Taking a stand means moving beyond neutrality and passivity to becoming actively anti-racist. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”īLM is advocating for meaningful political change which can only happen if we all, not just people of color, take a stand against racism. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. “#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Individual participants may act violently on occasion as do individuals in many movements, but violence is not the premise of Black Lives Matter. The Black Lives Matter movement does not condone violence. “To come out and say “Black Lives Matter” is also condoning violence towards the police officers who have become victims of this hysteria and racism.” It means that we have systems and institutions that produce racially disparate outcomes, regardless of the intentions of the people who work within them.” In fact, systemic racism means almost the opposite. As Radley Balko asserts, “Of particular concern to some on the right is the term “systemic racism”, often wrongly interpreted as an accusation that everyone in the system is racist. Systemic racism does not mean all people in the system are racist. I am not neutral about systemic racism, and my intention is to clearly share my lack of neutrality with resolve and care. The first step toward becoming an anti-racist is reckoning with the fact that racism is systemic.” In his article, “Anti-racism requires more than passive sympathy,” Joshu Virasami states: “To be anti-racist means to involve yourself directly in the movement to end racism, to take action. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. In particular, I want to clearly demonstrate my unequivocal rejection of neutrality and agree with Bishop Desmond Tutu’s statement: I do not think neutrality about racism is important. “I do think that neutrality in these times is important.” I reject the following statements in bold: It may not be over these matters, but I encourage you to listen to the voice of your wisdom and follow the call within you. I am hoping my voice will encourage you to speak up and share your voice. It feels important to me to not stay silent in the face of these assertions. I am particularly grateful for my good friend Aparna Bakhle for providing love and support as well as resources to help me address these points. I know I am grateful to not be alone on this journey. If that is the case, I hope you find the solidarity affirming and sustaining. I realize by now that my blog is probably preaching to the choir. I received further feedback and have extracted some key points I think are important to refute here. It was thoughtful, knowledgeable, and long-held. I want to be clear my statement was not a naive jumping on the bandwagon proclamation. I was bewildered when I was asked to listen to Bill O’Reilly and watch Tucker Carlson as if I was not informed about my opinion. It is just not something I have shared in my blog before. I was very clear in my post last week that I support the Black Lives Matter movement. From there, your actions will reflect your best understanding in the moment. I share with the intent of being of service, and I encourage you to use my reflections to stimulate your own personal inquiry so you look inward and listen deeply to the wisdom of your true nature. As many of you know, my blog posts focus on sharing my personal experience and what I am learning and seeing more deeply related to the experience of living in the human form with more love and understanding. I want to acknowledge all of the support demonstrated by my readers for anti-racism and for the acknowledgment that Black Lives Matter.
0 kommentar(er)
