When Facebook asks me what’s on my mind I don’t say shit because I usually don’t have time, but today I got time.
I’m about to go HAM
Beyoncé’s Formation has brought a significant amount of racists out of the closet.
Thank you B, because of your Super Bowl half-time show many have exposed their true colors.
I’ve seen 2 types of racists so far…
- the ones who can’t even tell their being racist and
- the ones who say racial slurs but don’t even know how or why they’re racist in the first place.
I think it’s because there may be a lack of knowledge when it comes to their own hegemonic history.
There’s only so much ignorance one can witness and tolerate.
I tried to tell myself it’s just the internet, don’t let it get to you, leave it alone but this is actually a very powerful platform and I can’t bare to see these ignorant ass people use it to contribute to the toxic that is racism.
So instead of sharing memes today I’m finally gonna say what’s on my mind, forreal…and help contribute to the cure instead.
We see your hating’ asses and I have a message for you, better yet an informative short essay on why #BlackLivesMatter for those who don’t get it.
IF you have time…
The #BLM movement exists because of situations like this, racist white people always thinking that everything is entirely about them, like you’re the only ones who matter. I encourage you to listen to #KendrickLamar’s #ToPimpAButterfly for more insight after reading this, but for those of you who seem to not understand what BLM means, it is about empowering the oppressed. It’s not just about reminding you that we matter but reminding ourselves that we matter too. Black lives matter is not only about fighting against racism and police brutality, it’s far deeper than that. It’s also about fighting against black on black crime and fighting against self-hate amongst black individuals. It is not singling anyone out in any way shape or form, if anything it is fighting for inclusion. It is not a hate-fueled movement towards white people, stop being so damn big headed because in reality this is a self-love movement, it’s letting us know that we matter too and that we should demand to be treated as such. The movement encourages us to stand up for ourselves. It’s about putting an end to the hate, the hate some whites have towards blacks along with the resentment blacks have towards whites for having created a system that taught us to hate ourselves in the first place, to hate our skin, our hair, our status etc. BLM is a civil rights movement that was inevitable since the moment our ancestors were brought to this land. We didn’t matter in this country, and we still don’t we don’t feel welcome in this country, yet most of us are born here! We’re just as much American as you.
Imagine that, not feeling welcome in your own home. If you’re white then of course you’ve felt welcome here, the system works for you, not against you! I guess it can be hard for you to notice when you’re being treated better or different than us, especially if you’re not paying attention, but we notice, we pay attention. We endure it and it makes us feel like 3/5ths a person. Your ancestors may not have whipped me personally but I sure am feeling lashes on my back from mine. I carry the scars of their pain. Racism is alive, the aftershock from slavery isn’t over, it may be a little more covert but that doesn’t mean a thing. Put yourselves in our shoes for one moment, imagine being followed in stores for no reason, getting harassed for wearing hoodies, talked to less politely, disrespected and constantly being judged because of our skin, culture and the way we talk. The list goes on. Here’s a more specific scenario, imagine being black in a public area where some white kids happen to get rowdy but when the cops show up they assume the black kids are the culprits so they point guns at them despite the fact that we were irrelevant to the situation, meanwhile the actual culprits, the white kids, are making a run for it and escape unnoticed, imagine the person who called the cops on those white kids and having to explain to the cops that they got the wrong kids.
That is racism.
That is an example of your inherited white privilege and our inherited oppression.
That is why black lives matter.
The current system was never created for us in the first place; it was originally created for white men who owned land, not even for Irish people or women, period. Some people are so oblivious and blind to these facts that they can’t see that this country is both racist and misogynistic as fuck. The whole system needs to be reformed! What do you think we’re fighting for? Year after year trying to get congress to approve some damn change in this country! I was born here and I love America despite it’s flaws so I’m not leaving, I’m staying and I’m fighting for my right to be here just like any one who wouldn’t want to be ran out of their own home. Stop labeling me African-American because I am not an immigrant, I’m an American, I was born in Sacramento, CA, if anything I am a Californian-American. Why are American born blacks still being labeled as immigrants yet whites are not labeled as European-Americans. Why can’t we just be Americans who embrace our immigrant roots? The answer is because we are not welcome here, we don’t matter…yet.
Oh but we’re starting to matter now because #Beyoncé sank a police car. Got y’all pissed off all the way to high hell and back all because she subliminally called out our oppressors. Here you are now, mistaking it for hate. This movement does not mean that her and many other BLM supporters wish death upon police officers as some of you dramatically make it out to be. We are protesting to be treated like we matter to them. Authorities constantly target us like we’re disposable, we as citizens feel like we’re walking on eggshells in our everyday life, as if they’re waiting for us to crack that one egg just so they can justify a reason to our blow our head off. Why, because they can, we know because they get away with it all the time. There are racist police officers in every state and they take advantage of their authority to satisfy their own hegemonic agenda. I am not saying all police are like this, if that’s what you assume than you’re just being small-minded.
Think bigger. Explain why mug shots of black men have been used for target practice by these figures of authority who are supposed to protect ALL of us, not some of us. Instead there are actual cases like this where they are literally being groomed to target black men. This is how we live but you want us to shut up and act like there isn’t anything wrong? You think you’ve groomed us enough to keep our mouths shut and be grateful to the white man for letting us in the house. Think again, if you’re not racist but you’re offended by BLM, try to understand it first before you talk shit. Understand instead of blasting yourselves on social media and revealing to everyone on your friends list just how racist you truly are on the inside. Not everything is about you! Join the fight to make us matter the same way you matter, support equality because you know damn well we deserve to be treated like we belong here because we do. Rather than making us out to be “rejects from Africa who play victim”, as I’ve seen one of you put it. Wake up people, America was never racist until the Mayflower came and the events that lead to the birth of this so-called “Great Country” are no different than the Holocaust, if anything it just discreetly succeeded where the holocaust didn’t. “Make America Great Again”, excuse me? When the hell was it ever great?! It has always been an intricate work in progress so let’s not jump ahead of ourselves here. For those of you who say we are creating an issue that isn’t there, please indulge me, what tradition are you trying to uphold exactly when you tell oppressed individuals to their face that there is no race issue? That millions of us are all under some mass delusion and that racism is in the past. That is so selfish, you only feel that way because you’ve never experienced oppression to begin with. How can we progress if you constantly deny that major changes need to be made? You only deny the problem because you are part of the problem…BUT the problem doesn’t affect you the way it affects us, so I guess that’s why it doesn’t MATTER to you.
#BLACKLIVESMATTER and I’m not ashamed to say it. That doesn’t make me racist, it makes me oppressed. Real educated people of all races know what it really means, we read between the lines. BLM represents not just blacks but every minority, because in this country if you’re not white than you are basically treated black, you are “colored”, You could be born here and will still be treated like an immigrant. Mexicans know it, Asians know it, Muslims know it etc. Don’t forget all those Whites Only/Colored Only signs that were placed in almost every public area in the 60's. Yet we are being shunned on social networks for using a HASH TAG that represents equality instead of segregation. Some of you take #BLM so literal and so out of context that you’ve blinded yourselves from seeing the true message. This country has always made you feel like you matter that’s why you don’t get it, that’s why you think were all just being an angry black women and men. White lives have always mattered, you’ve been had privilege. So much of it some of you can’t even tell you have it anymore. #DonaldTrump has so much privilege that he is a presidential candidate who is openly racist yet is being praised for his “honesty” and the justification for this is that he is speaking his mind.
Meanwhile blacks all over the country are utilizing social media as well as other platforms to speak their minds and in return are basically being told by white people to SHUT THE FUCK UP. Um who “massa” you think you is? You are a poser, a wannabe slave owner, you say we’re ignorant yet we know more about your history than you do, despite trying to water it down throughout the centuries, we know what it is. This country rightfully belongs to the people, not the elite. The days of white-dominance are coming to an end and some of you make it so obvious that this is the REAL reason you’re mad. Well be mad, we’ve been mad for centuries. It must feel like shit feeling that supremacy slip through your fingers and into the palms of equality.
Sorry if I snapped but I go hard because I’m passionate and it’s hard to speak your mind in a composed way especially when you’re speaking on your pain. Not just my pain, our pain. Our lives matter too, we never said yours didn’t. Stand with us, not against us. Now lets get in formation.
-Krys Ro ✊🏾