"Why are those black people protesting? Don't they have jobs?"
These are both things that have been shared in my Facebook newsfeed recently and no one seems to realize that saying such statements and holding such beliefs are in fact a catch 22. It's a trap, a trap in which people of color lose 100% of the time. If you gather together to peacefully protest you're automatically labeled as unemployed, entitled, and "race baiters." If you don't peacefully protest you're labelled as unemployed, entitled, and "race baiters"...and also, of course, animals.
It baffles me that people think they have to take sides in matters like this, as if we have to choose between valuing life and condoning violence. There is no choice that has to be made. The deaths of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and countless other unarmed black men by police were horribly wrong and never should have happened. At the same time, the rioting that took place in Ferguson and Baltimore was wrong and never should have happened. There is no side to choose here other than what is just and what is right. That's all. Choose justice. Choose love. Choose what is true. Choose what is right.
The truth is that black lives DO matter. And all of the thousands of African Americans that you see protesting under this mantra aren't doing so because they don't have jobs and they aren't doing it to race-bait, they aren't doing it because they think white lives or police lives DON'T matter, but rather they are doing it so that we will finally LISTEN and be advocates in CHANGE. And if anything is evidence that change needs to be made, it's my Facebook newsfeed. So, will you listen? Will you be the change?
If you're interested in learning about what "all those people"are protesting about, here are a couple of books you can read that illustrate how prevalent racism still is in our society, and how subtle and hard to recognize it has become for those of us on the outside of it:
So seriously, if you really want to know the facts and understand this movement, what are you still doing here? Why are you still reading a white girl from Kansas's blog and why are you still watching commentary on Fox news? Go...listen to what people in these hurting African American communities are saying. Listen to their stories. Listen to their experiences. Don't take my word for it, take theirs.
