A local pub had the usual racism debate as it’s called “the black boys”….
The fact that the protesters ignored was that it was a miners pub dating back to the 1830s and was named after the boys that died during a pit disaster when it was being constructed.
It soon shut them up
Named after a 17th century pub… surely that would predate the height of the Atlantic slave trade? I’ve heard of similar place names referring to coal miners etc (though appreciate London isn’t prime pit country).
I walked down there the other day and somebody has the sign in their window. I guess they’re taking a stand but it seems a strange thing to take a stand over!
Is it silly? Maybe. But if we had a street named Anus Lane I don’t think many people would be convinced by something like ‘Actually I think you’ll find it was named after Sir William Anus who invented the hospital, it has nothing to do with bumholes.’
Sounds awkward … might as well just change it. Just a street name at the end of the day.
Upper dicker will be next ….yes there is a place called that.
So dumb, imagine being a black lad walking past this sign and it just ruining your day. I mean, that’s got to be the reason they’ve changed it right? What’s the point otherwise?
First they came for But hole Road, I did bit speak up because I didn’t live on Butt Hole Road.
There’s literally a village in East Sussex called Blackboys, are they gonna change that too?
Why cover up our racist past?
It’s not like the name on it’s own is offensive just the history associated with that. And the only way to discover the history is to look into it and we should want people doing that.
Like fair enough if you’re trying to gentrify the street and raise house prices or something but we’ve got much worse name’s that should be changed first if that’s the idea. Grimsby for example. Who wants to move to a town named after depression?
Bet they don’t change darky lane in my town, 26 miles from black boy road (unless there are two black boy roads in the UK.
We truly live in the stupidest time in human history.
[removed]
Ye Olde Black Boy in Hull is a great pub, apparently the oldest one in the city
Always wonder why in the US they say African American, yet here you don’t say African Brit. Surely if they are born in the states it would just be American like here British
To clear up all the debate in one neat package for you.
When relating to coal miners = ok
When relating to slave trade = no ok
This one is not ok.
My opinion – I think for things like museum exhibits we should put up clear signs and warnings explaining context and history of racist imagery and text. However, in the case of a road sign:
1. it’s tricky to put up an additional sign explaining it’s historical setting,
2. and I don’t think this sign is of significant historical value
3. it may feel shit being black and seeing it every day, even if there was an additional sign explaining its historical significance and place in history and how views have changed.
When I was at Uni, there was a big campaign to change the name of one of the student Union bars. It was called the ‘Mens’ bar. ‘Mens’ being Latin for ‘mind’ or ‘of the mind’.
16 comments
A local pub had the usual racism debate as it’s called “the black boys”….
The fact that the protesters ignored was that it was a miners pub dating back to the 1830s and was named after the boys that died during a pit disaster when it was being constructed.
It soon shut them up
Named after a 17th century pub… surely that would predate the height of the Atlantic slave trade? I’ve heard of similar place names referring to coal miners etc (though appreciate London isn’t prime pit country).
I walked down there the other day and somebody has the sign in their window. I guess they’re taking a stand but it seems a strange thing to take a stand over!
Is it silly? Maybe. But if we had a street named Anus Lane I don’t think many people would be convinced by something like ‘Actually I think you’ll find it was named after Sir William Anus who invented the hospital, it has nothing to do with bumholes.’
Sounds awkward … might as well just change it. Just a street name at the end of the day.
Upper dicker will be next ….yes there is a place called that.
So dumb, imagine being a black lad walking past this sign and it just ruining your day. I mean, that’s got to be the reason they’ve changed it right? What’s the point otherwise?
First they came for But hole Road, I did bit speak up because I didn’t live on Butt Hole Road.
Take it away, Babyshambles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts7M77kt4Vo
There’s literally a village in East Sussex called Blackboys, are they gonna change that too?
Why cover up our racist past?
It’s not like the name on it’s own is offensive just the history associated with that. And the only way to discover the history is to look into it and we should want people doing that.
Like fair enough if you’re trying to gentrify the street and raise house prices or something but we’ve got much worse name’s that should be changed first if that’s the idea. Grimsby for example. Who wants to move to a town named after depression?
Bet they don’t change darky lane in my town, 26 miles from black boy road (unless there are two black boy roads in the UK.
We truly live in the stupidest time in human history.
[removed]
Ye Olde Black Boy in Hull is a great pub, apparently the oldest one in the city
Always wonder why in the US they say African American, yet here you don’t say African Brit. Surely if they are born in the states it would just be American like here British
To clear up all the debate in one neat package for you.
When relating to coal miners = ok
When relating to slave trade = no ok
This one is not ok.
My opinion – I think for things like museum exhibits we should put up clear signs and warnings explaining context and history of racist imagery and text. However, in the case of a road sign:
1. it’s tricky to put up an additional sign explaining it’s historical setting,
2. and I don’t think this sign is of significant historical value
3. it may feel shit being black and seeing it every day, even if there was an additional sign explaining its historical significance and place in history and how views have changed.
When I was at Uni, there was a big campaign to change the name of one of the student Union bars. It was called the ‘Mens’ bar. ‘Mens’ being Latin for ‘mind’ or ‘of the mind’.
It ended up being renamed something else.