The heated discussion about racism has been sparked by a man sharing a letter from his neighbour regarding noise complaints on social media.
The man, who is from London and posted the message under @ElPapishow. He admitted that the letter was insulting. Twitter if they could spot the racist remark.
There was some disagreement among the responses to the mail regarding the last paragraph. It seemed that the Black Lives Matter movement is mentioned in it.
Continued the sentence underlined: “Hope similarly, you can respect both our lives and the environments that we have chosen to live.”
Some people suggested the noise complaint might have been formulated differently if it had been sent to white tenants, however others stated that offending parties should not ‘run to the race cards’.
One London-based Twitter user sparked heated debate by sharing a photo of the noise complaint letter that his neighbor sent to him.
The Twitter user @ElPapiShow asked followers to spot any racism in his tweets.
A photograph was taken by the man and captioned: “Look at that renk facety!” [Jamaican patois for disgustingly rude]My friend received a letter from his neighbour. Is it racism?
The letter reads: ‘Dear occupants. You once more decided to continue playing loud music past midnight last night. You continued this until Saturday morning 20 November.
“I don’t know if the sound from the loud music penetrates through our apartment walls and floors, making it difficult to fall asleep. This is a very real grievance that your neighbors have. I trust you will understand it.
We sincerely value your space and lives and believe it matters. I hope that you also will respect my life and the place where we live. We are grateful.
Many people responded to this post, arguing that the letter was not racist and that the recipient should show mutual respect.
One commenter wrote that he would not tolerate an uncaring neighbour and instead run to get the “race” card. Respect your neighbors. Loud music coming from my neighbours will definitely merit them a written warning. Respect comes from both sides!
One person said, “Nope. It’s not racist at all. If anything, it’s asking you for mutual respect.” People like you can stop calling out racism every opportunity you have. This is not racism.
Many people responded to the posting claiming that the letter isn’t racist, and that the neighbor asked for mutual respect.
The majority of the responses agreed with the statement that it seemed racist. They also argued that it should have been written differently if given to someone from a different race.
“People do not realize the possibility that multiple things can be true.” The receiver might have been inconsiderate and loud. However, that does not mean it is okay to send racist puns in your letter. This paragraph is unnecessary and cowardly. “The letter is fine as it was without it,” one individual wrote.
One other said, “To those who claim this isn’t racist or are questioning whether it is, do they think the last paragraph would be included or phrased as such if the recipients were white?”
Another was added: “The racism leapt out in the final paragraph. Pure racism is evident in the way they underline everything and put ‘lives’ and’matters within quotation marks.
Other responses were overwhelming in arguing that the letter writer wouldn’t refer to “lives” or “matter” if they were talking about a white tenant.