Don't like to get political typically, but I feel like there are certain things we should all know about this country. Firstly, know that I am sickened by the system. All I ask for is that police are treated like citizens when they murder a human in front of multiple other humans. I ask that said officer isn't placed on paid leave, but rather on trial. I ask that he is judged by the people, because his peers are the source of power & clearly have clouded judgement. Police are necessary, and they take on a dangerous job daily, that is clear. But at what point did they transform from public service to God-like figures? --choosing who lives and doesn't? This is from Emmitt Till to Trayvon Martin to Sean Bell to Amadou Diallo to Eric Gardner to Mike Brown and every other kid murdered with no news coverage. Dark skin is oppressed worldwide. It is clear the powers that be do not fuck with us. The system is in place. From being dragged to this country, building modern economy via cotton. To competing with Irish immigrants for jobs, to being bypassed by those same immigrants generations later due to skin tone. Blacks and Hispanics can never assimilate fully due to outward visual appearance. I use Irish as an example because they initially were treated like blacks. Americans said they were barbaric like Blacks, and their skulls resembled apes, like Blacks. Irish were enslaved in their own country before they came here [only owned 14% of Ireland by 1700], so the first generation related to Blacks and their struggles. Millions died in Ireland of HUNGER before their mass immigration. But as generations passed, they forgot, and so did many other ethnic groups, who adopted American racism just to fit in. They were able to move into elected offices and help their people move up in America. The same upward mobility was not accessible for Brown people, who were unable to blend in. To this day, there is only one Black senator per decade.There is no clean slate being brown. Your race becomes your definition. Do you consider what the media has instilled in your mind lately? Do you view a congregation of Black kids as dangerous because that is how you have seen us portrayed in movies? Or because you were actually just mugged by them while trying to go into a convenience store? My guess is you assume them to be dangerous, and that is because of the media. Public space is now seen as illegal. If your house is small, where else are you hanging out? Furthermore, each immigrant group had unique sets of struggles and all helped build America, but we Blacks have yet to gain true access to the fruits of America. Who owns these corporations [like realllllly owns them, less than ten I'm guessing]? Who really has the wealth? We don't own ANYTHING. Who runs these police departments? What has happened to Blacks in America since 1970? Desegregation, right? I mean my biracial parents are able to be married, yes. Seems like a good deal. Until you realize that there has been a 500% increase of Blacks in Prison in the US since 1970. That is the New Jim Crow. Even in northern cities in America, there were not huge Black populations until the 1920's during the great migration. Millions of Blacks moved to Northern cities such as NY, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, etc. They showed up with nothing, hundreds of years behind financially and socially than their white counterparts in their new communities. Cities were structured in a way that the Blacks were literally living on top of eachother. Then white people left those areas. Along with Whites fleeing those areas, they brought their money and political support for those areas with them, leaving a system of fucked up areas in this country uncared for, because the people in power no longer have family there. Next time you think we live in a post-racial society, remind yourself you reside in "LaLa Land."
origamiaround
titsay
gummygunk
blakekathryn
janainaart