What we choose to celebrate

Special event callsigns are something many of us like to operate from time to time.  I typically run one or two a year, although it's quite an effort to get the callsign certificates and QRZ.com pages all set up.

This past month saw a lot of VE Day 75th anniversary SES callsigns operating around Europe, including my own, GB5VEP.

Also in May, we saw a number of 'stay at home' callsigns and, in the UK, the rather unusual acceptance by OFCOM that the suffix /NHS could be used with any callsign.  

One thing that is often true about SES events is that they have little direct relevance to radio per se.  And indeed, there has never been any legal or other understanding that they should.  We are free to choose what we would like to celebrate, from the local village fete to globally-historic events. 

So, I was surprised to see that nobody, thus far, has started using a 'Black Lives Matter', 'BLM' or other such callsign to raise awareness, protest and celebrate, possibly in equal measure, following recent events in the US.

And the UK is hardly innocent: non-white men are over nine times as likely as white men to be stopped and searched by Police

Partly to see what would happen, and partly out of genuine interest in why we haven't seen any SES in support of black lives suddenly spring up, I posted a simple question on QRZ.com as to why not?

The response is rather disturbing.

Here are a few selections, those from the US being made at ~4am local time:

VK4HAT, from the immigrant nation that obliterated Aboriginal black lives:

"Only a matter of time before a mod logs in and nukes this shit."

ON6KE, from a nation that was heavily 'involved' in Congo:
:
"We already have enough special call sign crap." 

WE4B, from the immigrant nation built on black blood and toil:

"This is not going to end well..."

K4AGO, as above:

"Has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with ham radio."

WZ7U, entirely missing the point (and data) about black experience:

"Incoming!
So, in the interest of staying on a radio vector, would the call sign suffixes need to be BLM or ALM for all lives matter?"

And an afterthought by WZ7U that doesn't improve his image:

' "I can't breathe" would be a really long call sign'

(it's hardly much longer than 'stayathome', which was no problem for anyone)


WZ7U and VK4HAT then find their echo chamber working very well, and issue the following:

 
Of course, I've previously and long-noted the lack of non-white and non-male faces appearing in the ham radio press, and this kind of troubling responses, made in public with full identifying information, is hardly a good message for any non-white people reading it nor, for that matter, for any thinking white people doing the same.

Up yours, QRZ.com and its racist members!

So, now you know: when black people are murdered by the Police, you can look forward to that being equated to a potato.  But no SES callsign to raise awareness.  That would simply be going too far, apparently.

Update:

QRZ.com yielded to the inevitable racist backlash and 'moved' the thread, which was in general discussions already.  Though it says it has been moved to a 'proper forum', I see no sign of it.  I fear that QRZ.com is more 'White American' than I already found it to be, and I am quite disturbed by the degree of hatred on display there.  None of those people making mockingly racist comments have been censored, of course.