BLACK LIVES MATTER

In light of recent events I felt like a post like this was needed.

Over the last couple of days all of my social medias have been filled with content surrounding George Floyd and the current Black Lives Matter protests all across the globe. In all honesty, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the footage of George Floyd, an unarmed and co-operative black man, being brutally murdered by a member of the police in the United States. Th

e officer knelt on George’s neck for 7 minutes, for those 7 minutes George said he couldn’t breathe and knew that that officer was going to kill him. If you uncomfortable with the recent events, imagine how uncomfortable you’d be for 7 minutes with someone kneeling all of their w

eight onto your neck until you suffocated. Enough is enough, this has been going on for too long! Innocent black people are losing their lives simply due to the colour of their skin and what makes it even worse, is those who have taken an oath to protect those who need help or are in trouble are often the ones doing the killing.

The amount of power that is being abused when it comes to these situations is disgusting and to be frank, I’m outraged at it. Racism is something that has been happening for years and you would think by now, we would’ve learned from it. But instead Ahmaud Aurbery couldn’t go for a run without being murdered, Tamir Rice couldn’t play

with a toy gun without being murdered, George Floyd couldn’t simply state that he couldn’t breathe without being murdered and there are so many more innocent black people who have been murdered at the hands of the police and racists.

White supremacy and the privilege that comes from being white is something that has impacted cultures for many years. I also know that I myself have

benefitted from this but what I am learning from this is that it isn’t enough for me to just “not be racist”, I have to be persistently and passionately anti-racist.

I know that I will never experience the pain that black people across the globe are currently feeling but I will stand with them every step of the way. Racism isn’t something you are born with; you are TAUGHT it. It’s time to start having these conversations, no more brushing it under the rug because its “too uncomfortable” for you or if you don’t want to ruin your “image”. Innocent black people are dying everyday due to racial

profiling and it’s not just happening the in United States, it’s happening EVERYWHERE.

It’s time for us to educate ourselves better, it’s time to put an end to this

Below is a link of ways you can help, please do so if you haven’t done already;

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

It doesn’t just stop here, continue to educate yourselves on the matter, this isn’t something that’ll be over in a couple of days just because it’s all over the internet, this is thousands of people’s reality.

Here are some shows that I seriously recommend that can educate you on black oppression:

* Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap * Time: The Kalief Browder Story * When They See Us * 13th * Who Killed Malcom X?

Books for you to read:

* Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge * Me and White Supremacy - Layla F Saad * The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

And for those who are more social media inclined, some instagram accounts to follow;

* Rachel Cargle * sassy_latte * Mona Chalabi * Munroe Bergdof * Candice Brathwaite

BLACK LIVES MATTER