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Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m rarely at a loss for words. Anyone who has read any of my work over the years knows that I usually have quite a lot to say. The slaughter of black people amidst this pandemic has honestly left my speechless. I’m just sad. As antiquated and simplistic as it sounds, I’m nearing the point of no longer being angry. Throughout my life, I have genuinely been afraid of what being the “angry, loud, Black girl” could mean for me and my life. Yet, the emotional turmoil that Black people face when witnessing the widely circulated imagery of our brothers and sisters being executed for the entire world to see is quite frankly exhausting.
The system is and has forever been built upon white supremacy. We know this. Stop saying it’s broken. And if it is, stop telling us that our good behavior or lack thereof is what will fix it. The reign of white supremacy has plagued this world and greatly impacted the lives of Black people across the diaspora for years; before slavery and beyond these borders. This has led to the continuous degradation, exploitation, and extermination of Black people. We know this. Stop blaming our deaths on lack of compliance, order, or anything that doesn’t directly address those who are administering the unlawful executions of black men, women, and children.
It’s not just the deaths at the hands of security forces given the role to “protect and serve” or civilians who wish to take justice into their own hands. White supremacy is embedded within the society we live in which fosters greed, entitlement, exploitation of all low-income peoples under capitalism, along with political leaders whose agendas continue to enforce the status quo. We are dying every day. Not only at the hands of our oppressors who are violent by nature but also through inaccessibility, de facto segregation, and the continuous reinforcement of otherness by those whose ancestors used black bodies to build an entire nation, world, and system of oppression.
We are no longer accepting the fact that white people should not have to apologize for their ancestors. If you ignore the system and status quo they established and how you benefit, you are complicit in your inability to envision how white people must work with us to dismantle it. We are all human beings worthy of life and opportunity. When white people disregard, ignore, and refuse to fight for this right for black people, blood is also on their hands.
You will not use the life of Martin Luther King, jr. to inform us what your preferred method of protest is in 2020. A man who was ASSASSINATED because the same white terrorism we continue to allow to run rampant in everyday life today is what led to the death of the same man who you quote in order to silence black outrage. White outrage is acceptable because it is the norm. White protestors are referred to as “patriots” for following in the footsteps of their ancestors who are praised for their uprisings and revolutions. Black outrage is and has always been unacceptable. Under the white gaze, we are meant to be grateful for the fact we get to live a life outside of being property. We are “free.”
In response to the protests that have been deemed unfit for those who cannot grasp the gravity of what we are up against: We are burning down a system that has no place for people who look like us. Our spilled blood can no longer be the imagery that is continually being placed on the world stage. Fire is synonymous with our rage. The uproar is the only palpable solution for our strife. These things will signify an upheaval of the system that MUST be removed by any means necessary.
My words are not meant to be a solace for those who are looking for answers from another black person who did not create these problems in the first place. I refuse to offer any statistics or give a full-fledge lesson in the history that is missing in textbooks due to the continuous erasure of black contributions on an international scale; the negative ramifications for white dominance; and the current unrest that we are dealing with in the streets.
We are not the Black people your history books taught you about. We are the ones that they left out. Black people will no longer be forgotten as the leaders, heroes, and revolutionaries that we continue to be. We are the beginning and the end of this conversation.
Color For Change Justice For Floyd Petition
Minnesota Freedom Fund
Black Lives Matter
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