IT’S ONLY UNTIL BLACK LIVES MATTER THAT ALL LIVES WILL MATTER
by @Sam Smith #SJACONTRIBUTOR
In the UK, as we look on at what is happening in the U.S. it's easy distance ourselves from the issue and absolve ourselves of responsibility but racism is also here even if we like to deny it. The following tweet was posted by @Mikey_Abeygunde@Mikey_Abeygunde
https://twitter.com/Mikey_Abegunde/status/1266793548227186688?s=19
We are outraged by the use of the N word and bananas being thrown at football players but we haven’t acknowledged the more subtle elements of a white supremacist system that we play a part in. Martin Luther king spoke of his exasperation towards the ‘white moderate’.
The Following is an extract from “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King about the white moderate:
“First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
As the Protests continue around the world, many people like to Quote Dr. King’s peaceful methods of protest to condemn what is currently happening but if you bother to do some reading then you will see that Dr. King has already condemned your condemnation. When will the time and method be right?
We need to check ourselves because the society we grow up in is constantly teaching us negative messages about black people. Just look at a screenshot from this video I was watching with my 3-year-old niece. All the characters are raceless but the two bad characters, the bullies, are clearly being depicted as black.
That’s why the time we felt uneasy when we were close to a group of black people, or the time we suspected a black person of stealing in a shop, or the lack of patience we give black public figures we need to check ourselves and our motives. We need to unlearn these things. It doesn’t make you a terrible person for feeling this first time, but if it gets highlighted and we do nothing about it, now we are complicit in white supremacy.
Read, learn and listen. I recommend ‘why I’m no longer talking to white people about race’ by Renni Eddo-Lodge (who has recently recommended to donate an equal amount you spend on the book to https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/ or borrow a book and donate what you would have spent) I also Recommend ‘Brit(ish)’ by Afua Hirsch. You need to read these with an open mind otherwise our typical white fragility on this topic will block our ears.
It can be hard to understand because most of us rarely even realize we are white because we don’t have to. Most of us will use the yellow emojis because it’s just not something we have to consider because we believe we are racially neutral and that we are color-blind. we are quick to not believe black struggles because we are used to the system working for us
We need to unlearn the negative things we’ve been taught about black people because otherwise we become the teacher that is too quick to suspend a black student, the interviewer that is reluctant to employ a black person, the journalist who publicly bullies a black person and the policeman who uses unnecessary force on black people
Remember that white privilege doesn’t mean that your life isn’t hard but it means the color of your skin isn’t one of the reasons making your life hard. We have a part to play, and it involves self-reflections and facing hard truths about ourselves and our history. We have a bad history with slavery and more recently with colonialism. Close to 100,000 Kenyans were killed and many more tortured by the British colonial powers in the ‘Gulag’ camps for being suspected of fighting for independence and this is just 1 example in the 1950’s. We can make a change and play our part but we have to accept white supremacy exists.
Even if you entertain the idea that the black lives matter movement is an overreaction or playing the ‘race card’ what’s the worst that could happen by supporting it?
It’s not until #blackLivesMatter that all lives matter
References
Deneen L. Brown, 2018, “Martin Luther King Jr.’s scorn for ‘white moderates’ in his Birmingham jail letter”, The Washington post, retrieved from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/15/martin-luther-king-jr-s-scathing-critique-of-white-moderates-from-the-birmingham-jail/
