Black Lives Matters should also have been championing but don't seem to (unless I have not read much of it) As for Covid as an excuse it is pathetic now. Cummins lost any credibility to the cause and him not resigning was a blatant middle finger to the whole country. So from that, anyone having bbq's in the park crowding beaches, protesting I do not blame them. Yesterday there was no deaths in London from Covid for nearly 3 months, shows that many has had it or the virus is on its way out.
Obviously brutality towards anybody is wrong but I just don't understand why there wasn't the same outrage about the murder of David Dorn. I hope you're right and covid is on the way out but I wouldn't want to tempt fate just yet and not everything can be blamed on Dominic Cummings, people were ignoring the restrictions long before his trip to Durham. People were outraged about the murder of David Dorn. All murder is wrong and hundreds of people are murdered everyday. What makes George Floyd's murder stand out is that he was murdered by state actors. Police are expected to protect us and where they do take a life, it is done in order to protect another. Three officers sat on George Floyd whilst he was handcuffed and suitably restrained. Members of the public pleaded with one police officer to get his knee off the neck of George Floyd. The officer chose not to listen and continued to kneel on his neck for some *minutes* after he had lost consciousness. This isn’t a political left or right thing. It’s the police murdering a civilian and for once it was captured in all its tragic detail and plastered all over social media for the world to see. It happens time and time and time again to black people, especially in America. How many times is too many? I don’t see the issue of inequality and discrimination as being a right wing or left wing problem. It’s a condition of the human heart. The way some right wing thinkers have responded to the issue of racism and George Floyd’s killing with incredulous whataboutery, has really made me reflect on my political alignment as a small “c” conservative. Do I really want to yoke myself with such people? I accept intelligent, well made points by the chattering masses (for example why vandalism of the cenotaph was wrong, concerns over COVID19 transmission etc), but if the narrative sounds like it comes from the Breitbart school of thought, I’m no longer entertaining it. I note that many of the prominent social media voices raising concerns about protest and COVID19 didn’t speak up when anti-lockdown protests were taking place nor when people were gathering for street congas a few weeks ago. That kind of duplicity needs to be recognised and challenged. On another note, thank you wirewiper for reminding me about the Brsitol Bus boycott. It’s a wonderful story. Also it provides a positive example of how an organisation on the wrong side of the moral argument (the trade unions in this case) can restore trust and respect through their actions.
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Post by wirewiper on Jun 9, 2020 11:02:54 GMT
Hopefully they will replace the toppled statue of the slaver, with one commemorating the Bristol Bus Boycott. How about a Bristol VRT, lol Lol indeed! Although a Bristol KSW or LD (Lodekka) would be more in keeping with the period. Personally I would like to see a statue of a black male or female conductor. Incidentally, the actor Lindsay Duncan was briefly a Bristol bus conductor before she went to drama school. We are going a bit off topic though, as she is white.
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Post by greenboy on Jun 9, 2020 11:49:33 GMT
Obviously brutality towards anybody is wrong but I just don't understand why there wasn't the same outrage about the murder of David Dorn. I hope you're right and covid is on the way out but I wouldn't want to tempt fate just yet and not everything can be blamed on Dominic Cummings, people were ignoring the restrictions long before his trip to Durham. People were outraged about the murder of David Dorn. All murder is wrong and hundreds of people are murdered everyday. What makes George Floyd's murder stand out is that he was murdered by state actors. Police are expected to protect us and where they do take a life, it is done in order to protect another. Three officers sat on George Floyd whilst he was handcuffed and suitably restrained. Members of the public pleaded with one police officer to get his knee off the neck of George Floyd. The officer chose not to listen and continued to kneel on his neck for some *minutes* after he had lost consciousness. This isn’t a political left or right thing. It’s the police murdering a civilian and for once it was captured in all its tragic detail and plastered all over social media for the world to see. It happens time and time and time again to black people, especially in America. How many times is too many? I don’t see the issue of inequality and discrimination as being a right wing or left wing problem. It’s a condition of the human heart. The way some right wing thinkers have responded to the issue of racism and George Floyd’s killing with incredulous whataboutery, has really made me reflect on my political alignment as a small “c” conservative. Do I really want to yoke myself with such people? I accept intelligent, well made points by the chattering masses (for example why vandalism of the cenotaph was wrong, concerns over COVID19 transmission etc), but if the narrative sounds like it comes from the Breitbart school of thought, I’m no longer entertaining it. I note that many of the prominent social media voices raising concerns about protest and COVID19 didn’t speak up when anti-lockdown protests were taking place nor when people were gathering for street congas a few weeks ago. That kind of duplicity needs to be recognised and challenged. On another note, thank you wirewiper for reminding me about the Brsitol Bus boycott. It’s a wonderful story. Also it provides a positive example of how an organisation on the wrong side of the moral argument (the trade unions in this case) can restore trust and respect through their actions. I think the whole thing has been made political to suit certain agendas and I think there is a world of difference between minor lockdown infringements and large scale gatherings for any reason. Obviously in normal circumstances people are free to protest about pretty much anything.
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Post by busaholic on Jun 9, 2020 14:13:55 GMT
People were outraged about the murder of David Dorn. All murder is wrong and hundreds of people are murdered everyday. What makes George Floyd's murder stand out is that he was murdered by state actors. Police are expected to protect us and where they do take a life, it is done in order to protect another. Three officers sat on George Floyd whilst he was handcuffed and suitably restrained. Members of the public pleaded with one police officer to get his knee off the neck of George Floyd. The officer chose not to listen and continued to kneel on his neck for some *minutes* after he had lost consciousness. This isn’t a political left or right thing. It’s the police murdering a civilian and for once it was captured in all its tragic detail and plastered all over social media for the world to see. It happens time and time and time again to black people, especially in America. How many times is too many? I don’t see the issue of inequality and discrimination as being a right wing or left wing problem. It’s a condition of the human heart. The way some right wing thinkers have responded to the issue of racism and George Floyd’s killing with incredulous whataboutery, has really made me reflect on my political alignment as a small “c” conservative. Do I really want to yoke myself with such people? I accept intelligent, well made points by the chattering masses (for example why vandalism of the cenotaph was wrong, concerns over COVID19 transmission etc), but if the narrative sounds like it comes from the Breitbart school of thought, I’m no longer entertaining it. I note that many of the prominent social media voices raising concerns about protest and COVID19 didn’t speak up when anti-lockdown protests were taking place nor when people were gathering for street congas a few weeks ago. That kind of duplicity needs to be recognised and challenged. On another note, thank you wirewiper for reminding me about the Brsitol Bus boycott. It’s a wonderful story. Also it provides a positive example of how an organisation on the wrong side of the moral argument (the trade unions in this case) can restore trust and respect through their actions. I think the whole thing has been made political to suit certain agendas and I think there is a world of difference between minor lockdown infringements and large scale gatherings for any reason. Obviously in normal circumstances people are free to protest about pretty much anything. Only the one agenda showing through, and it's your usual one, carried through various changes of identity on your part on both this forum and a larger transport forum. Your most outrageous suggestion was that the poor woman who died from Coronavirus, having been spat at on Victoria Station, had made up the whole thing of being spat at, for which you admitted you had no 'evidence' but was based on your long-standing 'suspicions'. You've always got the internet links to hand for these far right wing conspiracy theories, although of course 'racism is wrong' as though your intoning this will save you from the inescapable meaning of the poison you spread. By the way, Cummings (with a 'g') broke the lockdown rules he helped to invent mere days after it had begun, in March, long before ANY large scale gatherings had come to public attention, but don't let facts get in the way of your insidious scribblings.
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Post by greenboy on Jun 9, 2020 14:38:17 GMT
I think the whole thing has been made political to suit certain agendas and I think there is a world of difference between minor lockdown infringements and large scale gatherings for any reason. Obviously in normal circumstances people are free to protest about pretty much anything. Only the one agenda showing through, and it's your usual one, carried through various changes of identity on your part on both this forum and a larger transport forum. Your most outrageous suggestion was that the poor woman who died from Coronavirus, having been spat at on Victoria Station, had made up the whole thing of being spat at, for which you admitted you had no 'evidence' but was based on your long-standing 'suspicions'. You've always got the internet links to hand for these far right wing conspiracy theories, although of course 'racism is wrong' as though your intoning this will save you from the inescapable meaning of the poison you spread. By the way, Cummings (with a 'g') broke the lockdown rules he helped to invent mere days after it had begun, in March, long before ANY large scale gatherings had come to public attention, but don't let facts get in the way of your insidious scribblings. At least try and get your facts right...... I have never suggested that the alleged spitting victim at Victoria made it up, in fact as far as I'm aware the allegation was made after the lady in question had sadly passed away. The BTP carried out a thorough investigation and found no evidence of any offence so I suggest that you contact them if you think you know otherwise although it seems another case of you getting on your high horse without checking the facts. Insidious scribblings....... once again the irony is staggering.
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