So I started writing this blog and then I stopped. I picked it back up again and was starting to write then I called my daughter in and asked her what she thought about things going on around us. We have these conversations often but this time instead of just keeping these thoughts to ourselves I asked her to write some things down. We narrowed it down, for this blog, to (2) subjects. Below are her thoughts on them.
Thoughts on oppressive symbols
When it comes to the oppressive monuments and things like that I feel that there is no point of them still being up. They should all be taken down. I think that because it is a constant reminder of everything that African Americans or people of color have had to go through. Most of the statues that are up across the country are of confederate leader or of someone who owned slaves. Like who wants to constantly be reminded of a time when there ancestors were treated as less than a person and were considered property. Since people wanna say that slavery was so long ago and its over now, why do we still have to have the statues as a reminder of when our people were owned. I just don't think that that reminder is necessary because the oppression that we have faced in the past will forever be embedded in our heads along with the oppression that we are facing to this very day, no matter what it is. So I feel they all should be taken down.
Thoughts on Black Lives Matter
I wish that the Black Lives Matter movement didn't have to be a thing. I wish that the world would stop seeing us as some type of threat and would finally accept the fact that our skin color does not make a good excuse for people to kill us. I wish that some white people would stop trying to make everything about them and actually understand why we have to do this. The only way that we can get some type of equality or justice is by creating this. People say that it's not that serious but you can't say that until it's happened you. You can't say that if you have never been followed in a store for no reason, or if you have never walked by someone and they tightly grab their things as if you are were gonna snatch it from them, or if you don't have fear for your life or your family and friends lives when getting pulled over by the police, or if you have never heard stories or seen pictures of people who look like you being beaten or hanging from a tree ALL because of other color of their skin. It's not fair that the all lives matter movement came out to contest our movement. Never are we saying that all lives don't matter, its just the fact that still to this day after over 450 years of oppression we are still being bullied and discriminated against because of what we look like. But ultimately you CANNOT say all lives matter until Black Lives Matter. So we protest and we riot because that is the only way that we can get the attention that we need to bring awareness to the issues that we are facing as the black community.
I am very proud of her and this will not be the last time you hear from. I will get her in another blog and in my videos and podcasts soon.