BLM Movement

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Why Black Lives Matter

My daughter and I marched in 2020's Black Lives Matter/George Floyd protest in Tallahassee. We were proud to support her African American heritage, on her mother's side, her right to speak out on her own behalf and to let the world know that we've had enough of racism, hate and bigotry in this country.

I just learned of the BLM movement that year, but it started with three women in 2013, one of whom had simply made the comment on social media that black lives matter. And, C'MON, this is a bare minimum requirement, for a human life to matter. Black folks are human beings and so, of course, their lives are sacred, have meaning and value. The fact that this has to be stated for the record is the truly sad part.

These women--Garza, Tometi and Cullors--met at a black leadership conference that year, bonded and created a website for their grassroots organization. As Tometti reminds us, "Black people aren't a monolith." The black community is just as diverse as every other ethnic or racial group. The media just likes to perpetuate stereotypes, but you shouldn't buy into them. They only serve to fuel the hate and bigotry we still see today. The BLM co-founders were horrified and largely motivated by the killing of Trayvon Martin the year before they met. But it was the George Floyd murder by police in 2020 that saw the movement explode internationally.

I am convinced that so many people being home bound and isolated by COVID that Spring gave them a reason to get outside and to congregate. I know that I was paying so much more attention to the MSM and social media at that time and I couldn't get enough of the George Floyd/BLM coverage. I was outraged, as were my daughters. It took no convincing to get my youngest to march that day in downtown Tallahassee with me. It's a memory I'll always cherish.

She and every black member of my family matters significantly. In society, it's a bare minimum to say that one's life matters. Of course, all lives matter, but because of systemic racism and bigotry, we sadly have to single out black lives because they haven't always mattered in this country.

And since it's Black History Month, we should honor the legacy of Black Americans because THEIR HISTORY IS OUR HISTORY! And we should continue to demand better of this country and its government. That's why I'll be joining the continuing protests across all 50 states on February 17th. Please join me and take to the streets.

#BlackLivesMatter

(Editor’s note, the book “Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter,” by Veronica Chambers, 2021, help to inspire and inform this post. It has lots of great photos plus a timeline of the civil rights movement.)

Real Outrage v Faux Outrage in White v Black America

https://amp.indystar.com/amp/3103252001?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR11MdUxeLWRlQ6uVO3w1V4QEu87ZZkHGAj-X2Euqz_aFaGKBU2ieNgUyZE

"ALL LIVES MATTER" remember?
But do they?

This kid's life didn't seem to matter.

For the last month, we've seen mostly white protestors, some armed with AK-47's, up in arms over "stay-at-home" orders in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, even right there in my hometown, Indianapolis, where this kid was gunned down. Why were these white protestors so riled, so triggered, so full of angst and anger? Because Karen couldn't get her nails done, her haircut or go out for GNO. White people were filled with rage--said Karens getting nose-to-nose with cops in one video spraying vitriol in their stoic faces (SAY IT DON'T SPRAY IT, KAREN!). They carried signs equating a month-long lockdown with 400 years of institutionalized slavery. They waved anti-American flags and symbols, like at a KKK or Hitler rally. They openly carried semi-automatic weapons, some into statehouses (I'm looking at you Lansing, MI).

The images that filled my newsfeed and that of cable news for weeks was of white privilege flexing it's collective muscle to get our economy "reopened." Oh the faux outrage!

Despite the show of force, Vanilla Isis or Flu Flux Flan (take your pick) wasn't met with any police force WHATSOEVER! Hell, in some photos and video, you couldn't pick out a uniformed officer. The ones who did get spit on by raging Karen just stood there, no expression, no reaction of any kind. White protestors didn't get sprayed with hoses, shot with rubber bullets, teargassed, attacked by K-9 units or anything even resembling force. Nope. There was none of that.

When white people used their cars to form a blockade in downtown Lansing, preventing ambulances from safely getting to emergency rooms, there was no armada of police vehicles or charges of "obstructing traffic."

America, this is a perfect portrait of what white privilege looks like. Still don't think it exists?

White people, by and large, lost their collective SHIT when some black athletes started a silent protest during the playing of the National Anthem. They knelt. You went berserk.

Now, protestors in Indianapolis, with something to TRULY get angry and worked up about, protest in small numbers their outrage over police violence claiming one of their own...and they get charged with "obstruction of traffic?" Did you see how many of them were standing on a street corner with signs, not guns? I sure didn't see any blockade of vehicles, fat Karen straining to lean out her window and yell insane slogans. This was real outrage.

Police violence against people of color is systemic racism.

We see it play out ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!! Yet, where's the outrage by whites? When a kid in Indy is gunned down, when a man in NY is taken down to the pavement and beaten, when a jogger in Georgia is stalked like prey, confronted and gunned down--IN THE STREET ON FUCKING VIDEO--where is all the outrage, White America???

You know what, you disgust me! Karen's of the world, in a lather because you can't leave the comfort of your own home, you fucking disgust me. You wouldn't spit on a black man if he were on fire in your front yard! You get all hot and bothered if he or his family hold up signs saying "Black Lives Matter," or GOD FORBID, he KNEEL during your beloved Anthem! That's when you get enraged. Saying nothing of your faux patriotism, holding up the confederate flag or one with a swastika, but you don't really believe that "ALL lives matter" you just want to silence and marginalize the black ones. It's what you've ALWAYS done!

It's time for white America to wake up and smell the coffee. It's time to own up to your centuries of privilege and acknowledge how you've perpetuated systemic racism!

I can't even type anymore. There's a gnawing sickness in the pit of my gut.