For the last couple of days, this has been weighing very heavy on my heart. I feel overwhelming saddened, angry, frustrated and just plain exhausted. The events that have taken place in America will stay with our generation for a lifetime and deserve a place in history books for all to learn even after we have gone.
For far too long racism has crippled all societies worldwide, and gone unchecked and unnoticed, but mostly by choice. This just simply has to end, and has to become a collective effort from all of humanity for changes to be made. From people who say "all lives matter" to "supporting Trump but not his ideas", have to now recognise that they have validated the opinions of oppression and his ideas, including those of White supremacy and imperialism, are the very same who claim to love all, without fully understanding or educating themselves of the negative historical impacts it has left.
It has also been equally disheartening to even see members of my own family, of White passing Middle Eastern descent mind you, who have clearly forgotten that they have Black family members, support these poisoned ideals and still think they are justified in their inaction, with the belief that because we live in the West and are educated, that this does not concern us because we are "different" (just know i am thoroughly disgusted and embarrassed by you). This same difference which has seen Black graduates 3 times more likely to be unemployed after graduation, not because they aren't good enough, but because they are seen as not worthy of a position they should be granted because of the colour of their skin or because their names aren't White sounding. The same graduates who have the same grades or higher as their White counterparts because of damaging stereotypes of Black people being "not hard working enough or simply lazy". Even upon securing whatever available jobs, they still face systemic racism and prejudice from colleagues and managers who refuse to acknowledge issues affecting them at the workplace, ignore the hard work they do when going above and beyond, and refuse to support them fully in roles given while going above board for those used to abusing this system for their own benefit.
Seeing the indifference still from my White friends, who have deliberately chosen to not speak on this matter, although this news is worldwide and knowing that they are not running from it but still choosing to be silent is heartbreaking. Silence is violence. And if you still choose to be silent with all this going on, then you are choosing the side of opression for those you so claim to dearly love and be friends with. It's become easier to undermine the efforts by talking about rioters and looters, but as the great Martin Luther King Jr (who many love to quote), "riots is the language of the oppressed". So why ignore this and not listen?! Yes there are looters among them, but we all know these are opportunists looking to take advantage of the situation. Among them are agitators seeking to escalate this issue to a critical breaking point just to give racists like a Trump reason to use force by bringing out the military. Who are you really to tell us also how to protest? What injustice have you faced to even compare to what we have suffered for over 300+ years, to dictate to us to be peaceful? A question I posed to one person, for clarity, is 'if something happened to a Black member of your family, would you be peaceful?' Just stop for a moment and deeply listen to what we are saying. We are oppressed, and tired of no one speaking for us. WHY WON'T ANYONE SPEAK OUT FOR US?!
When the LGBTQ+ community needed us we were there. When the Jews needed us, we were there. When Muslims needed us after 9/11 we were there. We have been here for a long time for everyone. You should always be with us, because we were always with you. But with the world becoming climatised to the media demonising Black people especially black women as angry, difficult, criminals and untrustworthy is damaging to our very psyche and to our community, yet no one still wants to really listen to us or speak for us. Instead many wish to use this movement now to gain followers and notoriety and be praised for appearing "woke" and in tune to our basic human demands. There are even others who say respect the police and don't fight them as not all cops are bad. But where were they during this time when Black bodies were being looted and are still being looted. As far as I am concerned, all cops are bad because they had the chance time and time again to correct their fellow officers. They had time to report all the bad things they saw and heard about about them doing. They had time to stop them from looting black bodies, and yet, they still didn't stop them. They didn't report them. Instead they stood by in silence next to them, and allowed them to disrespect the profession they chose. A profession meant to protect and serve. A profession that they did neither of those things, and now use them as photo opportunities to promote themselves as being better, only to then continue doing that same things as before. The same photo opportunities Trump has now used to take photos with a bible just to appear pleasing to his Christian followers, only for the Bishop of the Church to come out and condemn him for his actions, because he wanted to talk about a church being burned.
I'm sorry to break it to you, but in America, Christianity has been used to oppress the same Black people who's ancestors built that country for free through bondage. There are too many things wrong with this image that people don't want to see because it's convenient for them. I'm not here to attack religions as many others are also guilty of alienating Black followers amongst them also. But until we are brave enough to withstand the forces, how will we ever get the courage to continue to speak out about what's right. As we have all seen on screens the last few days, Black people are a force to be recond with, and quite frankly this now your chance in history to be apart of it to make a collective change, or be swept away in the dust of inaction, silence and injustice.
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