everyone in america: yay we get a day off!
me, also an american: iâm not sure you deserve a day off in MLKâs name with all the racist crap youâve been pulling in the past few years, but sure, go off i guess
Anyway, not the point of this post.
The point of this post is actually a tribute to MLK, the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and every single Black person who has fought for justice. Then and now. To MLK, and to the Black protestors in the Civil Rights Movement. To Harriet Tubman and all the Black men and women who fought in the Abolition Movement, the Underground Railroad, and Civil War. To Black Lives Matter and all the Black people who have risked their lives to fight for true justice. To all the Black communities and individuals who have fought over the many centuries as groups and as individuals in many movements and protests, who risked and often lost everything in order to fight for real justice in America, both today and in the past: thank you.Â
We too often ignore the efforts of the average Black people in favor of the white allies. So today, I want to acknowledge Black fighters and communities in specific.
So thank you to Martin Luther King Jr., for standing up and fighting for what was right. Thank you to Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and Claudette Colvin. Thank you to all those who fought alongside them and do not get named. Today is for all the black people who risked and sacrificed their lives and livelihoods to fight for the true justice and Black rights during the Civil Rights Movement. Today, take a moment to think on all those people. Take a moment, just one moment, to truly think about the man who advocated for peaceful protests, and take a moment to think about all the people who, like him, risked everything to fight for what was right.
Thank you to everyone who is still fighting that fight today. Please, everyone â take a moment to think on those people, the Black people risking their lives at protests today, throughout this entire hectic year. I can say with confidence: 2020 was a disaster, but the BLM movement was a shining beacon of hope in the midst of the mess. Itâs truly inspiring to see people moving together like this. And itâs no temporary movement; BLM is here to stay, and Iâm practically jumping in my seat with glee. (The Civil Rights Movement lasted decades. I have a feeling BLM is prepared to be just as stubborn. Iâm prepared to join them.)
I am white. I am part of the system. Hell â I benefit from the system.
But it needs to stop, because it is horrifically wrong and immoral. To all the black communities, to all non-white communities: I will not run away from this countryâs history, from its horrible past and what my very own ancestors have done to your peoples. I will not deny it, and I will not turn a blind eye. I will seek information that has been kept hidden out of shame, and educate myself and others. I promise to fight tooth and nail for the justice you deserve, that you have been denied for centuries. Because this is wrong. You deserve better.
But more than anything, I promise to listen to you all, to follow your lead, because this is your fight. Your people are the ones who have suffered and been hurt. You are the ones who understand the situation, and I am merely an outsider to your communities. I am an outsider who wants more than anything to help, but still an outsider and a white one at that. I will do everything I can to take initiative on my own to help you, donât get me wrong. But I promise I will listen to you, because all of you know better than I do. Because when I say something unintentionally prejudiced, I want to be corrected, so that I donât say it again. Because I do not want to do the wrong thing and hurt people.
I am sixteen. For years, I feared the risk of protests. I feared death. I feared hurting my loved ones by getting hurt if I went to protests. But Iâm done cowering, because thatâs what the racists want, isnât it? Iâm angry. Iâve seen so many people hurt and Iâm tired of it. I want it to stop. So Iâm going to stand up and fight. When this pandemic is over, so help me God â I will be there, and I will fight.
For today, writing this piece doesnât feel like enough. I want to do more. I want to be protesting, I want to be working towards real change, I want to be doing more than just braindumping onto the internet. PLEASE reach out if youâve got anything I can do that doesnât involve leaving deep quarantine, because I canât think of anything (Iâm one of FOUR high-risk group people in the household; weâre in very very deep quarantine.)
In honor of Martin Luther King Junior, one of greatest, bravest Americans to ever live, hereâs a quote by him I ran across during school readings that I just ADORE that I shared here on Tumblr a while ago:
Itâs been on an upward trajectory throughout history, over all. And that? That will never change. Justice will not lose to bigots.
