Black Lives Matter.

In case you were somehow unaware:

On May 25, 2020, a 46-year-old Black man named George Floyd died in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a white cop named Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck, choking him for almost nine minutes. Videos of the incident, as well as Floyd's final cries of "I can't breathe" went viral and sparked outrage from millions of people worldwide. However, Floyd's murder is far from the only instance of white police officers misusing their power and killing innocent Black people. 

As horrible as it is, racism has been a part of the United States for its entire history. Up until the Civil War, many Americans owned slaves, and although Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation outlawed slavery, it did not end racism altogether. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, among many others, also worked towards civil rights in the 1960s. Although they did help to end segregation, racism was still prevalent throughout the United States. In 1919, a 17-year-old Black boy named Eugene Williams was stoned to death by white people after he swam in the "wrong part of Lake Michigan." In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched after a white woman accused him of offending her in her family's grocery store. The political system of the United States is inherently biased and racist towards African Americans, and racism has always been a part of this country. As much as many Americans like to pretend America is the "land of freedom," the actions from the higher-ups of this country have deemed this notion as a lie. We are not the "land of the free" unless every single person who lives here can live without having to worry about their safety.

On February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman after Zimmerman reported him as "suspicious." Martin's murder was a shock to the system, with many accusing Zimmerman of racial profiling. After Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder in 2013, the phrase #BlackLivesMatter began trending. The movement gained even more recognition after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, both in 2014 at the hands of police officers. We have seen countless instances of the police being violent towards Black people since then. Only a few weeks before Floyd's death, a video of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery being murdered by police in Glynn County, Georgia went viral. However, Floyd's death was the tipping point where people realized just how terribly common police brutality was. 

People in all fifty states, as well as in other countries around the world, have taken to the streets to fight for justice for Floyd, Arbery, and every other victim of police brutality. Many of the protests have been peaceful, but there are also instances of "looting": stealing and destroying property. Despite being only a small percentage of the protestors, the looters are the ones to get all of the publicity, so much that Donald Trump has ordered the armed military to go to the protests in case things get "too crazy," and he's even said, and I quote, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." He's also described ANTIFA, the left-wing political movement that fights against fascists, racists, and the far-right, as a "terrorist organization." Yeah, thank God I'm eighteen, so I can do everything I can to vote this orange dumbass out of office.

I tried my best to explain what's going on, but there are far better sources of information out there. This site has many good resources to help explain the problem, and why you should care. I will, however, share some little things I have done to help fight against the systemic racism of our society. You don't have to go out and protest (although you should if you are able to). Even the smallest action goes a long way.

1. Acknowledge your white privilege.

The first step of helping to end racism, at least, if you're white, is to acknowledge the privileges you have. White privilege is, according to Francis E. Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race: 

“having greater access to power and resources than people of color [in the same situation] do.”

It means that I can do everyday things without having to fear for my life. I really like this op-ed from DemCast and I would recommend you read it. But just because you acknowledge the fact that you have it easier than Black people, that doesn't mean you can just sit around and do nothing while they suffer. Use your white privilege wisely by speaking to your family and friends about the issue and sharing and supporting stories from Black creators and activists.

2. Educate yourself.

On Tuesday, I watched 13th on Netflix. It is a documentary directed by Ava DuVernay (the director of the film Selma) that details the United States' history of systemic racism. It covers a lot of ground, from how the War on Drugs led to a disproportionate amount of Black people getting arrested to the police brutality that plagues our nation. I hope that the people who watch it feel the same desire to fight against racism that I did. That link from before also has a lot of good resources for education on police brutality and systemic racism.

3. Sign petitions.

There are many petitions going around related to the cause. These petitions fight for the countless Black people who have faced injustice from this country. Here is a compilation of petitions. I encourage every single one of you who reads this to sign at least a few. Just don't sign any for the White House, as they don't do much of anything.

4. Donate!

This Black Lives Matter Carrd has been going around the Internet for about two weeks now, and with good reason. I've already linked a few pages from it myself. It has so many resources for us to use. Here is their donations list, which has many links for you to donate towards. Donate to the victims and their families, the bail funds of protestors, Black-owned businesses, organizations, and other places. If you don't have money to directly fund (which is probably the case for a lot of us, given that we're also in a global pandemic), I highly recommend this playlist. It has many YouTube videos, all of which have many ads. The creators of the videos have vowed to donate all of their ad revenue to #BlackLivesMatter-related causes. Keep the playlist on a loop on another device and don't skip the ads. 

5. Don't say "All Lives Matter." 

As a response to Black Lives Matter, many people (most of them are probably white) like to say "All Lives Matter." Although at first glance, this seems true enough, it's actually deeply problematic. People need to understand that "Black Lives Matter" does not mean "Black people are the only ones who are important and everyone else is terrible." To quote this Time article: 

"But nobody said those other lives don’t matter; no one even said that black lives matter a tiny bit more. Pretending that the choice is binary—and then acting as if it’s the other side that framed it that way—is a handy dodge but a dishonest one. If I say 'Save the whales,' it does not mean, 'Screw the eagles.'"

I've also seen the metaphor of a burning house. If somebody's house was on fire, you wouldn't say, "All Houses Matter!" and refuse to help. No, you would do your best to put out the fire. The fact that one house is on fire doesn't mean that the other houses are any less important. It just means that the burning house needs our help right now, so we need to help them. Police brutality and systemic racism is the burning house, and we need to do whatever we can to help the Black communities affected by them. If you say "All Lives Matter," I'm just going to tell you to get over yourselves.

This isn't what like what I normally post on here, but when innocent Black people are dying so needlessly, it doesn't make sense to write about the frivolous things I normally write about. I want to show my solidarity with those who are fighting, and I say this from the bottom of my heart:

I will never fully understand what you are going through, but I stand with you. Black Lives Matter.

Stellar