In some ways, I feel right back at the beginning.
Those first few days of realising that we were in for the long haul with COVID 19 and that we have no idea how it might end.
So gripped in fear that I am paralysed by it.
Spending hours upon hours scrolling social media and the internet to try and get information, to try and understand.
As if it were possible to comprehend all of the pain and anger, the division and violence that has occurred since the murder of George Floyd.
It has been almost a week and the police brutality that I have seen has broken me.
But it can’t.
For if we still have far to go with this pandemic, it is nothing compared to the battle of dismantling racism. Racism, inequality, which is stitched in the fabric our Western and capitalist societies. Someone is always “better off” than the other, that is just “how it is.”
It is why so many have been blind to their own beliefs for so long because they were literally born into them. It’s too close to see.
And it is too close. Too close when police officers shoot a peaceful protester in the face with rubber bullets or Taser or tear-gas a young girl.
It is too close when members of the press are fired upon and arrested.
When politicians incite not protect. When they do nothing to quell or unify. Or simply nothing at all. “Let the fires burn.”
Several times this week, I have wondered if there are elements to what is happening that make it similar to what it must have been like at the beginning of the rise of Nazism. So many events in so little time and the public cannot handle it, so they simply side with the easiest “solution.” The winning party. One with plenty of propaganda, whether it be fact or fiction.
Even while humanity falls apart.
We can’t let it. We can’t. Not again. Not again and again and again. And again and again and again.
In an exchange with my friend Patricia this morning, she asked: “Where are the voices of strength and guidance?” and I responded, “Who is going to bring us all together again?”
Which brought about another idea that had been rolling about in my brittle brain recently, that of President Barack Obama’s comment during one of his recent graduation speeches: ““If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you.”
It’s up to us. No one is going to help. There is no “leader” in sight. Please don’t turn away. I know it is painful and frightening but nothing near what it must be for the black community who lives through cultural, societal and economic discrimination every single day because of the color of their skin that they were born into. That is not a choice.
But how we move forward collectively is.
I don’t know what that looks like but I do believe that it is possible.
And that is the most hope that I have felt in months. Perhaps I am too naive. But if the pandemic has taught me anything, it is that there is much good in this world. We can unite around a cause and we can find each other through love.
Please. Don’t think, do. The change starts within me. The change starts within you.
You can find the english version: here.
Pour mes amis francophones…je suis désolée, ce n’est franchement pas au top, mais voilà: c’est ici.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Sign a petition:
Justice for George Floyd on change.org
#JusticeforFloyd on act.colorofchange.org
Donate:
Official George Floyd Memorial Fund on gofundme.com
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Black Lives Matter
Communities United Against Police Brutality
The Minnesota Freedom Fund
National Bail Out Fund – Free Black Mamas
Educate yourself:
Black Women Radicals and AAFC Solidarity reading list
“Algorithms of Opression” bookclub via womenscenterforcreativework.com
“On becoming anti-racist” on cupofjoe.com
I thought this was very much worth the watch. Truly helpful:
Trevor Noah speaking on recent events.
For days I did not write because I again felt as I did in this post at the beginning of the pandemic.
How could I find the words to contribute? That could move us forward? Then as now…