Oh…where do I start? I’ve been seeing so many cringe-worthy posts and comments on my timeline. What’s hurtful is that I went to school with a lot of people making the comments. I know some comments come from ignorance on the subject of race and injustices against black people in America. So I’m here to help. 🙂 I want to address popular statements and why they are offensive.
All lives matter
We aren’t going to spend much time on this one because there are countless examples explaining. Would you show up to a breast cancer rally screaming “all cancers matter!” Would you show up to a women’s equal pay rally yelling “What about men? ” No, you wouldn’t. Lastly, all lives can’t matter until black lives matter.
Blue lives matter
This one is a major slap in the face. 1. There is no such thing as a blue life. A police officer can take off their uniform and you’ll never know they are a police officer. I cannot remove my skin. 2. The saying was created to discredit the black lives matter movement. It was created to stir hate and make people feel like you have to choose between supporting cops or supporting black people. 3. There lives were never in danger. Yes, they have a dangerous job but no one is killing cops over and over again with no consequences. Supporting black lives matter does not mean you’re anti-cop.
Why can’t there be peaceful protests?
This section might be a little lengthy. I’ll start by listing a few names: Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Colin Kaepernick. We hear a lot about Rosa Parks and MLK Jr in school during black history month. We don’t talk much about the actual consequences they faced. Rosa Parks went to jail for sitting quietly on the bus. MLK Jr is one of the most famous and respected civil rights leaders in history. The part we don’t hear about is that is was one of the most hated men in America during his lifetime. He was as peaceful as it gets. He was arrested several times and was assassinated. More recently, we have Colin Kaepernick. He was blackballed from the NFL (still is) and lost his entire career because of a SILENT protest.
One of the most frustrating parts about protesting is other people trying to tell you what your protest is about. *insert mind blown emoji here.” Kaep made it very clear that his protest was about police brutality against black people. It was also made very clear that a VETERAN was the one that told him to kneel. Certain Americans still turned his protest into a totally different issue. He was labeled unpatriotic and disrespectful to the military. Entire point missed, job lost, and now we are here years later still discussing black people being killed by police.
I will also encourage everyone to not believe everything on social media. There are tons of images and stories being told about the violent protests and all the damage being done. I personally went to a protest last weekend in San Antonio. It was very peaceful and well organized. It was refreshing to see everyone of different backgrounds come together. After the protest was over, a ton of kids around 16 years old came to try to damage property, yell and cuss at the police. Police used tear gas and had to eventually block the exits downtown. These kids were not apart of the protest at all.
I’ve talked to several other people and they had similar stories of peaceful protests turning into something totally different after hours by non-protesters.
Last, there are literally people going to the protest to cause problems and make it look like the BLM movement is a violent one. There has also been video proof of police officers damaging buildings and their own cars. My point is, don’t believe everything you see on social media. Go to a protest yourself or ask someone who was actually there.
I just don’t agree with them damaging property
People deal with hurt in different ways. There is A LOT of built up hurt in our community. At the end of the day,if you are more upset about insured stores being damaged than you are about countless black men and women being murdered by police; you need to look in the mirror.
If you haven’t shared one post on social media about the injustice in America but you’ve reposted every picture of the damage and looting… *side eye to you*. Ask yourself which one are you more upset about.
If you don’t like it here just leave
Ummm…what kind of logic is that? Black people should leave a country that our ancestors built because we want to be treated fairly? How about we fix the country? How about we make America great for EVERYONE? That’s all for this section, if you think this way there’s no hope for you.
It’s not a race problem, it’s a people problem
This country has a had a race problem since the beginning. If it was a “people problem” people of all races would be suffering. Black people are a minority in this country and yet get killed by police officers at a much more alarming rate than any other race. There are several white mass murderers that have been taken into custody without a scratch on them. On the other hand a broken tail light has resulted in the death of several black Americans.
Black parents have to have conversations with their children that white parents could never relate to. We have to learn how to react if and when we are pulled over, what to say and what not to say, etc. One mistake could literally be the difference between life and death.
What about black on black crime?
Have you ever heard of white on white crime or Mexican on Mexican crime? No. Again, another tactic from the media to discredit the true issues. I also would like to point out when there is a crime involving two black people there are consequences. If a black man kills a black man, he goes to jail. When a police officer kills a black man they receive paid leave and return back to their normal lives. Meanwhile a child is left fatherless and there is another broken black home.
How can I help?
Use your white privilege and speak up! First, it’s starts with you acknowledging that you have privilege. I don’t understand why this part is so difficult. White privilege doesn’t mean your whole life has been sunshine and rainbows. It means you have inherit advantages because of your skin color. It is what is it, you can use it for the benefit of mankind or you can use it in a hateful way.
Speaking up includes: talking to family and friends about what’s going on, correcting family and friends when they are wrong, talking to your children about race and how to be inclusive, helping black people if you see them being harmed by police (helping means filming, calling out the officer, reporting the behavior, not leaving the person alone with the police, etc).
The biggest one is calling out family and friends when they are wrong. It’s more effective when it comes from a friend than when it comes from a random black person. The person is going to be automatically defensive. You also have to be comfortable talking about race in general. I feel like 80% of white people are uncomfortable talking about race so they try to ignore the issues. These issues have been going on far too long and they cannot be ignored anymore.
Current mental state
Black people are tired. I have literally been mentally exhausted the last couple weeks. We have to deal with the ongoing reality of our brothers and sisters being murdered by people who are supposed to protect us.We have say “we know all cops aren’t bad” 10 times a day.We have to educate everyone on why our life matters. We have to defend our right to protest. We have to call DA offices to demand justice for our people. We have to explain history to other races. We have to explain that this has been happening forever, just recently we had the blessings of video phones. We have to go to work with a smile on our face like nothing is wrong. We have to worry if we will be the next hastag. We have to delete “friends” on social media for showing their true colors.
We have to wonder when will it ever change? Will MLK Jr’s dream of being judged by the content of your character instead of the color of your skin ever come true?
I know this post was pretty long but I truly felt it was needed. Hopefully you read the entire post and got something beneficial from it. Be blessed and be the change you desire.