admin…………………………….
Nothing and everything all at once.
That is it. That is all that is going in my mind. I am so beyond perplexed/angry/upset and a whole other range of emotions that I have no better words to start this off. My thoughts, feelings, and opinions don’t matter at the moment. My voice is not the one that needs to be heard. Listen to your black neighbors, friends, strangers, and women. JUST LISTEN TO BLACK BODIES.
As we know his name is, say it with me, George Flyod. There is also Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, Bettie Jones and sadly so many more.
Even though my voice is not the one that needs to be heard, I am going to use this as a moment to dump all my emotion out.
I have had a hard time over the past few weeks, almost a month now, trying to decide how to do this. The last thing anyone needs is a white voice and I don’t want to step on the voices of the black people who matter so much more right now. At the same time I also need to get this out.
Black lives matter.
I have not lived in America for 6 years, and collectively during those 6 years I have been back about a 1-2 months total. As a Southern American abroad watching all this unfold, I am ashamed of my country. Yes racism exits in other places but it is not as present as it is in America. I am not sure if it is because I grew up around it so it is more visible to me, but people around the world notice it and also discuss it. It is 2020 and we are still dealing with the same issue we had in 1892 when Jim Crow laws segregated railroad cars. There is no excuse America. The whole country is filled with entitled white men who think they have specific rights and freedoms to do things, own objects and just generally walk the Earth being shit humans.
THIS is how America was founded, the same white men doing the same stupid, bigoted things.
Being in Taiwan, yes there is racism but it is not near the level it is in America. Once George Floyd happened I watched in horror as this poor man was breathing his last breaths due to a white man feeling entitled. As the events of BLM unfolded, I sat in Taiwan itching to be in the states. I wanted to fight, to listen and learn. I felt so helpless being In Taiwan not able to do anything. I watched Queen City Nerve from NC every waking moment for weeks. I was involved in some way. It wasn’t until June, JUNE that the officers responsible for George Floyd were charged and only with 2 degree manslaughter, the other two by-standards just slapped with aiding and abetting.
But even more is that the officers responsible for Breonna Taylor are still running around in every day life.
This is the problem. Black people face so much shit every day. They have to be taught from a young age not to walk in specific places, not to make sudden movements, not to wear hoods at night, not to wear their hair specific ways. It is disgusting and degrading. America is supposed to be a melting pot. A place where cultures can come together but how can we call ourselves this if we can’t even be a melting pot with the people who are actually citizens of the country. We can’t.
America needs to get its shit together. How can this country, that is supposed to be the best country in the world, to move forward and be a forefront in things if we are still living in the past?
