Airbnb donation: should host and employee lives matter as much?

[Inna22]

It goes without saying that what happened to George Floyd is despicable and this thread is not about that. The question is: should a company that cannot meet contractual obligations to its partners (hosts of colors and backgrounds) and just laid off 1900 humans be giving a half a million dollar donation, no matter how worthy the cause is. For those not aware- Airbnb announced .5 mil dollar donation to Black lives matter

[Lisa723]

@Helen350 so, you do in fact want to take a side: "I don't agree with BLM". That is a side. Airbnb obviously wants to be perceived as being on the other side: "we agree with BLM." Thus their decision to spend on advertising this agreement.

With respect, you are missing the point with your fixation on whether you are personally racist. When I was younger, I also thought that it was "enough" to avoid overt racist acts in my own life. Now I'm nearly sixty, I've seen enough to give up that convenient and self-congratulatory belief. Just because I am not personally running down black people and killing them for no reason doesn't absolve me of responsibility for the fact that this is happening in my country. This has been allowed to continue to happen because white people like me, including me, haven't done enough to stop it.

Regarding Edinburgh not being part of the US-- it's just not true that protests abroad cannot influence US politics. They are definitely making the news here and they provide support to US protestors while (hopefully) embarrassing those of us who would like to think of the US as a country that values human rights in deed as well as word.

[Rebecca0]

@Helen350 

Why are you "gobsmacked"?  Do you really live in such a small bubble that your views are never challenged?  That's a shame, if so.  

You say "Your argument only makes sense through the lens of a left-wing way of looking at things. There are equally valid alternative perspectives. "

Of course it is impossible to exclude politics from this issue but, for me, it goes beyond right versus left.  It is a question of human rights.  If you really spoke with "love and positivity" you would see that.  But you choose not to.

Regarding your comment about my attendance at the protest on Sunday, rest assured that it is being very well organised in a large space and everyone will be required to social distance, wear face masks and gloves.  I have no wish to spread the corona virus but I do feel the need to protest against the deadly virus of hate and racism.

Oh and age has nothing to do with it.  I turned 60 last year.  I'm glad that I  haven't "mellowed" to the extent that I don't care about anyone except myself and I haven't sunk into a self-congratulatory, myopic world view.

@Lisa723  Yes,  people all over the world have been horrified at what is going on in USA and if the solidarity protests embarrass the US government that is an extra bonus.   Of course, the UK and other western democracies are not blameless, by any means, but the sight of tanks and military targeting peaceful protesters is too much.  I really hope that this will be a catalyst and your country will wrest back civilised democracy soon.

[Lisa723]

Thank you @Rebecca0 I hope so, too.

[Garrett48]

@Helen350 you know, Helen, and I hope you can take this in the spirit it's intended - I feel sorry for you. I get the sense your heart may be in the right place, but your views are so utterly** Every word you write is a cringe and an embarrassment. Even the bits about the Nigerian doctor or the Bengali student (or whatever) are so desperately patronising and condescending. Can you genuinely not see it? The BLM situation- brought to a head this week by the brutal  inhumane assassination [and I use that word pointedly because that's what it was] of George Floyd - a man, a father, a son, brother- is not about one or two or three or more instances of police brutality. It's about 400 years of degradation, abuse, injustice and systemic mistreatment. And that's what it is: systematic and institutionalized. It's not a bad apple here and there- it's the system. And it's not now and then - it's literally centuries. Can you understand what its like to live under that? No, you cant - **. You (not ) cant even imagine what it's like. People are walking the streets in towns and cities across the US this very moment in a desperate plea to force change. That's right. And it's justified. And that protest is 99% peaceful - but, you know what, if theres a broken shop window or a smashed windscreen, **bleep** it. Those things can be fixed; George Floyd's daughter wont ever see her father again. And that cant be fixed. 

And, last, but most importantly, it actually about is about picking sides - you're either on the side of changing that system or youre on the side of keeping things as they are. It's one or the other - this is about human rights and there's no sitting on the fence here. If you believe the system needs to change, you'll support BLM. **

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen350]

@Garrett48 You don't know me. You are completely misinterpreting my views. I am as NOT racist as it's possible to be! I married a man of a different race. I've had good relationships with people of other races. It is not mandatory to support BLM nor street protests to qualify as not racist! I find your political correctness rather childish & immature.

You are breaking the rules of the CC with your defamation of my character btw.

[Yadira22]

Simply because one has friends or family belonging to another ethnic group, it does not make said individual more or even less capable of being/displaying/owning racist behaviour/outlooks. Hitler is the perfect example of this (targeted group Jewish) and yet he had a known friendship with Rosa Bernile Nienau (a Jewish girl, he knew her heritage) and he was responsible for the murder of over 6 million Jewish people. 

Please be aware that one could even be racist towards oneself- its referred to as "internalised racism" defined as “the acceptance, by marginalized racial populations, of the negative societal beliefs and stereotypes about themselves” (Williams & Williams-Morris, 2000, p. 255; Taylor & Grundy, 1996). I hate to say it but I have even seen this within my own, Latinos; where you can get people who are collectively so mixed as a population- eg. David Gallagher, Freddie Prinze Jr, Eva Longoria, JLo, George Lopez, Zoe Saldana, Pelé. Racism is still very much present both at an internal level as well systemically within society. 

You may not be the problem but you are not actively fighting to be part of solution either @Helen350  and I am sorry if this hurts you, this is not my intent. My intention to provoke you to really self reflect, as regardless of what we may be or have in life, we can always be better. 

[Sarah977]

@Helen350 Whether you personally have racist attitudes towards the people you interact with is not the issue- as others have tried to point out, this isn't about you. It's your failure to understand that black people are brutalized and marginalized every day that is what is causing you to come across as racist. Racism isn't just about treating people differently based on the color of their skin, it's also about understanding that simply because you may not see acts of racism in your own life, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen all over the world all the time.

You keep saying there are other ways to accomplish the elimination of racism and unprovoked brutality, but the only thing you've offered in that regard is writing to govt. officials. Which of course has been done and yet the racism continues. This is what you don't seem to understand.

Do you read history at all? Are you not aware that entire systems which are dictatorial, racist, that operate against the wishes of the majority of their citizens do not simply change without revolution?

[Dave52]

Garrett48, my humblest recommendation to you.  I don't know you, I don't know Helen350, and you don't know me, nor does Helen350. None of us know each other. So lets start there.  All I can see is what's on this message board.  I can see, you've been personally attacking Helen350 since the start.  Now, after a few back and forth posts, you've managed to call her the worst insult possible, the 'R' word.  You've done this without knowing Helen350 personally, without knowing her life, her life's works, experiences, or actions.  For the sake of humanity, I recommend you get know Helen350 personally, not through a social media message board, before you call her, or anyone else, the worst insult in the English language.  Lower the temperature please.  Try to bring people together, not tear them down. 

[Garrett48]

From your first comment in this thread @Dave52  it seems you have a let's say negative view of Airbnb's donation to Black Lives Matter. I respectfully suggest this bias might have played a part in you getting your knickers in a twist about something that never actually happened. I didnt call Helen "racist". What I said was that if she believes the prevailing system - social, political and economic - that prioritises white interests over those of all other races should be preserved and unchallenged, that would unfortunately mean she would be a racist. And that's incontrovertibly true. And it applies to Helen, me, you, Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Peppa Pig and everyone else.

[Inna22]

@Lisa723 while I didnot really want to comment on the choice of organizations originally I now feel compelled to do so. The repeatedly make anti semitic statements and airbnb repeatedly gets entangled with organizations that have anti semitic views.  I am sure there are organizations who stand for the same cause without putting any other group down while doing so. BLM has grown large enough to have an audience. They have chosen to take the very course against another group that they are fighting against for theirs

[Lisa723]

@Inna22 you are saying that BLM has made anti-semitic statements? I did not know that. Can you cite examples?

[Inna22]

@Lisa723 I think their Wikipedia page is the best source. They have multiple quotes

[Lisa723]

@Inna22 hm, I just read the page and didn't find any anti-semitic quotes. Can you be more specific?

[Inna22]

@Lisa723 They have a whole section devoted to the topic. I’m on my phone so it’s hard to copy and paste but I promise I will get to it over the weekend

[Lisa723]

@Inna22 if you are referring to the section "Movement for Black Lives statement about Israel" then (a) that's not BLM but an affiliated organization and (b) while critical of Israel (a whole other discussion!) the statement was not anti-semitic.