If you have been following my blog you may have come to look at it as a grim page, and that is because life doesn't always have a fairytale ending. As a young girl my mother has always told me that the world was mine to do with it, that I ever so pleased. This is a saying that many parents feed to their young children, however my mother neglected to tell me that I was only allowed to do as much as the world would allow me to. Growing up as an African American female in predominately black neighborhood, I didn't realize how "real" racism was in today's society. I still struggle to understand its power even after being threatened on the account of my skin color as I traveled to Florida for a family vacation at the age of six, but that's a story for another day.
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his is the reason in which that I personally struggle with the idea of police brutality being stopped only because "white" people used themselves as a body shield to help the African Americans that were protesting.
One of the more recent hashtags that has been seen on my timeline is #FeesMustFall. This is a hashtag that is being spread as a protest to the rise in tuition at colleges in South Africa (I forgot to mention that this isn't just an American thing), and has become popular because it is something that isn't being covered in the news. However, you know my deal, I give you the facts and let you do with them what you will, only hoping that you are spreading these messages to help bring our nation into a true united nation which can hold as an example to the rest of the world.
In recent news, there have been peaceful protest going on in South America to stop the rise of tuition which, in the eyes of the students, are getting out of hand. It is as they are peacefully rallying that the police come to put an end to the protest. To some of the students it seemed that things would very quickly get out of hand. However, large waves of white students came to use themselves as a human body shield to prevent police brutality. Thankfully, because of the white students that were courageous enough to stand up against the police force. Seems to be a happy ending right? No! It has unfortunately brought attention to white privilege as the officers seemed to only back off because the whites had more "value" than that of the blacks. Which goes to show how wrong that my mother was. I am not free to do whatever I want. This world isn't what I make of it, because of incidents such as this that show me that because of the color of my skin that I am of less "value " than that of someone else. Even though we are both human. But, on the bright side with people that stand up against this cruelty I get just a tad bit closer to having my very own fairy tale ending.
Jamirah, you're very right that there is still prejudice and racism in the United States and the world today, and this definitely translates to certain privileges for white people. It's so sad that we still haven't moved past this as a nation. That being said, I think it's great that you're using this blog as a platform for discussing social justice, demonstrating that we can all effectively use our voices for change.
ReplyDelete^^ and most importantly use our voices to tell the stories of those who have had their stories hushed or silenced, as you do here.
ReplyDeleteI love how you pointed out that this isn't just a thing in America. This shows that we all need to come together, no matter race, age, or nationality. Hopefully, soon things will start changing around.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.