Transcend the bubble. Speak up, do something on this list.

Take me to the list!

Tap tap click tap tap
laugh smile just another day
comfy lil bubble

I woke up Thursday morning to a newsfeed covered by #AltonSterling and #PhilandoCastile posts. I found myself lost consuming these stories of injustice, occasionally sharing a post or two that really struck a cord. Along came a post with a screenshot of newly release Pokemon Go — my attention diverted. I downloaded the app, and my passionate emotions from #BlackLivesMatter drifted to the newsfeed of oblivion.

And then it hit me. Aside from sympathetically sharing posts, I have done nothing to support the #BlackLivesMovement in an impactful way. I cared, but I didn’t understand. I sympathized, but I didn’t empathize.

So I took the next five minutes to imagine this experience from a front seat view.

I am in my friend’s car. A policeman is holding my friend at gunpoint, but asks for him to pull out his ID. My friend is scared and agitated, but he complies.

I think everything will be okay. We did nothing wrong.

I see my friend reach for his pocket. He’s just getting out his wallet.

Everything will be okay.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

My friend spazzes. His body slumps down into his seat, as blood began seeping into his white new tshirt.

I hear him moaning, the policeman is cursing…I am stunned.

I opened my eyes, eyebrows still intensely furrowed together, and found myself questioning my perception of men in blue uniform. As a member of a relatively more privileged racial group, I see policemen as a sign of safety.

There’s a policeman down the street to protect the people.

…to protect “the people.”

Protect which people?

There’s a policeman down the street to shoot the people.

What if, because of my skin color, seeing police didn’t make me feel safe anymore, and instead make me feel fear — the fear that one wrong move, one torso shift, will trigger five irreversible bullets straight into my body, distant death now right in front of my eyes?

Policemen took an oath to SERVE AND PROTECT the people. So why is it that we have situations where people are afraid of the policeman down the street?

I’m sure there are ways to empathize more, but it should not take a first-hand experience to make us care enough to take action. So while I respect the privileged society’s dedication to work and happiness, I encourage this group escape the bubble, and turn passive sympathy into active knowledge, action, and support.

How do we start? By turning sympathy into empathy. Use the collection of posts below to understanding the history of #BlackLivesMatter. Then, take action.

Please feel free to leave notes or responses with other resources for #BlackLivesMatter.

Notable threads on Twitter

Notable Medium Articles

My White Boss Talked About Race in America and This is What Happened by Mandela Schumacher-Hodge
“How many of my Black brothers and sisters — especially in tech — can say that their White colleagues acknowledge the current state of racial injustice in America?”

Processing by @ericajoy (Read her footnote, if not the whole article)
“…This young black man, who lives in this society where young black men are conditioned to be “hard” and “tough”, could not help but to bawl at the loss of his father. My heart broke. I closed the video and looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to hold my tears back.”

Silicon Valley doesn’t care about black people by Justin Edmund
“…it stands out just how mute Silicon Valley is when it comes to unarmed black people being shot and killed by cops. It’s alarming, considering this very same industry is actively trying to court underrepresented minorities for technical positions to make their workforce diversity statistics look less homogeneously white.”

I’m Calling in Black to Work Tomorrow by @Shaft
“Police do not fear being held accountable. You see, killing black people is normal for the police in this country. They have a process on how to respond.”

Warning: Pokemon GO is a Death Sentence if you are a Black Man 
by Omari Akil

Data and more…

Why I will not share video of Alton Sterling’s death on Washington Post
“But the video is also fodder for a sick sort of voyeurism. These recordings, which are tantamount to snuff films, are shared thousands of times, to the point that they’re hard to avoid — on Twitter, on the morning news, on a TV screen at the gym. For me, these videos are debilitating, senseless violence played over and over again.”

Black police officer Nakia Jones breaks the blue wall of silence on Facebook Live 
“There’s many of us who would give our life for anybody, and we took this oath and we meant it. If you are an officer who is prejudiced, take the uniform off and put the KKK hoodie on.”