Freedom x Black
‘From every mountainside, let freedom ring,’ declared Martin Luther King Jr. in his legendary speech ‘I Have A Dream’ in 1963. More than five decades on, freedom has still not rung for Black people around the world. The colour black carries the pain of a race that has been oppressed for centuries and continues to be oppressed. Under the appearance of increased inclusion and equality lie the persisting undertones of unfreedom.
When Collins Khosa, a 40-year-old Black South African, was brutally murdered by police whilst drinking a beer on his own property, he was not free.
When African-American historian Dr. Daina Ramey Berry had to talk to her 12-year-old son about the possibility of dying of police brutality for his Blackness, they were not free.
When Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American walking down the street carrying no more than a bag of skittles, was shot by a member of the neighborhood watch, he was not free. But the shooter, who was acquitted, was.
And so the list of victims goes on, and on, and on. Around the world, racism is still pervasive and institutionalised. Blacks and people of colour (POC) are still perceived as a threat to society even when they are just performing day-to-day tasks. In England and Wales, Black men are stopped and searched by police at nine times the rate of white men. Here in Hong Kong, where diversity is rarely talked about, Pakistani university student Wasqas speaks out, in fluent Cantonese, about having been frisked 20 times from age 8 to 18 for no reason. Similarly in Australia, Aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders are just over 3% of the overall population but 29% of those in prison. The wealth distribution today in the US harks back to another era: the median White family has 41 times more wealth than the median Black family. 41 times, between two groups who are differentiated by nothing other than race. Racism does not have to end in overt violence. Prejudices, microaggressions, stereotypes, misconceptions all play a role in hindering the progress of POC. Racial inequalities, be it wealth, education, or death rate from Covid-19, are starking and unacceptable for 2020, for a generation that considers itself free and liberal.
Many consider themselves as being ‘not a racist’. But as Ibram X. Kendi points out in his bestseller ‘How to Be an Antiracist’, ‘one either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an antiracist. There is no in-between safe space of
“not racist.”’ Neutrality in a world in which racism is still rampant is to agree tacitly with racism. Silence is aggression. Indifference is violence.
The recent wave of the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd has lifted, ever so slightly, the veil of ignorance on the subject of racial discrimination and privilege. The world is waking up to the harsh reality that faces POC every day. But not enough.
Not long ago Juneteenth marked the 125th anniversary of the emancipation of the enslaved in the US. Yet they are still tied by the invisible shackles of racism and a system that was built to their detriment. Now, more than ever, we must be actively antiracist, free ourselves as well as POC of prejudices. We must look within ourselves for misconceptions and unlearn them, seek to understand people of different backgrounds, and not fear them. It should disgust us that we enjoy the fruits of black culture (Jazz, rap, gospel, literature, to name a few) and turn our backs on the communities who created them. I still hear appalling comments from my relatives and friends from time to time. ‘There are lots of Black people and immigrants there, it’s not safe’, ‘if you want drugs just look for the Black guy’, ‘Black people are poor because they don’t work hard enough.’ Casual racism perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophecy that chains POC to the false belief that they cannot achieve any more than we believe them to, with very material consequences. It is time to break this ceiling.
What does that have to do with us?
The three E’s in SLEEEP represent our egalitarian ideal of sleep for everyone, every day, everywhere. Black has been the color of our uniform and our brand since the very beginning, before the social movement in Hong Kong that has taken this colour to represent a certain camp. Not only is it the colour you see when you close your eyes, but it is also a colour that is all-inclusive, one that absorbs all the colours of the spectrum. We at SLEEEP have people of different beliefs, different political persuasions, different aspirations, and of different nationalities. We believe strongly that the best world is not one of identical unity, but one of Unified Diversity. Unity does not come from uniformity.
Learn more about anti-racism:
‘How to Be an Anti-Racist’ — Ibram X. Kendi
‘So You Want To Talk About Race’ — Ijeoma Oluo
‘Sister Outsider’ — Audre Lourde
‘13th’ — Ava DuVernay
