What’s Going On Parts 1 & 2

Part 1: Black Lives Matter

I would like to share my feelings about the current situation of our nation. I’ll be honest, I’m just a writer. I’m not all that smart nor am I wise enough to try and shed light on the present-day events but after heavy deliberation I have decided to try my best to share what I believe is right. And what I believe in are these protests. The movements. The Black Lives Matter agenda. I believe in all of it not because of the color of my skin or because of my heritage. You don’t have to share those things in order to fight for something that is blatantly virtuous. To not only fight for equality but equity within the nation we all call our home. And that is exactly what people part of the Black Lives Matter movement are trying to accomplish. Even though we are leading this movement, we are not the only ones oppressed.

Many of those believe that because we put the word Black at the front then it means we are excluding all others who wish for the same goal. That is far from the truth. We put that word there because we are putting ourselves on the front lines of this issue of racism because we already were. Blacks always have been at the forefront of the issue. Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, Arab, and many other races and cultures have been scrutinized as awfully as we have and hopefully our success in reformation will alleviate their suffering as well.

When I was a child, I was always told by my parents and grandparents that family comes first. That your community comes first. That’s a lesson that still flies true. I’m not sure about many others but in my community, we had a variety pack of people across multiple spectrums. The same can be said about my family. Black Lives Matter is no different. It is a community of races and beliefs that fight together for everyone to be equal.

We are here not to fight a war of black vs white, black vs blue. We are here to fight a war of humanity against a system of oppression. A system that works much like a casino on the Vegas strip. We all play the same game, get dealt the same number of cards but the dealer makes sure that some of our cards result in a shitty hand while other players whom the dealer favors are dealt a successful hand from the start. The house, much like the system, always wins. And the oppressed, the cheated, are tired of always letting the system get away with it. And if you want to argue that this public outcry is all of a sudden, that there was no pretext to our screams, you are surely mistaken. This revolution has been announced since 1863. Since the emancipation. Even before then.

Take it back to the early 1800s when the Underground Railroad was established. You think the Underground went away after slaves were emancipated? Just like our ancestors had to fight against a corrupt system in secret back then we have continued the legacy of fighting the same corrupt system in secret today. Blacks had to fight to work the same jobs, go to the same schools, get our music on the radio, own our own businesses, be seen as capable as our white counterparts intellectually, physically, financially, what have you. And when we finally get recognition for our feats we are immediately mocked and contested. This is because our government has been abusing and molesting us with every step we take to rise into our own so it may shackle us once again. And that evil has extended since then from the government to those who support the system and those who let themselves remain blind to it. Our lives have been chained between outright hatred and sly tolerance. 

I never liked the word tolerant. Even back in my fourth grade history class, I winced at learning that Americans wrote a law for everyone to be “tolerant” of other religions back in the 1700s. The Oxford dictionary definition of tolerant is “the willingness to accept or tolerate someone or something, especially opinions or behavior that you may not agree with, or people who are not like you”. Basically, it means that we will allow something to be in our presence even though we don’t like it. That has been the attitude toward African Americans since our ancestors boarded the slave ships to get here. We don’t want that anymore. That’s the attitude the government has indoctrinated into American society and it is atrocious. It is time to stop believing what you are told and believe in what is actually true. It’s time that everyone starts getting educated because the delusion that everyone has been fed all these centuries needs to come to an end or this country will remain divided.

The word “United” in United States of America is as fake as the news they show us. And our current president is the antithesis of what this nation should stand for. He doesn’t give a damn about unity. He only cares about the money filling his pockets and the power inflating his ego. He sees us fighting back against his hellish rule and his immediate response is to deploy the military to extinguish our fire. Why? Because now he is scared. He is scared that we “the people” will rise up and tear down all that he has built for himself so that we may replace his system with a better one of our own making. A system of harmony. A system of respect. A system where everyone can live a life of peace and trust and equal opportunity among one other instead of a life in fear and abuse and hatred. That’s what I believe is the real American Dream. And I feel all those in America should be working with the Black Lives Matter movement to make that dream a reality.

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Part 2: The Revolution

I had come across a Martin Luther King Jr. quote recently that told me exactly what I had been losing sleep over for weeks now. King said that “There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must take it because his conscience tells him it is right.” For a while I have been anxious and stressed about what to do during this time of unrest in the country, in the world really, and when I focused on what I should do my whole body would shake and my mind would race out of control. I wasn’t sure what to do, I just knew I had to do something. I could literally feel it. And at some point I just decided to write my thoughts down and try to tell people what the real fight is all about.

I don’t typically voice my opinions because I don’t think that my voice matters to anyone, however, this time in our lives is not about the individual, it is about the community. And the community needs to hear the words that matter at this time regardless of where those words originate. And I feel that there should be many more people in this country speaking out against the current state of our country as well. They should be speaking out against the laws that prohibit Trans lives from accessing health care and allowing medical professionals to dictate whether or not anyone in the LGBTQ+ community can receive treatment based on their moral values. They should be speaking out against dividing thousands of Latinx families resulting in children being imprisoned in rusty cages. They should be speaking out against police brutality on African Americans.

These actions, and many more, are inhumane and belittle the lives of a multitude of citizens. Of brothers and sisters and friends and family and neighbors. And our current government not only allows these atrocities to take place but it supports and enforces them. It makes me angry, sad, and disgusted. I feel these things because this is not the America anyone should be proud to live in. An America that cares more about keeping the obsolete status quo centered around oppression and profiteering than it cares about the people it swore to protect.

I’ve been to a couple protests now and they were beautiful. The sheer number of people from all demographics that I had chanted “Black Lives Matter” beside was inspiring and empowering. Learning and reading about the same protests happening all over the country as well as in other countries like the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Iran, and Spain rang music to my brain that the system that rules America is wrong and the whole world knows it. Meanwhile, I find it insane that there are still people in this country that support this corrupt government and justify its actions. There are those who go out and terrorize peaceful protests of positive change in order to maintain the unjust rule over the people.

I write all of this today because this country is not right and it is time that everyone works together to reshape this America into a place where we all, as a community, truly belong in. And I, along with my allies, will not fight this battle with hate nor with violence. We will fight with our numbers, our words, our information gathering, our intellect, and our attempts at re-education of the populace. And we will continue to fight until we are heard, understood, and accepted. Fortunately, in this day and age, our revolution will be televised.