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WORDS ON BLACK LIVES MATTER AND THE CLIMATE OF OUR WORLD FROM OUR FOUNDER, LAUREN BELLAMY

August 21, 2020

Ever since the day that George Floyd was murdered in front of our eyes, our country and planet has been experiencing a long awaited reckoning. For me, of course, I have seen the injustice towards Black people, as it affects my family and I on a regular basis. Black Lives Matter was originally an organization made a year after the death of Trayvon Martin, and since then, they have continuously made strides to make sure that Black individuals who were senselessly killed get justice. The fact that the organization and movement now are finally being taken seriously, is depressing and frustrating. Why did it have to take George Floyd being murdered before our very eyes thanks to the act being recorded by Darnella Frazier for the world to realize how Black people are continuously being killed for no reason? What’s sadder is the fact that if we weren’t in a pandemic and forced to stay at home and rely on social media for the news, who knows if we would even be having the conversation. I cry every single time I hear that another one of my people was killed for nothing, and especially by people who are supposed to be protecting us. At the end of the day, what this has shown is how horrible racial inequality is, and how our country and justice system was literally made with structural racism. The fact the officers who killed Floyd had the opportunity to be released on bail and try to pretend that they didn’t just kill an unarmed Black man, is absolutely sickening. What angers me the most is how Breonna Taylor’s killers walk free. Two of the three officers simply got reassigned and the other was fired but was still able to go on a vacation as if he didn’t kill a Black woman in her sleep. I’ve always known how Black women in particular have been silenced and oppressed against, but the fact that a Black woman lost her life for no reason and hasn’t gotten an ounce of justice, shows exactly how disgusting that oppression is. 

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The conversation that we need to have as a country is why did we ever think this was okay? To kill someone simply because of their skin color and believe they were less than because of that skin color? Why does this country want to treat Black children as if they’re adults and don’t deserve the same rights as white children? We need to make sure that we focus on the microaggressions that have been said for years, as well as look at the overarching picture of how racism has become this sense of a norm that doesn’t get called out enough by the group who does it the most. We all need to hold each other accountable and do something about it instead of just saying, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe that happened. You want to talk about it?”. Enough is enough. We deserve to be looked at as equals and not as some box to be checked or taken less seriously because of our skin color and gender. And it can’t just be Black people taking action; we’ve been taking action for years. Every single person in this world needs to do something from either educating themselves on the inequality that BIPOC have experienced, organize or go to a protest and march, donate to organizations supporting the cause, or calling out our peers who have tried to stay silent during this time. For those who have never had to do this, I know you may be uncomfortable, but it is our duty to make sure that the killing of Black women, men and BIPOC as a whole doesn’t continue. We are all people and human beings trying to survive on this earth until we die, and until that moment comes, we need to fight to make sure everyone is able to live in harmony, freely and happily, and finally be able to show that all lives truly matter.

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“Black Women and Girls Killed by Police: The Incomplete Stories of #SayHerName.” Portside, 20 June 2020, portside.org/2020-06-20/black-women-and-girls-killed-police-incomplete-stories-sayhername.