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I Don't Have a Big Platform but I Have a Platform to Say: Black Lives Matter

I don't have a big platform. But, I started this blog as a place to put my thoughts down and I think it would be disingenuous for me to not express my thoughts and opinions over what is happening in this country. It took me a bit to actually write down what I was thinking and feeling but I was on the phone with a friend of mine and I said:


"I am a white person. I am a Jewish person. I make a conscious choice to not wear a Star of David because of my own personal unease of anti-Semitic assholes. But I am white, so, I can, to my best of my ability, hide my Jewishness. I cannot even begin to imagine what it is like to be a black person or other person of color, who unlike me, does not have the option to hide that they are who they are, and to have to live with fear, pain, and hopelessness every day."


I know I will never be able to put myself in their shoes. I will never understand what it is like to be black. But what I do know is that I am angry, outraged, and hurt for those suffering from oppression and racism. There needs to be something done in this country to educate people to combat all forms of racism and antisemitism. Like I said, I can hide that I am Jewish to the best of my ability by simply not wearing a piece of jewelry. Black people cannot hide that they are black. And it is because they are black, they face a set of challenges in their daily lives that most people cannot even begin to comprehend and understand. 

 

Everyone is pretty much in agreement that murder is wrong. The fact that it is blatantly obvious in the video George Floyd was murdered by a cop kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds is something that everyone should know as it's wrong period. That cop murdered a man and the other 3 officers there were complicit and did nothing to stop it. Those cops were, and are, also in the very explicit wrong. George Floyd's murder, the murders of other black individuals at the hands of cops and other racist individuals, and the blatant profiling of black people as criminals is just not ok. It is unfortunate that the country as a whole refuses to make any push towards change or progress to combat casual and systematic racism. Swiping the past under the rug to pretend it did not happen because people are uncomfortable acknowledging the harsh truths is unacceptable. The idea of "oh it doesn't effect me, so it's not my problem" just can't be tolerated. 


What is not ok are police officers arresting, beating, and/or violently attacking members of the press. What is not ok, are police officers who drive their cruisers into protesters. What is not ok are members of police forces escalating to violence when protesters are peaceful. What is certainly not ok is arresting a black man who was peacefully kneeling in protest and pleading with officers about his feelings and about why he was there protesting. What is not ok is for someone who holds the office of President of the United States speaking the same words as racist segregationists. What is not ok is tear gassing human beings, citizens of the country you are the leader of, citizens who are exercising their First Amendment rights, for a photo op in front of a church whilst awkwardly holding a bible because you hid in a bunker the day before and #bunkerboy was trending on Twitter for a bit. Not only is it not ok to use violence against those protesting police brutality, it's just plain stupid. How thick and obtuse can one be to think that using those tactics on protestors is the best course of action? 


What is also not ok are people using the peaceful protests to incite violence because they are not really there to protest the injustices endured by an entire race, but to just fuck shit up, to loot, to riot, and to be opportunistic ass holes trying to get away with it all because there is a larger minority group that they can blame as the perpetrators of their violence and destruction.

 

What is also not ok is not acknowledging that there are cops around the nation who are taking a knee with protesters, cops who are marching with protestors, and cops who are listening to, speaking with, and hugging protesters instead of acting violently against them.

 

But the sad reality is, is that there are racists in every facet of society, which does include police departments. It must be more than acknowledged if we want to see any change. It needs to be more than saying that there is no room for racists in any level of law enforcement or government. There needs to be large scale systematic change. I personally don’t know what that looks like, but a good place to start is listening to others and educating ones self outside of the privileged bubble you live in.

 

So, until my black friends can feel the same safety I do when I walk past an officer of the law, black lives need to matter. #blacklivesmatter ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

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