Not A Trend, A Movement…
~ By Fatoumata Sanneh
BLACK LIVES MATTER. Black lives matter, is still a controversial statement and for what, why is that such a bad thing to say? Why is it that if I said ‘dog lives matter’, no one would be mad; but when I say black lives matter, I’m deemed racist by some and an activist by most. Black lives matter affects me as a black person everyday, and it should affect everyone, but it doesn’t. Why, you ask? Because people have a tendency to turn a blind eye to everything that doesn’t drastically affect them.
The Black lives matter movement was started in 2013 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted. After Trayvon’s death, there were many, many more. The acquittal of Mr. Zimmerman just showed that the so-called justice system acts as if black lives don’t matter. And that’s how the movement was started. Soon after, Tamir Rice, who looks eerily like Emmett Till, was murdered by Timothy Loehmann. No Justice was served. Black Lives Matter continued to gain movement + attention this year after the death of Breonna Taylor + George Floyd.
The problem with ‘all lives matter’ and ‘blue lives matter’ is that all lives matter is inherently racist. Police officers are facing a fraction of what BIPOC have faced in this country for centuries. Except there are no true blue lives, if police officers don’t want to be ‘oppressed’, they can take off their uniforms, BIPOC can’t take off our skin.
Black lives matter has solved some dilemmas in our corrupt ‘justice’ system, but the struggle of simply being your authentic self as a black young woman is a constant struggle. It is a constant battle that affects me and the rest of the black girls everyday of dealing with navigating racisim. It has shed light on the fact that the lives of many black people are riddled with microaggressions and just blatant racism.
Here is an admission by my friend who chose to keep her name anonymous for reasons of her own:
“So I didn’t grow up the way that most people think that black people are supposed to grow up. I lived in a country suburban home in Richmond, Texas. For a lot of my life I’ve gone to predominantly white schools and even though it was fun, I never truly felt like I belonged. My classes were mostly white, my teachers were mostly white. When I walked into a room I always felt like everyone’s eyes were on me, I was the odd one out.
I didn’t realize it at the time but when people heard me speak loudly or ‘catching an attitude’ while I was just speaking my mind, people stereotyped me. That I was just another black girl or whatever. When I finally got to schools with more black people it felt like I wasn’t “black enough”. I didn’t talk a certain way, act a certain way, or carry myself in the same way that the other black kids did. So, sometimes I feel like I’m too black for white people and not black enough for black people. Because of that, I’m now learning that no matter how I act or behave prior, one wrong move and I’m either another “ghetto” black girl or “white-washed.”
Luckily I’ve befriended people who just see me for who I am, but those feelings of not belonging are still there, they’re just lying dormant for a situation to come up– Anonymous.
Most of my community either owns a confederate flag or still preaches “all lives matter.” The minority who supported Black Lives Matter, only used it as a trend. Everyone doesn’t seem to care and our statistics show that, for example, black people make up a fraction of the American population, but are disproportionately murdered or stopped and searched for no reason. What we need right now is not equality, but equity.
We need reparations and policies to be put in place, what we don’t need is black tiles on our instagram feeds, we don’t need performative activism. What we need is recognition and for our voices to be heard. We need to say their names.
EMMETT TILL – MEDGAR EVERS – GEORGE JUNIUS STINNEY JR. – DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR – HENRY SMITH – JOHN CRAWFORD III – MICHAEL BROWN – EZELL FORD – DANTE PARKER – MICHELLE CUSSEAUX – MARY TURNER – LAQUAN MCDONALD – MALCOLM X – TANISHA ANDERSON – AKAI GURLEY – TAMIR RICE – RUMAIN BRISBON – JERAME REID – MATTHEW AJIBADE – JAMES N. POWELL JR. – FRANK SMART – ERNEST LACY – NATASHA MCKENNA – TONY ROBINSON – ANTHONY HILL – MYA HALL – PHILLIP WHITE – ERIC HARRIS – WALTER SCOTT – WILLIAM CHAPMAN II – ALEXIA CHRISTIAN – BRENDON GLENN – VICTOR MANUEL LAROSA – JONATHAN SANDERS – FREDDIE CARLOS GRAY JR. – JOSEPH MANN – SALVADO ELLSWOOD – SANDRA BLAND – ALBERT JOSEPH DAVIS – DARRIUS STEWART – BILLY RAY DAVIS – SAMUEL DUBOSE – MICHAEL SABBIE – BRIAN KEITH DAY – CHRISTIAN TAYLOR – TROY ROBINSON – ASSHAMS PHAROAH MANLEY – MICHAEL STEWART – FELIX KUMI – KEITH HARRISON MCLEOD – JUNIOR PROSPER – LAMONTEZ JONES – PATERSON BROWN – DOMINIC HUTCHINSON – ANTHONY ASHFORD – ALONZO SMITH – TYREE CRAWFORD – INDIA KAGER – LA’VANTE BIGGS – MICHAEL LEE MARSHALL – JAMAR CLARK – RICHARD PERKINS – PHILLIP PANNELL – NATHANIEL HARRIS PICKETT – BENNI LEE TIGNOR – MIGUEL ESPINAL – MICHAEL NOEL – KEVIN MATTHEWS – BETTIE JONES – QUINTONIO LEGRIER – KEITH CHILDRESS JR. – JANET WILSON – RANDY NELSON – ANTRONIE SCOTT – WENDELL CELESTINE – DAVID JOSEPH – CALIN ROQUEMORE – DYZHAWN PERKINS – CHRISTOPHER DAVIS – MARCO LOUD – JAMES BYRD JR. – PETER GAINES – TORREY ROBINSON – DARIUS ROBINSON – KEVIN HICKS – MARY TRUXILLO – DEMARCUS SEMER – AMADOU DIALLO – WILLIE TILLMAN – TERRILL THOMAS – DEMETRIUS DUBOSE – ALTON STERLING – PHILANDO CASTILLE – TERENCE CRUTCHER – PAUL O’NEAL – ALTERIA WOODS – BOBBY RUSS – JORDAN EDWARDS – AARON BAILEY – RONELL FOSTER – STEPHON CLARK – COREY CARTER – ANTWON ROSE II – TAYLER ROCK – MALICE GREEN – RAMARLEY GRAHAM – ELIJAH MCCLAIN – AIYANA STANLEY JONES – BOTHAM JEAN – PAMELA TURNER – DOMINIQUE CLAYTON – SEAN BELL – ATATIANA JEFFERSON – JEMEL ROBERSON – JAMES LEE ALEXANDER – RYAN MATTHEW SMITH – DERRICK AMBROSE JR. – ADDIE MAE COLLINS – CAROL DENISE MCNAIR – CAROLE ROBERTSON – CYNTHIA WESLEY – NICHOLAS HEYWARD JR. – CHRISTOPHER WHITFIELD – WILLIE MCCOY – VICTOR WHITE III – MARCUS DEON SMITH – CHAVIS CARTER – MARTIN LEE ANDERSON – CHRISTOPHER MCCORVEY – BRADLEY BLACKSHIRE – TIMOTHY THOMAS – REGINALD DOUCET JR. – DANROY “DJ” HENRY JR. – KARVAS GAMBLE JR. – ERIC REASON – KORRYN GAINES – REKIA BOYD – KIONTE SPENCER – DARIUS TARVER – WAYNE ARNOLD JONES – MANUEL ELLIS – VICTOR DUFFY JR. – KOBE DIMOCK-HEISLER – CLINTON R. ALLEN – DONTRE HAMILTON – TIMOTHY CAUGHMAN – SYLVILLE SMITH – COREY JONES – TYRE KING – ERIC GARNER – MILES HALL – KENDRICK JOHNSON – CHARLEENA LYLES – MICHAEL LORENZO DEAN – TRAYVON MARTIN – RENISHA MCBRIDE – KIMONI DAVIS – KIWANE CARRINGTON – OSCAR GRANT III – BREONNA TAYLOR – KALIEF BROWDER – DARRIEN HUNT – TROY HODGE – WILLIAM GREEN – ARBERY – DION JOHNSON – TONY MCDADE – ANDREW KEARSE – JAMEL FLOYD – GEORGE FLOYD – RAYSHARD BROOKS – ITALIA MARIE KELLY – DAVID MCATEE
~ By Fatoumata Sanneh
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