loopyloulaura

People are angry. Rightly so. Social media was muted on Tuesday as many shared blacked out posts in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. I feel very uncomfortable writing about race from my white privileged viewpoint. But I feel that I can no longer stay silent.

Avoiding the problem, staying in my comfort zone, being merely non-racist instead of proactively anti-racist is no longer good enough. It is horrifying and shameful that racism still exists in 2020. The only way it will stop is for all of us to raise our voices in outrage, to educate our children and lead by example.

This week I have had difficult conversations with my children. Explaining the current events including the tragic death of George Floyd amidst the greater historical and cultural context.

Previously I had thought it was enough to be ‘colour-blind’ but this fails to celebrate the diversity of our wonderful human race and hides the issue of racism.

All lives matter, but this cannot be true until black lives matter.

‘There is no more neutrality in the world. You either have to be part of the solution, or you’re going to be part of the problem.’ Eldridge Cleaver

I am angry that our leaders are not standing up for what is right. Why are they not addressing the problem, only looking at the symptoms, the violence that has erupted from depair?

I am appalled that celebrities are making comments decrying the insidious racism inherent in our Western culture when these should be coming from our politicians. I am relieved that most people are not staying silent, that they are finally challenging the ‘neutrality’.

White people, like me, now have to join the fight for freedom from institutional racism. We can use our privilege to demand change. We can listen. We can love, educate and pledge our commitment to equality. We can make a difference.

To end this post, I will quiet my voice and use Martin Luther King’s:

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.