We’ve all been watching heinous crimes unfold on camera while people of color are falsely accused of crimes and murdered by police while we watch in the comfort of our own home. It’s only because we live in an age where cameras are always rolling we are now beginning to see these crimes occur on our phones. Think about all the crimes against people of color in the past that were not recorded?
While you’re watching these murders unfold on your screen, shaking your head, please take some action. Telling your friends in a post on Facebook that you’re “not racist” isn’t going to cut it any longer. We need to actively be ANTI-racist.
What does it mean to be ANTI-racist?
That’s really great that you aren’t a member of the KKK and you don’t use racial slurs. But your silence in the matter of racism is equally as wrong as the police who are murdering men and women of color. And if I struck a nerve, good! That means you have a pulse.
If you have no problem complaining about your “rights” being taken away when we are mandated to wear a mask in public, but are silent when people of color are murdered in broad daylight, you’ve exposed where your priorities are.
If you are quick to defend white business owners who defy the local laws and open their businesses during a global pandemic, but don’t have same righteous indignation toward racial inequality, you’ve exposed where your priorities are. Do not use the excuse “wrong is wrong” when people are rioting, while in the same breath you applaud business owners who break the executive order and reopen.
I cannot and will not keep silent in this matter any longer. There are too many young people’s lives at stake for us to just sit back and wait another generation. If you don’t know where to begin, you can start by searching #BlackLivesMatter on any social platform. I don’t come close to having the answers. But I am desperately trying to do my part to stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters of color.
As a Christian, this is especially heart breaking for me to read posts on social media of fellow (white) Christians post about how awful the riots across America are. The comments I’ve read online over the past week are shocking. Yet, these same Christians haven’t posted anything about the injustices and crimes toward people of color.
If you are upset about the looting, vandalizing and riots, I get it. Violence is not the answer. However, if you are posting your disgust about the loss of property and you haven’t expressed the loss over the human lives that were killed, that shows where your heart is.
I have zero life experience of what it’s like growing up in the United States as a person of color. But if I watched as my parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers and friends were targeted for centuries and still are murdered in the street after begging for their life? Hell yeah, I’d be mad. I’d be pissed. As a sinner and strong willed child, I’d probably join in throwing stones.
Have you ever been angry before? Have you ever reacted in your frustration? Take that anger, and imagine what it must be like living in a country with black or brown skin. Ask yourself if you would trade skin with a person of color, check your privilege and then think twice before posting about the riots.
Also, can we please stop saying: All Lives Matter? When you say that, you completely dismiss the value of my friends who right now are fighting for social equality. Black lives matter.
Do not ask your black friend what you can do. Do not burden her with your “I’m so sorry this keeps happening” or even worse “I can’t believe this is happening” just because you have the privilege of not facing hate or racism everyday. Instead, do your own research. Here are some helpful resources I’ve come across this week:
Five Racist Anti-Racism Responses “Good” White Women Give to Viral Posts
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo
Why you should stop saying “all lives matter,” explained in 9 different ways.
Be the Bridge (Facebook) and Be a Bridge Builder (Instagram)
Yesterday I went to my very first protest. The message I kept hearing over and over as the megaphone passed around at the front was black voices are not being heard by our leaders. Yesterday, their message was to vote. Not just in the presidential election, but hard push for black members on the school board so their voices and concerns are heard in the schools.
I heard multiple men and women of color plead the crowd to remain peaceful and not to riot. One man in particular charged the crowed to watch out for troublemakers that weren’t from around here. From where I stood outside the Schenectady Police Station, I saw others nodding in agreement. Members of the Schenectady community do not want to see their city destroyed. In many cases, destruction of property is done by those outside of the community. There was one arrest made in the Albany riots and that person was a white man.
In conclusion, do something. Do not go another day without taking action. Educate yourself. Educate your children. Do not click away from this post and do nothing.
Black lives matter and White silence = violence.
