This past week or so has left me feeling emotionally and physically drained. My heart hurts and my eyes ache from the tears shed and the restless nights. But this is nothing compared to the pain that families of the victims of police brutality and other Black people must be feeling.
The death of George Floyd and the hundreds and thousands more incidents of police brutality across America have led to much needed outrage across the world.
It has been so moving and encouraging to see the sheer amount of people showing solidarity towards this movement, as this is a movement, not a moment. This is more than just a post on Instagram.
I have been so up and down about whether or not to write about the Black Lives Matter movement. I have felt like I am not educated enough to comment or that I might say something that could be misinterpreted by someone or could offend.
However, after days of sitting and signing numerous petitions, reading articles, watching films, having conversations with friends and family, and attending a peaceful protest, what I have taken away from it all is that it is better to say something than nothing. If I can make even one person, sign a petition, or decide to educate themselves more, then that is better than none.
I have always been aware of the deep-rooted racism that exists in the world, not just in America but the whole world, and absolutely right here in the UK too. I have always been aware, but I have sadly never really looked deeper and I have never acted.
This has been a well needed wake up call. I have seen and heard people say, ‘why now?’ or ‘this has gone on for so long, it won’t just change now.’ And to this I can only say, but why not now, and if we don’t do anything then yes nothing will change, so let’s do our all and help make it happen.
As a person of colour, I have definitely seen racism. I am in no ways comparing this to that imposed against Black people, but I would like to share some of my experiences with racism to try to reiterate the idea of white privilege.
I am very lucky to have lived a very privileged life. I have grown up in a nice area, studied at a private girl’s school and am now studying at university. Throughout my time at school, amongst a lot of very big personalities, I was surprisingly one of the quieter ones. My school was heavily white and in sixth form, out of my small year group of around 30 students, I was the only coloured student.
On numerous occasions during school, people made racist jokes around me and I said nothing. I would block it out and pretend I didn’t hear it. I don’t know if they knew that because I was quite quiet I wouldn’t say anything, that they didn’t think it would offend me as having grown up surrounded by a lot of white people my culture is very white, or that they simply just didn’t care.
Even after school, I have seen this at uni, and have once been referred to as ‘that Asian girl’ by someone who full well knew my name.
It upsets me so much now to think that I never stood up for myself or other people of colour and that I allowed people to think these racist jokes were ok. Think about any times where you have held back and not stood up to another person’s racism.
When deciding where to go to university, I was warned by family members that certain cities may be dangerous and that I could be at risk of being judged and potentially harmed if I dressed in a way that other people didn’t like or that didn’t fit my Asian culture.
Also when travelling earlier this year, I received a text telling me to be careful of what I was wearing as the country I was going to was known for having lots of extremists and that I could be at higher risk of being targeted if I acted/dressed inappropriately because of the colour of my skin.
It saddens me so much to think that someone could not only judge me based on something as superficial as my clothes but also with the deeper reason for this judgement being my skin colour. In both of these cases I have stood by my own thoughts and acted and dressed as I deemed right, as I believe in expressing myself, however it upsets me that these topics even needed to be considered.
White privilege is not being warned about the possibility of being a target of terror when picking a university to go to, or what outfit to wear when going to the beach on holiday. And more importantly, white privilege is not having to worry about how the police will treat you going about your daily life, due to the colour of your skin.
Now is the time to think about the privilege that you have and how you can use it to help Black people who don’t have this.
Look into the history of police brutality against Black people. This goes a lot further than day to day racism, look at the systematic racism that exists not just in America, but also in the UK. Google the historical civil rights movements in the UK and the effects of British colonisation.
I am not going to make an extensive list of resources that people can use for education, as I believe that the process of finding these resources, understanding the problem and realising what you can do to help are all important steps that individuals need to take themselves.
What I will do however, is share just a few things that I have watched that I think everyone should watch, a few people on Instagram who are sharing very important things to look at and the links to a few of many very important petitions.
When reading or watching any of these things make sure to question the history behind what you see. And when watching any news coverage of the protests/ riots around the world, make sure to understand the deep reasons why people are protesting. If the protest has got violent, don’t just watch footage of the violence, look at the moments leading up to it and what has caused the protest to become violent.
To watch
- Selma
- 12 Years a Slave
- Fruitvale Station
- Blindspotting
- 13th
- When They See Us
- The Help
- Noughts & Crosses
- If you have watched Orange is the New Black, go back and rewatch Series 5. Relive the
sadness you felt for Poussey and watch how the inmates fought for justice. The pain you feel for these characters should reflect how you feel about what is going on around you right now.
Instagram accounts
- @laylafsaad
- @violadavis
- @blklivesmatter
- @colorofchange
- @sassy_latte
Petition links
Make sure to read all the information about the petitions that you are signing as this can help to further educate you on the scale of these racist problems.
Additionally, there are lots of places where you can donate. If you struggle to do this, the YouTube video linked below is filled with black art and music as well as numerous ads. All money made through the streaming of the ads is being donated to bail funds. So, when you can, stream this video and make sure not to skip the ads.
Take some time to learn, empathise and do what you can to help, because racism and police brutality needs to stop, and black lives really do matter.