Black Lives Will Always Matter

June 10, 2020

To the human-kind, June 1st to 7th was the most empowering, transformative, and heavy week our nation and the world has had, amongst other things, of course—pandemic and all. But what was beautiful, albeit a little bit scary, was the amount of protests that went on. It was beautiful in the way how there’s still a pandemic going on in the world, but it spoke utter volumes that THAT many people showed up, spoke out, and protested for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, racial injustice/discrimination, and police brutality. It spoke volumes. It was stunning. The only reason I found it scary was, again, we are living through a pandemic, so I just hope everyone was protesting safely and healthily, and the other reason being some protests were violent on either side.

And that’s the thing, violence is heart-breaking.

What happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, and so many more African Americans out there was DISGUSTING, IMMORAL, AND PLAIN WRONG. And reading and hearing about those stories made my heart more than heavy because they didn’t derisive any of it. NONE. And as a reader, I read The Hate You Give way back when it came out and I watched the movie and I kid you not, there has never been a book or a movie that has made me more saddened or frustrated or angry as The Hate You Give. I remember I watched the movie, balling my eyes out at that scene where Mavrick talked to Starr and the brother in the yard about how they had to respond to the police. And then there was the scene in the beginning where Mavrick did the same thing in having a talk with Starr and the brother about what to do if a police came up to them. Reading that and watching that in the movie, utterly broke my heart—-the fact that innocent kids have to have that kind of talk and fear the police BROKE MY HEART. How is that right? It’s not fair because the only talk other people of color or Caucasians get is the birds and the bees—-we don’t get the talk about fearing our lives each and every day.

And it pains my heart that that is what African Americans live through everyday. That’s what they’ve been living through and I am beyond ashamed that I haven’t spoke up or done something sooner. Because I am fortunate enough to have an education and to learn about these things in school. Knowledge is power and I should have been more vocal about it, but I also think like me, if you have been educated about Black history in America or in the world, that you should give yourself some grace. Give yourself grace in knowing that it is okay to be educated and to not have fully used that until now because maybe you didn’t have a platform or a voice back then to do so. But now is the time to speak up and use your knowledge to spread awareness. Tell people what you have learned in school or college about the true history of America, about systematic racism, about the inequality, and all of it. Use your voice no matter how small your platform is. I have a small platform, beyond small in the grand scheme of social media, but no voice is too small.

“Pressuring people to post won’t incite change.

I read this on social media and it stuck with me because, yes, post about it, be aware of it, but do it if you have the passion to. Because posting about it to be “cool” or with the “trend” isn’t for the right reasons and it’s not coming from a genuine place of change, but of wanting to be “with the times.” No, post about it if you feel the passion in your hear to do so, so maybe one person can see that and educate themselves and reflect on themselves to change. That is how we incite change. It is always okay to admit that you have acted wrong or haven’t spoken up and to change now. It’s never to late. Never.

During this time, a lot of people have been educating themselves through books, films, and podcasts, some of which I will leave below so you may also educate yourself. And if you have books, films, or podcasts that you recommend, please comment below as it would be very much appreciated and helpful! 💕 I think it’s wonderful that people are stepping up and wanting to be better by learning about their country’s history and African American history because it highlights an effort for wanting to see where it all went wrong and why there is such racism today.

Growing up, I always asked myself, why does racism exist? Why are people so rude and hateful to African Americans? I genuinely didn’t understand it because from my education up until high school, I really didn’t know what they did to ever deserve that kind of hate.

But then I got to college. Timing really is everything. I took a class called America and the World and by no means is it a social change class or anything, but it taught me the truth about American history in such an eye-opening light that I was never taught until my 15th year of getting an education. And I just thought that was sad. Utterly sad. How I had to wait 15 years to answer the biggest question I had as a kid and how I didn’t even know my own country’s history all that truthfully.

If you are like me and grew up in America, you probably heard about people from Britain coming to America to separate from the King because he was overpowering and yada yada yada. And then there was the 13 colonies and they separated from Britain and became America. And the lived happily ever after. NO!

Don’t even get me started on the mass genocide that the people who “discovered” America did because that’s a whole other lie. Because the Mayflower and Native Americans having Thankgiving together—you know the happy pictures online of people in headdresses and pilgrims eating together—-I think it’s rather rubbish compared to the absolute HORRORS that Native Americans faced.

But in terms of African American history: America was built on slavery.

Slavery has been going on far longer than when Americans brought slavery over.

This brings me to my America and the World class. In this class, we read the 1619 articles from the New York Times, which discusses African American recounts and contributions ever since 1619 when the first slave ships came to America. Reading these articles was the one thing that hit my heart the most from this class. You can Google The 1619 Project and it’ll pop up and I’ll link it. I think you need to be subscribed to the New York Times to fully read it. They also have a podcast, so you can find it on Apple Podcasts and I think Spotify.

If you don’t have access to either medias, that’s fine, but I would like to mention one article that is highly worthwhile to look at: Our Democracy’s Founding Ideals Were False When Written. Black Americans Have Fought To Make Them True written by Nikole Hannah Jones.

Click to read the 1619 Project Articles

Before I get into the article, I just want to put a disclaimer, this is my interpretation of the article and I am no scholar. It is with a lot of doubt that what I say with each picture and my interpretation, that it might be wrong, but I tried to understand this piece as best as I could. And if I understood it wrong, I am sorry and you can fully tell me what your interpretation is. Please don’t bash me in the comments. I am still trying to educate myself and want to understand better 😊.

So we all heard the story of why Europeans left Britain, but one of the reasons that not a lot know is that the colonists left britain because they were going to abolish slavery. But the founding fathers, wanted to keep slavery, so they went to the new world (North America) and I believe, they created the thirteen colonies. And this explained why the first twelve presidents of America were slave owners. So the founding fathers that people praise in school, were every bit of wrong and immoral.

One of those founding fathers was Thomas Jefferson. When creating the Declaration of Independence he wanted to place blame on anyone but himself and those alike him. So he blamed the king of England for “forcing” slavery on the “unwilling colonists” because it didn’t have to be this way—-where they separated from England and brought slavery over. To me, it feels like he was trying to make the king of England out to be the bad guy when he was.

But America became independent from Britain, they could no longer blame slavery on them because if they kept slavery it wouldn’t be Britain’s fault anymore for “forcing” the “unwilling” citizens there to practice slavery. It would look wrong to the rest of the world also. But the founding fathers didn’t want to give up slavery, so they kept it by justifying it in the utmost RIDICULOUS, DISGUSTING, and VILE way they could. They dehumanized African Americans and made them inferior. They justified slavery by claiming African Americans were less than.

They created the idea of a “slave race.” The very idea of what racism became. It the belief that was so ingrained in the heart of every American back then—-that they believed that African Americans were inferior and deserved to be treated as other/different. It’s the belief that has been passed down generation to generation for YEARS. We still have it today.

Once slavery ended, this ideaology of a “slave race,” simply did not go away. It festered, it grew in people. Because deep down Caucasians were scared. They were scared that if African Americans got educated, they would be better. That they would have power. And Caucaisans could not live with themselves if the very group of people they treated as inferior did better than them. They could not have that happen because it was “dangerous.” So they continued to justify the unjust and inferior treatment of African Americans. I think this is why systematic racism occurred—-to oppress African Americans from ever being better than Caucasians or that African Americans would thrive. This is why African Americans live in poorer neighborhood, go schools with less resources, don’t have the opportunity to go to college, or get work easily. This keeps the cycle of oppression where they are unable to move up in life or be the leaders of the world. It might be why some African Americans sell drugs because that is the only way they can make a living to support their family because instead of the government helping them out, they push them down and reject them until they become the very image the government wants to show people: drug dealers, “gold chains and grills,” and all those negative things. They want to depict African Americans as bad, but they are not. Sure, selling drugs isn’t the most ethical way to a life, but heck, they have families and bills to pay and no one is helping them when they need to!! And the drugs they sell aren’t even that bad compared to all the Caucasian people who do sell drugs too and sell the harder things. I wrote a whole paper on the War on Drugs and how it was created to literally just lock up any and all African Americans who sold drugs. How is that fair when any Caucasian who sells drugs gets off for less? Or doesn’t get caught at all? When Caucasians sell more lethal drugs? IT’S NOT FAIR. And I’m not trying to call anyone out, but to point out how there is soooooo much injustice in how African Americans get treated. So much. And it’s not fair.

I mean, you see it, you hear it, you KNOW it.

If a white man took advantage of a girl, that man would get off less than an African American.

If a white woman accused an African American of something, that African American’s word means nothing.

If a white man killed someone that man would serve less than an African American man who stole a candy bar.

It’s wrong.

Wrong

wrong

wrong.

WRONG.

It’s disgusting.

I am disgusted.

Because what did African Americans ever do to deserve this? Ever?

People paint them out as villains, but it says a lot more about society who spends a tedious amount of time doing so than just owning up to a history of wrong?

How hard is it to say, I was WRONG and I AM SORRY?

Seven words.

But no, here we are decades later creating the same type of oppression for them for gosh darn no reason than us telling each other that it’s okay. It’s not okay. No one is forcing us to be racist. No law, no rule, nothing. We tell each other. We live by what we learn.

And we learned this from society. There is not supreme person like Big Brother sitting behind a camera laughing at us being FREAKING racists. NO. We did this to each other.

We need to stop this.

Because we are people at the end of the day and if we were taught racism, we can be untaught it. We can teach generations to be better. And that starts with our education and our values. To really reflect and look in our hearts to our biases and to society. Ask ourselves, why? Why do we treat people like this? Why are we so racist?

Why?

Reflect.

American is essentially a lie. And I am an American and I fully say this whole heartedly. We say “all men are created equal,” but I will tell you that this is a joke. It’s just for show. Because if all men were created equal as America says, then why are African Americans treated less than?

But America is built on African Americans.

They were the ones who taught colonists how to grow food. They were the ones who literally built the White House and laid it’s foundations. They built this country.

And they paved the way for other movements to happen like women’s rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and so many more things to follow.

Because no one cherishes freedom more than those who don’t have it.

This stuck with me a lot. And in relation to the article, it was mostly saying how they were the ones who fought for democracy and for people to hav ea voice because they were the very ones who didn’t. And it was the African Americans who cherished democracy and freedom because they knew what it was like to not have any of that—-to have nothing. And they fought for it because they knew in their hearts that they deserved better. And they did. They do.

This nation was borne on the backs of black resistance.

It truly was.

Think about it.

In relation to police brutality and the BLM today it is highly true. They are the ones who are on the frontlines fighting for change because they constantly know what it’s like to not have a voice, to be free, to be treated equally, to be treated with compassion, and other horrible things. They experience it day in and day out. And I will not know what that ever feels like, but I do know in my heart that it must SUCK. If there is a word worse than SUCK, that is the word I would use. Because no one deserves to be treated the way they have. No one.

And no matter how much their country does them wrong, they fight for a better world. They resist. They persist. They are what this country stands for though and through and I would much rather have them leading with all their resilience, compassion, empathy, and kindness than people who are fair skin, racist, vile, cruel, hateful, and heartless. I would much rather.

Because if there’s anything, anything I can say it’s that it’s what inside that counts.

Seeing cops, COPS, push down a 73 year old man and all those cops walk on, was DISGUSTING. I WAS DISGUSTED.

I was disgusted watching all the cops

Run over people.

Hit people with their cars.

Slam people with horses.

Rubber bullet people.

Tear gas people.

Shove people.

Throw water bottles.

Take innocent protesters.

Utterly disgusted by the lack of humanity they displayed. And most of them came from Caucasian males. They had no heart.

But I saw the heart of every African American person and they were nothing but peaceful and kind and hurt. Yes, there were violent protests, but I get it. If African Americans took a knee and that didn’t bode well for people, I get why they were more zealous with their protests. Sure, I don’t condone violence, but I get it.

What I don’t get is how police act so salaciously when they are the very ones to protect the people? NO, they are HURTING the people. How is that right? How is that safe?

Why do we put so much money on weapons and violence when there are other things out there that needs more money? I don’t know, like HOSPITALS, EDUCATION, POOR COMMUNITIES, UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.

It’s wrong.

But we can make it right.

One of the ways is of course, protesting.

And you can’t say protesting doesn’t work because what I have seen in the last week as a result of protesting has been nothing short of powerful.

Geroge Floyd’s murderers got charged more.

They reopened Breonna’s case.

Black Lives Matter painted on a street leading to the white house.

So many petitions.

Reform for some policies departments.

Change for some counties in putting money towards African American communities.

Protesting works.

Keep doing it.

Keep showing up.

Be peaceful.

The other way is education.

Like I said before, we learn to hate, no one is born hating. No one is born racist.

We must unlearn what we were taught.

We must educate ourselves.

Take online courses. Read books. Read credible articles. Watch videos. Just keep learning.

As a future educator, I know I want to teach my students the true history of America and to be anti-racist. To open up the conversation for my students to have nothing but compassion and understanding in their hearts.

It also starts with education at home. Teach your kids to be better. Raise your kids anti-racist. That’s where the narrative starts.

Another one is to defund the police.

I don’t know the full logistics of what this is, but I have picked up that it’s about using money that is used for the police and using it for other social services. Because America empahzies it’s military and defense, and that also means the police. A lot of money goes to the police, but it should go to other services that need it more like schools, poor communities, and other services. And I highly support this because it starts with what we prioritize as a nation as well.

A school in a poor neighborhood lacks the resources it needs to help kids get a good education to move up in the world all at the cost of police having more weapons and creating more violence. We don’t need that. We need educated kids who will be active members of change in the world. We need more funding for schools and other things—-stop the systematic racism.

Another one is to vote. Vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. People will always preach to the choir, “oh, voting is dumb,” or “my voice doesn’t matter,” or “my vote won’t make a difference.” All things I’ve heard my family say.

And it sucks.

Its sucks that some people we feel like they won’t ever make a change because they don’t have a voice large enough or a platform big enough. No voice is too quiet and no platform is too small because anyone can hear you and anyone can see you and maybe that one person will be the person who is inspired. And that is why I continue to speak up because maybe I can inspire someone to think differently and to challenge his/her own thoughts.

But voting is essential because as much as it seems like a joke, we live in a democracy and that means we have a voice. And we should use it as much as we can.

Don’t go voting to just randomly choose someone or someone who sounds like he or she has a pretty name or you heard good things about that person.

Vote with intention.

Research who is running in your state or for your country and look into his/her platform and beliefs. Go deep into that. Go to the credible sources and not the opinontated pages that will tell you who to vote for. And I can’t tell you what those websites are because there are a lot of them, but use good judgement when you search and with what you read. Because a lot of websites or the media will feed you all these false promises of a candidate to highlight them in a positive light to get you into liking them. But behind those bright lights and shiny promises, might be a whole lot of nothing.

DIG THAT STUFF UP!!!

It might take hours, it might take minutes to fully research the people running in your state or country, but an hour of your time or if you have a few minutes, is better than not educating yourself at all. It will be worth your time to research because you will be voting for someone who will lead you and speak out for you for the next however many so days that individual holds power in office. They represent YOU. Don’t choose someone you don’t believe in. Choose someone will will enact positive change, whose values aligns with yours, and who is compassionate and honest. Choose wisely.

Be there to vote.

I know voting is beyond unfair in some places in America and the way they do all these things to stop African Americans or other individuals for voting. But never give up. Your voice matters and gosh darn if it’s not going to be heard, you scream it out loud from the rooftops until someone hears because YOUR VOICE MATTERS!!

This is your country and you DESERVE a say. We ALL Do.

So vote vote vote.

Wisely.

Because it’s not dumb, it’s how YOU can make a change.

Here are just a few websites I found that hopefully serve as a basis to help you know when to vote; how to vote; and who is running and a little bit of information about those individuals. But always feel free to do more research on the candidates and look up the governors, senators, and mayors running for your state to know their beliefs.

Click for 2020 State Primary Election Dates

Presidential Candidates (in America) running in 2020

How to register as a new voter

I have also heard of different bills? laws? people are trying to fight for.

Like the Hands Up Bill to say that police can’t shoot an unarmed citizen.

I would also like to see a law saying a police who kills a defenseless civilian on the basis of race get imprisoned. Or something like that because it’s just wrong.

Above all, I also know police need more training.

How in the WORLD does a hair dresser have more training than an officer?

That’s RIDICULOUS.

I found this online, but I highly agree. Police officers need an education and to understand people’s minds and to know sociology, which talks about racism and inequality. That way police officers can know their biases and understand them to be more empathetic. But I understand education might not change a person, so I think a test for racial bias might be needed to see. Like a test period for a cop in the field where if they act maliciously because of someone’s skin color, sexuality, or religion, then they be put off from being an officer. And if an officer does one act that’s discriminatory, they get fired.

Because as much as we can say, “it’s a few bad apples,” it’s really not. Because if we say “it’s just a bad doctor,” that doctor never see the end of day because a life is at stake. And with police officers, it’s the same. A life is at stake. Lives.

There needs to be reform with the training and the repercussions of their actions.

Given everything, it’s obvious the world needs change. We always needed change.

This is the time to be the change.

We know better.

We have the recourses available to know better.

Let’s do it.

Let’s speak up.

Be an ally.

Educate ourselves.

And create the world we should live in.

There is nothing but hope and assurance in my heart that we will be the generation of change. There are millions of people world wide who have walked outside their homes, holding up signs and walking miles on end in the hot sun to speak up. People who are African American, Caucasian, Asian, European, Muslim, elders, teenagers, the queer community, and so many more people who want to be the change and who will work each day for that. I will work each day for that; I will walk with you.

It makes my heart so full to see so much unity amongst people for change. And seeing pictures of a SEA of people, CHILLS!

So as we go forward from this week on, let’s not forget their names.

Their lives.

Their experiences.

Because they didn’t deserve it.

Know their skin color because the end goal isn’t to be “I don’t see your skin color,” but “I see your skin color, I see your history and your hardships, and I’m going to learn to be better and to fight with you.”

Let’s do justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, and so many more African Americans out there to create a just world for their successor and people like them.

Keep fighting.

And never give up.

So one day African Americans can be the leaders of the world,

get good paying jobs,

get highger education,

get a good education,

to walk freely and safely without fear in the world,

and to live the life they deserve to live: a life of love, prosperity, kindness, and happiness.

Not another name.

Not another life.

No more.

Be the love.