Forum Topic

Dominic Raab On 'Taking The Knee'

Pressed on whether he personally would take the knee, Mr Raab replied: 'I take the knee for two people, the Queen and the Mrs when I asked her to marry me.' Good for him.👏🏻

Sue Hammond ● 2121d27 Comments

What do you think of this Sue?This movement has some dodgy characters associated with it. https://twitter.com/dominiquetaegon/status/1274389802067034113

Mike Essam ● 2118d

@Mike Essam  21.06.20 12.51Hi Mike. Yes I read it earlier.  She was very brave to write this article but in doing so has received much abuse from black people for voicing her opinion.  Unfortunately the BLM movement is in danger of being taken over by pot stirrers and trouble makers, which in turn has attracted a number of right-wing racists.  Both sides are at fault.

Sue Hammond ● 2118d

Fascinating article form the Ghanaian lady.Always amazes me how many white liberals think they are speaking on behalf of black people, when in actual fact many black people would rather air their own voice.One thing that BLM needs to do for certain is ditch Antifa as they will do more harm that good for the cause.

Ash Jones ● 2118d

This movement is losing it's meaning, now that the white liberals have hijacked it.Some clips on twitter of white's spraying 'BLM' over statues and walls and black people shouting at them 'Don't do this in my name, we will get the blame for the graffiti!'Great article from a Ghanaian women below:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8443669/ESTHER-KRAKUE-dared-question-aims-Black-Lives-Matter.html

Mike Essam ● 2118d

Raab, is a idiot how can he try and makes this very serious issue into a joke..disgusting..

Mary Baglietto ● 2120d

What else is there to except from what passes for a member of government?

Clifford Cowell ● 2120d

Looking at his early career I'm surprised he didn't know better, of having studied law, know that he ought to check his facts and any precedents. However, in another discussion on Facebook we came up with this equation for the current government: ignorance+arrogance+nepotism=failureI wouldn't know higher education completely; we are hoping Oxford and Imperial might comeup with a Covid vaccine, and I bet Malala will put her degree to good use (I'm sure she'll pass her exams - even Johnson and Raab managed that 🙂)? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-53107764

Michael Ixer ● 2120d

What worries me is that he studied at both Oxford and Cambridge. Makes me doubt the value of higher education.

Elizabeth Balsom ● 2120d

So basicly, Raab confuses real life civil rights martyr Martin Luther King with Sky TV fantasy series Game of Thrones.It's a repeat of his "I didn't know the Channel was such an important trade route"The man is just thick. Thick for not knowing, doubly thick for never having taken the trouble to inform himself and trebly thick for not realising he is so thick.Fancy having someone so culturally unaware as a Foreign Secretary. Does he know Finland is not part of Russia?

Michael Winstanley ● 2121d

"There is no.excuse."Absolutely, Maxine: there's no excuse for any educated person to be so ignorant, but in the Foreign Secretary? It's staggering, and embarrassing and shameful. He, and the government as a whole, will be a laughing stock, but it's not funny.

Richard Carter ● 2121d

Hold my beer....I came on the forum as I was pretty sure Sue would start a thread on this.  I don't have a problem with him not taking a knee. I have a big problem with his total ignorance in his position of office and frankly as an educated man who should probably follow the news of the history of taking a knee. There is no.excuse.

Maxine Campbell ● 2121d

I think Raab has made a bit of a fool of himself.  Again.  As with the Marcus (not Daniel) Rashford campaign they are looking out of touch and tin-eared.  Not a good look. But do they care?  4 1/2 years to the next election. Plenty of “events” to come and plenty of time to dig the country out of the economic and health crisis hope we are currently in.

Jonathan Callaway ● 2121d

No... its was first done by Martin Luther King in 1965 at a protest rally.

Matt Palmer ● 2121d

Yes, and the truly desperate attempts here to defend Raab's extraordinary ignorance are laughable. I'm waiting now for some Trump groupie to say it doesn't matter that the man is so damned ignorant he thinks Finland is a part of Russia.

Richard Carter ● 2121d

Where did their education go so wrong? Who can blame today's kids for not knowing their history when the so-called leader of the free world as well as our own Foreign Secretary haven't a clue about history or geography for that matter.

Lucille Grant ● 2121d

Sorry I wouldn't kneel either, unless somebody could get me up afterwards.

Barbara Stevens ● 2121d

"In this case it is a mark of respect,"Just because an American player in the NFL started doing it in 2016?  The subliminal message of subservience and subjugation obviously didn't get through to him, or to all those who have followed like sheep.

Sue Hammond ● 2121d

Sue. As Mr Cleary point out this goes back to the Rev Martin Luther King, long before GoT. It was actually an act of prayer. Sad that Raab didn't get himself briefed about this before making an insensitive joke about it. He does seem to have tried to clarify his intentions. Still anyone who's only realised how important the Dover/Calais link is for trade ...https://time.com/4955717/trump-protests-mlk-martin-luther-king-kneeling/

Michael Ixer ● 2121d

In this case it is a mark of respect.

Caroline Whitehead ● 2121d

@MichaelI can't comment on GoT because I have never watched it but I do see how kneeling is perceived to be an act of subservience.  Surely making this  gesture is the last thing a black person should be doing?

Sue Hammond ● 2121d

Surely anyone who approves Raab's faux pas must see that by later "clarifying" his remarks he has  conceded that he made a boo-boo in the first instance. Raab already has a reputation as a lightweight, but to be reminded that he has not begun to comprehend the seriousness of the global BLM campaign underlines the fact that this government is populated at senior level by ignorant people who, apparently, don't even follow the news. Foreign Secretaries are supposed to be well-informed. Raab obviously isn't.

Alexander MacLeod ● 2121d

Sue. I'd agree in a democracy one can choose whether to "take a knee" or not - or noit stand to sing the national anthem if one's a republican. However, having seen the news clip the comparison with GoT did look flippant and he seemed to not understand the subtle difference between showing solidarity and subservience. The interview concluded with him joking about kneeling to his wife which under the circumstances didn't seem appropriate. As someone criticised for being too flippant sometimes I think even I would have avoided that one!

Michael Ixer ● 2121d

I don't believe Raab was being flippant Michael.  Although I respect his opinion on this, personally I wouldn't curtesy or kneel to anybody.  I would say he definitely understands BLM because he faced racist comments himself as a child, but just because he chooses not to jump on this latest bandwagon does not mean he is insensitive to how many black people feel. He can understand this issue without making a pointless gesture.

Sue Hammond ● 2121d

In a similar category to the President of the US allegedly not knowing the UK had nuclear weapons or if Finland was part of Russia? Where did democracy go so wrong!

Michael Ixer ● 2121d

The issue is not who Mr Raab chooses to 'take the knee' to - that is his own personal choice & good luck to him.The issue is that the British Foreign Secretary is so ill-informed about what is going on in the world today that he thinks that this powerful gesture, which has been in use in the USA at least since 1965 when Martin Luther King Jr took a knee during a human rights march in Selma, Alabama, quote "seems to be taken from The Game of Thrones"Truly embarrassing.

Jim Cleary ● 2121d

As in his moronic comment about not realising the importance of Dover in EU-UK trade, Raab has demonstrated his ignorance: “On this taking the knee thing, I don't know maybe it's got a broader history but it seems to be taken from the Game of Thrones. It feels to me like a symbol of subjugation and subordination.”This is from the man who apparently has time to watch GoT but not follow what is actually going on in the world, which is his job as Foreign Secretary. He's nearly managing to make a worse job of it than BoJo did.

Richard Carter ● 2121d

I think the flippancy just indicates that he doesn't understand BLM ... that's the sort of unconscious racism that's the problem. Many of us may be guilty of it to a greater or lesser extent because of our conditioning by parents and education systems but I think we can expect a government secretary responsible for foreign affairs - and now development aid - to be more sensitive and think before speaking. The current demonstrations of support were because of unlawful killings of black people in the US; not really a laughing matter, is it? 

Michael Ixer ● 2121d