16 June 2020

Heroism

Two black British heroes have emerged in the past week - during a time when many old questions about racism are being revisited. After all, black lives really do matter.

In the picture above you can see Patrick Hutchinson carrying an injured white demonstrator away from trouble at a heated political demonstration in London on Saturday. Naturally, Mr Hutchinson is a supporter of "Black Lives Matter" but the fellow he was rescuing is a right wing counter-demonstrator who was in Parliament Square to turn up the heat with like-minded thugs who confronted the police with violent intent.

Mr Hutchinson said, “His life was under threat so I just scooped him up on to my shoulders and started marching towards the police with him. It was scary. But you don’t think about it at the time, you do what you’ve got to do.”

Even more of a hero to me is 22 year old Marcus Rashford - the Manchester United and England footballer. It would be so easy for a young fellow like that to pull down the shutters on the world outside his window, to check his bulging bank account and investments, order a new Italian sports car on a whim and forget where he came from.

But he hasn't done that. He has remembered his origins - growing up in a deprived district of Manchester in a one parent family, often not knowing where the next meal was coming from.

Even before yesterday he had raised £20,000,000 during the pandemic to support food banks and address child poverty. He is a shy, quietly-spoken young man but yesterday he graced our TV screens to urge the government to continue its food voucher scheme for poor families throughout the school summer holidays and this morning he has tweeted these challenges for everyone to read:-

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1. When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown. 

2. When you turn on your kettle to make a cup of tea or coffee think of those parents who have had to default on electricity bill payments just to make ends meet having lost their jobs during the pandemic.

3. And when you head to the fridge to grab the milk, stop and recognise that parents of at least 200,000 children across the country this morning are waking up to empty shelving 

4. Recognise children around the country are this morning innocently questioning ‘why?’ 9 out of 30 children in any given classroom are today asking ‘why?’ ‘Why does our future not matter?’ 
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Marcus's pleas for a U-turn on government policy will be debated in The House of Commons today. Kudos to him for sticking his head above the parapet in the cause of social justice in order to simply put food in children's bellies. He isn't carrying  a  right wing demonstrator away from a good kicking, he is doing something much more important and arguably more brave than that. After all of her struggles, his mother must be so very proud of him this morning.

34 comments:

  1. I think Marcus deserves a statue after his fundraising YP. I hope Ebeneezer Johnson changes his mind and extends the free meals scheme. You always get division and civil unrest when there's a Tory government.

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    1. I bet Blode Worzel Gummidge has never gone hungry in his entire life. He always knew where the next meal was coming from and it wasn't from Poundland.

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  2. That was a very eloquent essay on what is happening. We sometime sleep through the news and swallow their aggressive take on everything, and then individual acts shine through and we are humbled by their actions.

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    1. It's nice to share some positive news reports in all of this gloom and doom.

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  3. Marcus Rashford is an inspiration to us all. On another matter, I saw someone out walking yesterday and thought "surely that's not YP is it" but it was probably just some other tall well built bloke with a rucksack and long hair.

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    1. You'd know if it was me because I would have said, "What you looking at Elephant Man?"

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    2. One knows when one is in the presence of greatness.

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  4. Thank you for the wonderful reminder that there are good people in the world today who do good things for others. It's easy to forget with all the horrible shit going on around us.

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    1. "... good people in the world today who do good things for others" You are definitely one of them Lily! That is what being a conscientious nurse is all about.

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  5. What you highlight, YP, to be commended. And to be given thousands of upvotes for the sentiment.

    However, and I am not the first to latch onto this misrepresentation in Rashford's cry for help on behalf of children and/or the truly poor: Water is a basic right. Your water will run. You will not be cut off. Not, of course, that that doesn't mean the bill isn't mounting up and will still need to be paid.

    U

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    1. I Forgive him for that error. He is only twenty two and his formal education left a lot to be desired.

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  6. I hadn't heard about Marcus Rashford and his thought-provoking challenges. I did see the Hutchinson photo, though. I haven't seen any comments from the right-winger. I wonder what he thinks, and whether he feels any gratitude.

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    1. That's a good point Steve. It's one of those stories that flares like a firework and then goes out. No follow-up as other news stories take over.

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  7. Thanks for sharing this story! I wouldn't have heard about it otherwise. Our media is too full of one fresh horror after another to share stories like this. :(

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    1. We need more positive stories about black people. They are happening all the time but we don't get to hear about them.

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  8. There are heroes arising from these times.

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    1. Deep down most people are good. That is what I believe anyway.

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  9. We did it YP. Boris has changed his mind about the free meals.

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    1. Who is "Boris"? I always call him Johnson which is a slang word for a penis. However - yes - we pushed Marcus Rashford's idea over the line!

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  10. I hope VAR doesn't overrule it?

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    1. I hope that VAR leads to Worzel Gummidge being sent off.

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  11. That's a difficult one, YP. I agree that Marcus Rashford could well have just done as you suggested and ignored everything that's happening and his actions are pre-determined and not just an instinctive reaction. Heroism as decided by VCs etc is usually instinctive and "of the moment". MR will have made the greatest contribution but I'm inclined to think that PH gets the VC. He will have to endure a lot but he did the Right Thing.

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    1. As I say, they are both heroes for different reasons. Thanks for your reflections upon this Graham.

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    2. Graham, I think your definition of heroism "instinctive and of the moment" excellent. In that spirit all of us have potential when put on the spot.

      U

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  12. Thank you for sharing this story. We should not forget there are heroes in this world and my hope is that many can learn from them and strive to do good as well.

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    1. The bad guys get far too much airtime.

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  13. Too many people think that other races do nothing. We have to look at people for what they are. These men obviously were strong enough to speak out and act out...walk the talk!

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  14. It's nice to have heroes in this world

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    1. Heroes are not just cartons of chocolate sweeties by Cadburys.

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  15. We need all the heroes we can get, and all the good news we can get. I hope that far-right protestor has a change of heart. He could have been in serious trouble if not for those folks escorting him to safety.

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