A Random Attack Last Night
Posted by SpecialistDue6299@reddit | miltonkeynes | View on Reddit | 56 comments
Hello,
I am white 35M. It’s been 6 months since I moved to MK, and I’d like to share one of the worst experiences I had last night.
While we were sitting with friends on the benches in front of The Almere in Milton Keynes, a Black man suddenly tried to hit me from behind. I was lucky that he missed. I had no idea what was happening and I was completely unprepared. When I turned around, he started saying things like “punk come on then, hit me” and was behaving in a very aggressive and confrontational way. After my friends reacted and said we were calling the police, he ran away before he could harm us. I still don’t understand the situation — why would someone do something like that for no reason? If his punch had landed, things could have turned out much worse.
The police have opened a case, and there are CCTV cameras around the area where the incident happened. I don’t think much will come from it, but what disturbed me the most was someone trying to hurt me for absolutely no reason.
EUskeptik@reddit
Drugs or mental illness.
The concept of Care in the Community was good. Rather than lock people up in mental hospitals, they would be supported in the community, medicated and monitored.
Care in the Community was a high priority for government who wanted to end the prevalence of mental institutions and support people living a near-normal life.
However, the execution failed because local authorities spent the allocated budget on their other ‘priorities’ like education and care for the physically infirm and the elderly. For some reason, it is legally impracticable to ring-fence money given to local authorities for specific purposes and they can spend the money on whatever they choose. This explains why potholes aren’t getting repaired at the rate needed - the authorities aren’t respecting central government’s priorities.
The result is we have large numbers of mentally ill people who aren’t taking their meds. Some self-medicate with substances other than prescription drugs. Cannabis became popular because it gained a reputation for relaxing its users. Unfortunately, stronger varieties known as skunk now predominate and they are responsible for causing mental health problems rather than solving them - schizophrenia being the most common.
Quite a few murders have been carried out by paranoid schizophrenics living in the community but not being properly supported. Each of those murders has added weight to a campaign to lock up paranoid schizophrenics to protect the public. No progress has been made. Care in the Community is dysfunctional so the problem remains.
It is quite possible that the person who attacked you was a paranoid schizophrenic. Do take care.
-##-
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
Drugs or mental illness.
The concept of Care in the Community was good. Rather than lock people up in mental hospitals, they would be supported in the community, medicated and monitored.
Care in the Community was a high priority for government who wanted to end the prevalence of mental institutions and support people living a near-normal life.
However, the execution failed because local authorities spent the allocated budget on their other ‘priorities’ like education and care for the physically infirm and the elderly. For some reason, it is legally impracticable to ring-fence money given to local authorities for specific purposes and they can spend the money on whatever they choose. This explains why potholes aren’t getting repaired at the rate needed - the authorities aren’t respecting central government’s priorities.
The result is we have large numbers of mentally ill people who aren’t taking their meds. Some self-medicate with substances other than prescription drugs. Cannabis became popular because it gained a reputation for relaxing its users. Unfortunately, stronger varieties known as skunk now predominate and they are responsible for causing mental health problems rather than solving them - schizophrenia being the most common.
Quite a few murders have been carried out by paranoid schizophrenics living in the community but not being properly supported. Each of those murders has added weight to a campaign to lock up paranoid schizophrenics to protect the public. No progress has been made. Care in the Community is dysfunctional so the problem remains.
It is quite possible that the person who attacked you was a paranoid schizophrenic. Do take care.
-##-
Repulsive-Board3494@reddit
You clearly were just describing what happened you were not being racist and I did not think you were for one minute. You gave us a description and the man just happened to be black and although he may have had mental health issues that does not lessen the harm he would’ve caused if he had been successful in hitting you in the head. Aggression not never warranted but merely could be a contributing factor.
Tigershot6@reddit
Mate, you should’ve boxed him up and pushed him away. You’re from Turkey, you don’t know how to fight? + it was 2v1. the moment you realised you should’ve intimidated him. 0 survival instincts.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I understand your point, but I think it’s because I lived in Turkey that I tried to avoid getting involved. Personal weapon ownership is very common there, and many fights can end with knives or guns being involved. I learned that sometimes survival means avoiding unnecessary confrontations whenever possible.
My life is valuable and I have a lot to lose. I can’t risk ending up dead or in prison because of someone who may have nothing to lose. I hope that makes my perspective clearer.
KamazasBl@reddit
Lived here for 11 years and although i had some dodgy encounters at night when being piss drunk I feel like the place is getting less and less secure.
Dont get me wrong I love mk, but i think a lot of people tend to brush things off. The matter is that such things keep happening.
Recently a bunch of prisoners got released due to a new legislation and one of them murdered a security guard mid day in shopping centre.
We have teens rioting every other day.
We have buildings burning nearly on a monthly basis this year.
The lawlesness is thriving hard...
majorpickle01@reddit
I've lived here my entire life and don't drive so I regularly walk a lot across the city and i've never had issues. Not saying they don't happen but they are rare and isolated.
KamazasBl@reddit
For such population so much reported crime is insanely big. My home city is as big as mk and even more green and theres far less crime.
majorpickle01@reddit
Fair, I'm just speaking anecdotally. I don't know the actual stats. I just don't really know anyone personally that's experienced a crime from a stranger in mk, save a random drunk fight and such
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I’m also trying to think of it as an isolated incident so that I don’t develop trauma.
Snoo_85712@reddit
Sorry that happened to you. I understand what you meant in both your original post and the edit, but I still think the race detail wasn’t necessary for people to understand the incident. Bringing it up risks distracting from what actually happened.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I’m new here and I mentioned it because I was trying to understand whether there are any racial tensions in the area. I’m aware that some people may have trauma or be more sensitive about these topics, and I respect that. However, after I clarified my intention in the updated post, continuing to interpret it negatively feels a bit like reading too much into it.
__mz@reddit
It sounds like he’s mentally unwell.
I’m unsure of the relevant of skin colour.
DeadPlank@reddit
Imagine describing the man that tried to hit you to the police without mentioning skin colour.
__mz@reddit
What is he hoping to achieve by posting that on here? Hes clearly stated he wasn’t sure if there is racial tension in the area
DeadPlank@reddit
Because a description could help identify. Someone might know of a man in the area who has done this before. Don’t know why this is triggering people.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I fully agree with you
__mz@reddit
He’s reported it to the police, I’m sure they are doing their own investigations without the Reddit community mentioning other black men that this could be.
Samuel-rog1@reddit
Shut up
Nimble_Natu177@reddit
Reading into this as anything more than a description of the attacker suggests you are also mentally unwell.
czoxynai08@reddit
I think people need to appreciate how much weight certain words can carry.. no one on reddit can actually help him of he has already opened a police report. The incident could have been described without racial markers and it would still convey the insecurity and the randomness of the attack. Plus I think there is an overtone here with OP mentioning he's from a country with no black people.. what does this mean? Is he looking for someone to say yes all black people are like this?
SnooDogs6068@reddit
I'm Iranian i.e. Brown skinned.
Your reaction to this is mental. Noticing skin colour when describing an individual is perfectly normal.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I had only really seen racism-related issues in movies before. I honestly thought these kinds of things were mostly in the past. However, if there is still any racial tension or conflict in a country I’m unfamiliar with, I would want to understand that because I genuinely don’t know.
Also, a Black resident from The Almere who witnessed the incident came over afterward to check if we were okay. Any negative thoughts ended before they even started. What I’m trying to say is not to judge anyone by race. I’m only trying to understand whether there are any tensions or conflicts between groups here that I should be aware of as someone new to the country.
czoxynai08@reddit
I understand it must have been an odd and troubling experience for you. I think the way you framed the last part is sort of similar to the narrative we constantly hear in the media and otherwise repeated -- "not racist because I have coloured friends" kind of angle. But anyway thank you for addressing and trying to understand the situation better than blaming xyz...
WorkAccount6@reddit
Just letting you know that "coloured" is an extremely offensive way to describe any PoC and I'd appreciate if you'd check your language before commenting. My big beautiful PoC wife read your comment over my shoulder and was extremely upset by your language there so just try to use your brain please buddy.
czoxynai08@reddit
Absolutely I agree.. I am a PoC too.. and I'm trying to point out this exact same thing
Nimble_Natu177@reddit
There is no help for people like you, please spend some time away from the internet.
czoxynai08@reddit
Lol.. honestly you begin to experience the world differently when you're subjected to racism.. I don't know your experience but well done from maintaining objectivity in your perspective. I was merely pointing out that certain statements do carry more weight because of how they are presented in popular media, and I think we as people should begin changing these if we want to stand against racism. I mean yes we will still call a black person black, but how are we framing everything around it matters too
TroublesomeButch@reddit
I agree with you, but at the same time, he has to provide a description of what has happened, doesn't he.
Police themselves would ask a description of the person.
It is important, every time and not only in cases like this, that we remain objective and treat the discussion without adding unnecessary personal remarks.
OP wrote it in the uttermost respectful way. He said he's not racist, he has close to none experience with different races than his, he's really polite. What else do you need? Should he remove the word black from the dictionary, now?
czoxynai08@reddit
I understand the descriptors, I think the last para just puts it off because of the same narrative that's beaten about... It is sad how certain words have become so racially charged with or without intent. I didn't mean to personally judge OP rather how the way he ended makes it seem to follow a certain narrative... OP is making effort to understand the area and I think that's commendable
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
This is actually what I meant when I said I have little experience with racism. I’m new to this country and I’m learning that it is still a sensitive topic here, and that even certain words can make people uncomfortable. I understand that as well, because people who have experienced racism can naturally be more sensitive about these subjects.
That’s why I updated my post and explained my reasons in more detail. I didn’t mean anything negative by mentioning race — I only wanted to describe the situation and understand it better.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
I think so. Because at one point he also walked aggressively toward my wife. I don’t think any normal man would do something like that, no matter what the reason is.
Man_Flu@reddit
They are descriptive words describing a situation, like gender.
What you instantly discharge a possible racist attack if it was a group of black guys sitting down and a random white guy swung on them for no reason?
Safe-Trifle-9465@reddit
What time did this happen?
Hope you’re okay now
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
It happened after 10 pm on 26th May. We are okay now, but it affected us mentally.
Southern-Safe628@reddit
Sorry you had to deal with that in CMK, and I’m also sorry for the amount of lunatics in the comments who think it’s wrong to describe the man who attacked you.
Snoo_85712@reddit
I don’t think it was necessary personally. If he is giving evidence to the police then yeah they kinda want a description but if you are just retelling a story why not just say a random guy tried to attack me?
Nimble_Natu177@reddit
I'm sorry you had this experience, I'm also sorry that the person who downvoted this has clearly falsely assumed you are a racist.
JamieTimee@reddit
It's not racist, it's just completely unnecessary. It's as useful as saying "I'm a 30 year old male wearing a green shirt and man in an orange shirt attacked me". Except when you make specific mention of skin colour in to the equation, you're making the implication that it has something to do with it (it doesn't)
KamazasBl@reddit
Everyone receives information as they are trained to receive it. You need some offline time homie
Nimble_Natu177@reddit
They are merely describing the attacker, please spend some time off of Reddit.
TroublesomeButch@reddit
This.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
He may have described me as racist because I mentioned skin color, but as I said, I’m against all forms of racism. The reason I mentioned it was not because of prejudice. I only mentioned it because if there are any race-related issues or tensions where I live, I would want to understand them, as I genuinely have no experience with this at all.
Unknown_Author70@reddit
You described the person in question, factually. you didn't state that their actions were due to them being black.
You're good.
RustyInvader@reddit
False assumptions? On Reddit? Couldn’t possibly be true
oalfonso@reddit
Someone tries to attack another person and people are more triggered because he described the attacker as black rather than the attack. State of affairs.
oalfonso@reddit
Weeks ago I called the police because a man was shouting profanities and being aggressive with the pedestrians. It was between the old Santander building and the Wetherspoons. I think it is the same man you are describing.
KamazasBl@reddit
A slim black dude air fighting while having some psychotic episodes in the middle of the day? Ive been walking alongside him into Sainsbury's he walked around. Got my car from the car park and as I was driving saw the guy with 2 other homeless people living there.
Thought he was on some new form of drugs or very psychotic.
YTpaxton@reddit
There was a chap loitering around the train station on Sat night, being verbally aggressive to everyone he could, picking on football supporters, girls from a night out and just about everyone else. The police came and he went mad and they ushered him off. Tbf I think he probably has some mental health issues.
May have been the same person. He had dreads and wore what looked like camo clothing.
al3x696@reddit
Unfortunately like all places there are some undesirables. We just need to make sure we educate our children to be better.
ParanormalMisfit@reddit
Sorry this happened to you, you all did the right thing by not retaliating and reporting to the police.
No-Lawfulness5940@reddit
Insane 😞 gotta watch our backs at all time now. Sorry, it happened to you.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
This is actually what I meant when I said I have little experience with racism. I’m new to this country and I’m learning that it is still a sensitive topic here, and that even certain words can make people uncomfortable. I understand that as well, because people who have experienced racism can naturally be more sensitive about these subjects.
That’s why I updated my post and explained my reasons in more detail. I didn’t mean anything negative by mentioning race — I only wanted to describe the situation and understand it better.
Megaprana@reddit
Sorry this happened to you.
Try not to let this give a bad impression of any group of people. Shitty people of all groups exist.
But its are to be attacked by anyone, so please don’t let this make you afraid to walk around town.
Mabyee@reddit
Was he wearing/carrying some sort of flag + some antenna like object? I encountered someone of that description walking from mall to the train station that was quite agitated last night.
SpecialistDue6299@reddit (OP)
No, he wasn’t carrying or wearing anything like what you described. This person was walking from the CMK area toward the train station.