As the United States comes closer to their presidential election I’ve been consuming a lot more news, television programs and opinion pieces on the future for the country depending on who emerges victorious. As I’ve sat back and watched televised campaigns for Donald Trump, seen interviews with his supporter base and read articles from Republican supporters I’ve started to see an alarming trend in terms of bigotry, division and the promotion of hate speech. From what I can ascertain, the majority of Trump’s base are white Americans. In countless interviews and excerpts they have trashed the Black Lives Matter movement and spoken only of their own self interest. In many rallies the ‘white power’ catchcry has been endemic and with Trump refusing to call out white supremacist groups the bigots are no longer in hiding, they’ve come out in plain sight for everyone to see.
What scares me the most about this is that even if Trump loses next week, he’s already stoked the fans of hatred. He’s invited racists to come to the forefront and express their hatred openly. To the point where yelling ‘white power’ seems to be an acceptable behaviour. While many young white Americans have come out in support of movements like Black Lives Matter, there seems to still be a schism that exists in certain affluent and older demographic Caucasian populations in the country. Many seem to continue to call the Black Lives Matter movement a terrorist organisation. It appears to be a level of ignorance that leads to fear in which the movement is being targeted as a threat to White America. To all those, even within this country for that matter, who choose to retort that ‘All Lives Matter’ I openly ask you the question, are you completely aware of what BLMs mandate is? Or have you, just like so many others across the world, chosen the path of a knee jerk reaction, in which actively or passively, you choose to ignore the underlying factors of this group’s importance?
The Black Lives Matter movement was established in 2013 after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. For those that are unaware of this case, Trayvon Martin was 17 years old and unarmed, simply walking down the street when he was racially profiled and shot and killed by a vigilante. The BLM movement itself is underpinned on the mandate that “affirms the lives of Black, queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum”. The movement works towards “working for a world where Black Lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise”.
I pose the question to those who respond to the movement with “but all lives matter”; does a black life matter to you? I respond to those who undermine the importance of the movement by referring to a systemic and endemic apparatus of discrimination and oppression that has been institutionalised within the American system. I point to years of segregation and degradation of the African American population which has disadvantaged people for decades and rendered them second class citizens. I point to the disproportionate levels of violence perpetrated against African American people by police in the United States. Not only do I mention names such as Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Rashard Brooks and George Floyd, along with countless others. But I also mention the names of Breona Taylor, Michelle Cusseaux, Tanisha Anderson and Natasha McKenna. I challenge you to research the #SayHerName campaign which resists police brutality against black women.
I want for people to understand that the entire premise of the BLM movement rests on a historic and institutionalised belief system that has played out throughout history which deems that a black life is worth less than others. That their treatment from a history of slavery, segregation, institutionalised racism and police brutality has meant that they are not equal and that racial bias exists within their treatment when it comes to the law. I point to the countless number of police officers who have murdered black men and women and gotten away without even serving a day of jail time, who have evaded justice again and again. I choose to remind those who have the privilege of not experiencing racism directly, to not use this as an excuse to argue that it doesn’t exist.
Before you make a judgment, I implore you to do the research. Not just on the Black Lives Matter movement, but on slavery in North America, on segregation, on lynching’s, on Jim Crow laws, on police brutality and on structured racism that exists to this day in the United States. After consuming all of these things, I then challenge you to tell me that the Black Lives Matter movement is not needed in this world.
Useful Resources:
https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2020/know-their-names/index.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/examples-of-institutional-racism-in-the-u-s-2834624
I blog for Change. 