Black Lives Matter

I believe black lives matter, that is a pretty basic moral belief. There has been a flood of hashtags, posts, links, petitions, funding pages, graphic videos, quotes over the media. I have been trying to read and get a grasp of everything, and now want to put my thoughts onto paper (or the keyboard). 

George Floyd, Belly Mujinga, and many others have received horrific injustice. If you do not know who these people are, please do productive research from trustworthy sources on the internet. Floyd did have a past of criminality, and was not the perfect 'martyr' or whatever people are saying, but that does not justify him being murdered in the way that he was. Floyd's death was the last straw, the trigger point. A symbol of the ongoing abuse towards black people, and many other minorities, have faced all across the world for too long. There have been, and still are, many other groups who suffer from racial/religious/cultural abuse and prejudice. Including: Asians, Indians, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, women, men, children, the elderly, even people with ginger hair... the representational list of hatred, scapegoating and discrimination is endlessly awful.

Reading about all of these disgraceful cases got me thinking about those in my industry who are inspirational, hard-working and incredibly talented. These dancers have got to where they are because art is art. Dance is dance. Talent is talent. I am not knowledgable enough to reiterate their biographies, but they might have received racism along their journey to becoming professional dancers. They might not have. I hope the latter.

Misty Copeland
Francesca Hayward
Micaela DePrince
Precious Adams
Celine Gittens
Marci Sambe
Brandon Lawrence
Tyrone Singleton
Joseph Sissens
Nafisah Baba
Salome Pressac
Nahum McLean
Vidya Patel
Ihsaan De Banya
Monique Jonas
Ebony Thomas
Isaac Bowry
Xolisweh Richards
AND MANY MORE...

I have never personally been made to feel inferior because of the colour of my skin. I can empathise as much as I can, but I may never truly understand what that feels like. I am a white person living in the UK, who has never witnessed a racist attack, never been brainwashed to think black people are 'different' or 'less of a person'. This outbreak on the media has really shockingly opened my eyes to see that many people actually own these racist views, as I read the stories and watch the videos of humans mistreating other humans.

How can someone have the audacity to believe that they have a right to be racist? To think it's okay? 

Unfortunately, we cannot undo history. In fact, history is vital to learn from past experiences, the good and the bad. Slavery was of its time, horribly normalised, where nowadays slavery would be viewed as a completely inhuman act. Slavery was an accepted practice in ancient Greece, where they were seen as 'agricultural workers' and 'domestic servants'. Black slaves were exchanged between countries, where slavery lasted in 50% of the USA states until 1865, and the UK made slavery illegal in the early 1800s, and then in all of its colonies by 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.

Nonetheless, I do not believe we should take down the statues and monuments that mark a statement in history. If we take down Churchill, god forbid, then should we take down the pyramids in Egypt too? Or the Parthenon in Greece? Both the Greeks and Egyptians built their empires on slavery. Churchill did wrong, but was also a man of his time, where his statue on Whitehall commemorates his war effort. He lead and won WW2, without him who knows what Europe would look like today? I do state the difficult question: How far back in history do we want to go in terms of racism?   

Moreover, we have to bear in mind that it wasn't African-American uprisings that led to the abolition of slavery. The abolition movement began and grew in Britain, and was spearheaded by white people who recognised slavery as morally unacceptable. It was Britain who coerced the European countries to abolish slavery, and the Royal Navy ships off the West Coast of Africa who forcibly stopped American ships and freed the slaves on board, many relocating to the West Indies. In terms of America, it is also worth remembering that Abraham Lincoln took the USA to war to stop slavery, and whilst Jim Crow laws and racism thereafter cannot be ignored, hundreds of thousands of American men, both white and black, fought and in pursuit of this cause. Being an ally, actively anti-racist, forward-thinking IS the way forward. Utilise history to understand the systemic problems, accept the past and educate the present and future generations around the topic of racism and slavery, but we cannot mindlessly tear down statues. Do we tear down all statues of people with a complicated past? Mandela? Indira Ghandi? Where is the line drawn? Attitudes change, yes, but Aung San Suu Kyi, once venerated as a proponent of liberalism, democracy and equality, is now vilified for Myanmar's persecution of Rohinga Muslims - are her acts in pursuit of the emancipation of the Burmese people outweighed by her later transgressions enough to warrant a statue of her being ripped down?

What can we do? 

Be actively anti-racist.

Sign petitions. Email your MP (mine is Dawn Butler!). Read books written by black people who know what it feels like to be racially profiled. Promote the voices of black people, not re-posting white people's interpretation of the racist experiences of black people. Discuss the topic of racism with your friends and family. Be actively anti-racist by catching out those who disclose racist comments, stand up to them, putting them in their place.

Some petitions require an American zip code. I would not sign those as you need a green card for certain websites, where I have found that I was unable to sign. Also, many websites have stated NOT to donate to change.org as the money does not directly go towards its cause, so bear that in mind. Whatever you do, please thoroughly read the back story behind every single petition you sign. If there isn't enough information directly on change.org for example, do your further research. Do not be aimless.

Various dancewear brands, such as Capezio and Bloch, have agreed to make dance attire for all skin tones, so that is a good result from those petitions.

https://www.you.co.uk/black-lives-matter-petitions-uk/

https://www.change.org/p/san-leandro-police-deartment-justice-for-emerald-black

https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor

https://www.change.org/p/minneapolis-police-department-justice-for-george-floyd

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-justice-investigate-the-killing-of-tamir-rice

https://www.change.org/p/govia-thameslink-justice-for-belly-mujinga-justiceforbellymujinga

I do not agree with attending any protests. As argumentative as this might be, I would not go to any protests as it is pretty much impossible to socially distance in big crowds. Coronavirus is still around people. Be sensible. I know this movement is powerful, important and in for the long haul, but protesting in huge groups will cause further damage to our citizens, the NHS and the vulnerable. I agree protests do work, and not denying the incredible benefits it has in demanding change and action, but this circumstance is different. The united hard work countries have done to protect the lives of their people against this virus should not be undone.

Self-Educate 

Netflix:
13th
When They See Us
Dear White People
Becoming - Michelle Obama
Who Killed Malcom X
The Innocent Files

Podcasts:
1619
Pod Save the People

Books:
Afua Hirsch - BRIT (ish) On Race, Identity and Belonging
Ruby Hamad - White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Colour
Tiffany Jewell - This Book is Anti-Racist
Reni Eddo-Lodge - Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race
AKALA - Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
Dr Adam Rutherford - How to Argue with a Racist
Bernadine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other (I am currently reading this) 

Further links to read (recommended by Middlesex University UK): 

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/ahmaud-arbery/611539/

https://thebolditalic.com/where-do-i-donate-why-is-the-uprising-violent-should-i-go-protest-5cefeac37ef9

http://circuitous.org/scraps/combahee.html


I will start by seeing where I can buy or loan these books from, watch the Netflix documentaries with my family from home, listen to some of these podcast episodes. I don't think that endlessly posting distressing videos will do any good, in fact it will haunt those who have to re-live those moments every day. This view has been reinstated by many people on social media already. You should not feel pressurised to keep posting #blacklivesmatter. The whole point of the movement is for real change, not to necessarily go crazy on social media.

It is more important to make a difference in real life, than through a screen.

I hope action will be done to involve black history further into the school curriculum in the UK, to help fight embedded and systemic racism across the world. History was never my strong subject, but I know it is so vast:

World Wars, Civil Wars, 'Just' Wars, the Cold War, Uprisings, Resistance Movements, the Civil Rights Movement, Genocide, Anti-Semitism, Protestants vs Catholics, Israelis vs Palestinians, ISIS and Terrorism, The Suffragettes, the British Empire and Colonialism, the British Monarchy, the Irish Border (aka The Troubles), the KKK, Indigenous Tribes, No-Man Lands, Refugee Children, etc...

There is so much to learn. Sometimes, war is the only way out. Hopefully not for the BLM movement, as this can be sustained by continuing to implement black history into education, serving justice to those racist criminals, serving equality across all sectors of society and have genuine compassion for all fellow human beings.

Stay safe everyone and let's be an ally towards all ethnic minorities.