Like the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter concerns all of us. The Irish reaction to Derek Chauvin’s conviction suggests we’ve finally woken up to that fact

According to Forbes magazine, #ROT IN HELL had more than 70,000 tweets within an hour of the verdict being read.

It was a landmark moment: the first time a white police officer has been found legally responsible for the death of a black man in custody in the history of the USA.

More than that, it was a moment where the justice system itself seemed to be on trial. Closer to home, I watched how most people I knew expressed elation, along with weary relief, that justice had been served. Or at the very least, accountability.

You can put this social media activity down to a wave of performative woke ‘virtue signalling’ all you like, but there is a reason that this trial, and this verdict, seem to have hit differently, not least with Irish people.

The entire world watched George Floyd die in a disturbingly clear nine-minute video. Chauvin knelt on his neck, seemingly unperturbed that a 17-year-old, Darnella Frazier, was recording him. At one point, Chauvin nonchalantly put his hands in his pockets. Not long after that, Floyd uttered his last words, calling for his mother before he died of asphyxiation.

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement that followed Floyd’s death has resulted in a long-overdue shift. In the same way that protests and activism concerning gender-based violence have been largely orchestrated by women, the discourse on racial injustice has long rested on the shoulders of people of colour.

White people can no longer lazily consider the conversation around racism to be the sole wheelhouse of other people. Like the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter concerns all of us. And the heated social media activity on Irish Twitter suggests that we’ve finally woken up to that fact.

There has certainly been an appetite for change of late. Academic Emma Dabiri recently released a book entitled What White People Can Do Next. The fact that it became an instant bestseller indicates that people are hungry for guidance, or are at least open to having that conversation.

And let’s be honest, it’s not an easy conversation to have. As Dabiri writes, racial equality demands a level of action on the part of white people, as well as an acknowledgement that the system has been inherently racist for quite some time.

It’s not helpful, in other words, to profess that you haven’t a racist bone on your body. That’s being over-simplistic, not to mention patronising. Paying lip service to inclusivity isn’t what true equality is about.

“Take it upon yourself to use the tools around you to learn and answer your questions,” Dabiri writes. “Reading is my portal to other forms of action, and I urge you to read, read, read too. Black people cannot be reduced to our experiences of white racism; that’s whiteness centring itself again.”

We are nowhere near coming to the end of this particular conversation. Yet a willingness to start talking about racism, beyond the groundswell of emotional #ChauvinTrial tweets and status updates, is a good place to start.

That so many held their breath in trepidation on Tuesday night shows we have far to go.

Free tampons are a good idea — period. And if you’re not directly affected by this issue, keep quiet

This week’s heartening news came courtesy of Lidl, who are making yet another bid to tackle period poverty (where women can’t afford feminine hygiene products).

In addition to making donations to Simon Communities of Ireland to ensure that women experiencing homelessness can access products, Lidl has become “first major retailer in the world” to offer free period products in stores.

A recent Government report estimated that Irish women spend around €121 a year each on menstruation products (or, after 40 years of periods, €4,840). So you can see how an initiative like this would be welcomed.

However, not everyone was enamoured of the move, among them Newstalk’s Shane Coleman. “Where does it end, free toothpaste?” he enquired, sounding exactly like a person who has never had to buy a tampon in his life.

The thing is, a lack of toothpaste doesn’t confine people to their homes. It doesn’t mean they miss school/work, or experience an impact on their mental health. Now, I’m all for a hot take (hello? this column?), but I’m offering some advice to Coleman and his ilk, for the grand sum of precisely nought.

If you aren’t directly affected by this, keep quiet. If this is a private company doing something that doesn’t affect you even in the slightest, even more so.

Also, remember that moment the next time you find yourself in a public toilet, grateful for the free toilet paper.

Public abuse of politicians like Keir Starmer just puts good people off the idea of public office

Over in the UK, the Keir Starmer ‘Get out of my pub’ video clip doing the rounds online seems to have tickled many: “Oooh! A Labour supporter giving abuse to an actual Labour leader!”  

I find these clips — of a politician on a walkabout, then having to claw back dignity after an altercation — wholly depressing.

It’s perfectly fine to offer robust debate or to disagree with politicians.

Yet when people eyeing a life in public office realise that scenes like this are part of the job spec, and then decide not to bother, do remember this moment.

Irish Independent