Black People Deserve A Normal Life
Everyone has the right to equality.
I have seen a video from a teenage Black boy talking about unwritten rules for Black people to survive in the U.S. This video was published on TikTok two weeks ago. If you have not watched it, here it is.
In this video, an 18-year-old boy named Cameron Welch talked about 16 rules that his mom taught him to survive in the U.S., consisting of:
Don’t put your hands in your pocket
Don’t put your hoodie on
Don’t be outside with no shirt on
Check in with your people, it don’t matter even if you’re down the street.
Don’t be out too late
Don’t touch anything you’re not buying.
Never leave the store without a receipt or a bag, even if it’s just a pack of gum,
Never make it look like there is an altercation between you and someone else.
Never leave the house without your I.D.
Don’t drive with a wife-beater on.
Don’t drive with a do-rag on.
Don’t go out in public with neither.
Don’t ride with the music too loud.
Don’t stare at a Caucasian woman
If a cop stops you randomly and starts questioning you, don’t talk back. Just compromise
If you ever get pulled over, hands on the dashboard and ask could you get out your license and registration.
Bloody hell. Look at them. Cameron said that the death of George Floyd made him speak up. I wonder if the white people in the U.S. have to learn these rules before going out. Those rules imply that Black people in the U.S. are suffering discrimination and unfairness only because of the color of their skin.
I saw a tweet from a white person several days ago (not remember who posted it), saying that he was disappointed because he was once arrested by using a counterfeit of $20 bill but released after that. He still made a joke about that story at parties, while George Floyd had to ‘pay’ for that fault by his life.
The United States proud to be a country of democratic, of the freedom, of cultural diversity. And you should have heard about the American Dream — a belief that the United States will be the place where everyone can have a better, richer and fuller life. But, all of that will be a bubble which can be burst easily. The democratic, the American Dream mean nothing when people are still discriminate the other based on their race or color.
Section 1, Amendment XIV of the Constitution of the United States stated that: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Black people who were born in the United States become citizens of the United States. Why do they set out their own survival rules, to stay out of troubles in the United States? Why are they considered ‘criminal-alike’, while the White people can do (most of) those rules?
I have some Black friends (one of them is my housemates). They are funny and kind to me. My thesis supervisor is a Black woman who is considered the best PhD of her class. My favorite trainer is Shaun T (I followed some of his workout programs), who inspired and motivated me (only via T.V. screen) to exercise and lose weight in the past. Black people, like White ones or any other races, is fantastic. Don’t assess someone only through the color of their skin. Don’t let them feel worries or stresses every time they go out. They deserve to live, not survive in their country.
Everyone will be the same after-life. We will be skeletons laying underground after we die. We can be ashes being put underground or going with the wind. No one will recognize who is white, who is black, or yellow.
So, why can’t they have normal lives they deserve?
