[Reclaimmayday] Closing mail on the "Insulting Remark" Misunderstanding.

[Heather Blakey]

Dear everyone.

The email from Richy does not represent my views or feelings about
Bradford, or indeed catering, as I am sure those of you who know me
realise. I am not going to enter into defending myself here. If anyone
else feels it's necessary for me to explain anything, please let me know.
I feel very publicly attacked, and am very upset by it.

Again, I have replied to Richy off list, suggesting again that it would
have been courteous for him to talk WITH me at some point, instead of
attacking me publicly again. I think this is a shame in a group that is
supposed to working together on something positive. I previously explained
myself to Richy following the first very upsetting email, apologised for
any offence caused, and assured him there had been no intention to cause
offence.

I have no objection to anyone disagreeing with me, but I am a human being
with feelings, and the way this has been handled has been very upsetting.

I will pass on the info I have about mayday (stuff on stalls to Jules).
I'm sorry if it seems like I am taking my bat home, and I don't want to
make a big deal out of it, but being in this group is not doing me any
good, under the circumstances.

Someone will need to take over liaising with the council about stalls,
ideally today, as Richard Ambler clearly needs convincing we're a good
risk. Hopefully all the necessary details are on the email I forwarded,
but give me a call if anything else is needed. For info, I phoned up
originally and spoke to his colleague, who asked me to email Richard who
was on leave at the time.

Best wishes,

Heather.



> Hi, I hope this is a closer regarding the "insulting remark" episode.
Heather thought it would be nice if I dropped you guys a note to explain
how I have misunderstood the discussion of 28th March, and to make sure
you know that she is not a racist.
> On 28th March a mayday meeting was held. At this meeting the matter of
stalls for mayday came up, I put foreword three names who I had
> earlier contacted regarding providing food and donating to the mayday
event fund. These were a Mexican food outlet (Mexican Munchies), an
Indian/Asian food outlet (Bradford Catering), and an individual called
Richard who collects foodstuff that supermarkets and vegatable that
wholesalers and supermarkets deem not good enough to sell on their
shelves but still edible, and was happy to donate and cook for the the
event for free. The same Richard donates this foodstuff to BIASAN and
Bradford Resource Center Users. From these three food outlets alone, it
would have been possible to provide food and raisein the region of
200-300 pounds for mayday funding. An issue was raised that there would
be too many food outlet stalls for the mayday event the three I had
suggested, and two others which were a pizza place in town and the
treehouse cafe. To reduce the numbers it was suggested and agreed that
the donated food from Richard be given to treehouse to use. The next
imtem for discussion was the amount of donation each food outlet would
be asked to make towards the event. Here it was suggested by Heather
that Treehouse Cafe should be given preferential treatment regarding
contributing to event funding. It was at this juncture that I
> intereupted to say I thought this was unreasonable, and that sureley all
food outlets should be treated the same. The reason given by Heather as
to why treehouse cafe should be treated different from other food
outlets in the context of selection and contribution to the mayday event
was "because they don't use shit ingredients".
> In summary, in the same meeting an organisation (in this case
> treehouse cafe) were happy to take substandard food ingredients, without
question. In the same meeting, when challenged why the same organisation
should be given preferential treatment over others at the same event,
the argument provided is based on  "because they don't use shit
ingredient".
> While loyalty and supporting of friends is admirable, a combination of
selective memory recall(even though two people were typing notes
throughout and a third was taking minutes), impaired hearing, and
subjective comment in response to my mail, only serves to weaken the
argument rather than strengthen and explain. I am reminded here of a
saying on a postcard of a political activist friend of mine which reads
"Deadfish
> go with the flow"
> Exactly what qualifies anyone to comment on other parts of a community
in terms of "shit" anything? Bradford is the city of my birth, my home,
it might not be perfect but then where is? If anything, living in a city
that has social problems with regard to diversity and
> integration, serves to strengthens the resolve of its community to keep
positive
> and find common ground with all peoples tastes, such as music,
> appearance, food, sexuality or religions. Bradford's food suppliers are
a positive aspects of the city, winning many national prizes and adding
a positive edge to its identity and richness.
> The insult is to the many food outlets from the single food seller, cafe
to nationally recognized restaurant chain. These food outlets provide
jobs and livelihoods for hundreds of Bradford people. The majority if
Bradford people are quite happy to buy (not everyone can afford the £10+
meals at the Treehouse cafe) and eat from these places, the insult then,
 is also to the people of Bradford themselves. With regard to why my
original mail was copied the group, copying such a mail to everyone
involved is a matter of keeping groups aware, otherwise direct mails to
individuals can easily be treated as
> harassment, intimidation or bullying.
> Finally, if the original mail sounded angry that was because there was a
certain amount of anger, the type of anger generated when one feels an
injustice has taken place.
> I sincerely hope everyone involved has the intelligence to learn from
this "misunderstanding", one that no amount of textbook economic bilge
can cover up.
> --
> with kind regards
> Richard Gill
> Mob: 079-777-06109
> _______________________________________________
> Reclaimmayday mailing list
> Reclaimmayday at lists.aktivix.org
> https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/reclaimmayday


-- 
"It goes one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more."

Marge Piercy (The Low Road)