#BlackLivesMatter
Yes, it’s true. And while all lives matter, all lives are precious and everyone deserves life in dignity, not all people are treated like that. To quote from George Orwell’s “Animal farm”: “Some animals (humans) are more equal than others”.
This is not the result of some individual’s will; it’s a trend that had built up throughout human history and despite all progress made in many countries around the world, the prejudice deeply, historically, and culturally ingrained is still here, still at work. It’s a historical fact that at least in Modern Times it was us, white people spreading around the planet in conquests and it was us, white people spreading the looking down on people of color, it was us, white people reviving slavery, mercilessly looting Africa from its humans and natural resources.
And yes, prejudice against cultures we don’t understand, against people with a dark or different color of the skin is part of our history and we still carry that. From prejudice come all the inequities that our sisters and brothers have suffered and still do in this new century.
The simple fact that there are outrage and backlash against #BlackLivesMatter is a sobering proof that we still don’t realize that as white people, we are born with at least one visible advantage in this world: our skin color.
You’re asking me: aren’t there poor, destitute, disadvantaged white people in this world, suffering injustice and inequity? Yes, they are! Now I ask you: how about adding to that the prejudice against your skin color? Think of that before you get pissed off because of #BlackLivesMatter. You and me, in all misery, we are still less disadvantaged and that too is because we belong to the gang that holds and still sticks to prejudice.
You can have laws against prejudice, but eradicating it lies in a long, long, steady work of education and public speech. #BlackLivesMatter is a cry of help, not a war-cry against white people. It’s a call for an open talk about the issues people of color still face. It’s a call for solidarity.
Are you with me? ‘Cause #BlackLivesMatter !
Image from:http://nozmind.com/black-lives-matter/
katemantis 