Time For Change

Black people are TIRED.  We are tired of dealing with a system that is built to dehumanize, devalue and demean us.  We are tired of our people getting killed because of the color of our skin by others who think they are superior.  We are tired of the racial injustice and we've had enough.  It is disheartening to see that our lives don’t matter to other human beings who consistently appropriate our culture in every way possible without appropriating the problems, stereotypes and stigmas that come with it.  Those things they leave for us.  For as long as I have been aware of this thing called racism we have been fighting for equality.  Why is it so hard for that to happen?  What we are dealing with is not a simple divide.  It is not just a black and white issue, it is much more complex than that.  

We’ve put up with too much for a long time. We’ve learned to navigate and maneuver and literally incorporate racist treatment into our everyday life.   We shouldn’t be afraid every time a cop car pulls up next to us or feel awkward in a neighborhood we live in just because white people & others feel like we don’t belong.  We should be able to walk into a high-end store to shop and browse without being followed, and constantly asked if we need help when we clearly don’t, all because a white person thinks we couldn’t possibly be there to shop so we must be there to steal.  This is very normal to black people, we experience this all the time and it shouldn’t be our NORMAL.  It shouldn’t be anybody’s normal.  We should be able to live peacefully in our black skin the way white people live peacefully in theirs.  If you think about it Black people are literally being mentally abused on a regular basis.  They are physically abused to the point of being murdered in broad daylight on video.  Our very presence is considered a threat and disturbing, and if a racist white person is around, we could end up dead because they "feel" this way.  

Taraji P. Henson said it best  “I was always apprehensive of the term ‘strong black woman’ because it dehumanizes us and makes it seem like we don’t hurt.”   We don’t have to be strong all the time but we are because of what we’ve been through.  We need each other, to lean on one another and to comfort each other in times like this. 

So yes it is 2020 and racism still exists, as I believe it always will in some shape or form.  There haven’t been any changes in a very long time, we've become complacent and we’ve adjusted to the system that’s been built for us to fail.  We really CANT move forward if people aren’t looking at their own pain, if people aren’t looking in areas where their perspectives need to change, if people are looking to bypass what’s happening.  I want to encourage you to push for change and find ways that can help our community, as am I.  We need to unify and come together as one to make a change.  I truly feel like that is happening now and needs to continue until there is racial equality.