Ian Wright , others and professional football players may understand the difference but it escapes me . When exactly did the meme start ? Genuinely interested to learn
OK, I'll accept that. It can be confusing.
The meme started when that American athlete took the knee. But it didn't really become a thing in the UK till the captains of the EPL teams has a chat and agreed to do it, after a spate of horrible incidents in the US. If you recall NSC at he time when .
(I was unaware of the American organisation until someone on NSC helpfully sent me a link. It shouldn't mitigate against the meme any more than the existence of a few dumb commies should mitigate against Starmer's labour party, or indeed a few hangem and floggem old tossers, or its present leadership - which is an aberration and won't last forever - should mitigate against the Conservative party).
People like Wright, and the journalist Dotun Adebayo have spoken (all part of the meme as it is now) eloquently about the issue (of racism) and the knee taking without once referring to the American organization. It seems the only people who bother with the latter (like Fox News, who appear to see the BLM gang as the go-to people whenever race comes up) are people wanting to stir things up. (A bit like how other seek interviews with the oaf Corbyn every time antisemitism comes up in the labour party - the interviewers simply want Corbyn to put his foot in it, and he obliges every time).
Likewise 'Antifa' which has been used by the malicious to imply that opposing fascism is itself a form of terrorism and treachery. They should go back to 1939 (in their mind's eye, if they can muster one) and tell that to Winston Churchill
It was Adebayo who really caught my attention when he spoke at length during an interview on radio 5. It has been easy for me to distance myself from the racism experienced by some of my fellow Brits - it doesn't affect me and my normal reaction was that I didn't want to think about it. I reached a point where I though I should oppose it always and not just shrug my shoulders and jog on. So I do.
I have, thankfully, not slipped into the 'they bring it on themselves' rabbit hole, either, I hope, not since I was a teen in the 70s (I'd never spoken to a black person till I went to university, so they were easy to disregard). So to see some folk (one now banned from NSC) responding to conversations about racism by posting links to stories about black people doing bad things, has made me quite cross.
These days I think of racism as just a form of bullying. Personally I struggle with attitudes I consider to be fundamentally wrong. Ironically my reaction can itself be one of bullying. I'm trying to be better, but it can be a struggle.
I hope that makes sense