I HAVE been disheartened by recent letters in the BN (I’m mystified/Vain gesture August 13) regarding the Black Lives Matter movement.

I hope this is the result of insufficient understanding of the issues raised by BLM demonstrations, rather than wishing to perpetuate discrimination.

The term Black Lives Matter must be understood as a response to generations of oppression and harm caused to black people, rather than a stand-alone statement.

No one is suggesting that white lives do not matter, but it is not white people who have faced centuries of systemic prejudice as a result of the colour of their skin.

White people must come to recognise how our whiteness unknowingly affords us privileges through the absence of negative decisions made against us based on race.

The BLM movement asks us to recognise that black people have been treated unequally in Britain since times of slavery, with repercussions still manifesting today.

DAN CORREN
Bridport