Miseducation
“If you live in this system of white supremacy, you are either fighting the system or you are complicit. There is no neutrality to be had towards systems of injustice, it is not something you can just opt out of.”
Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black father, son, cousin, uncle, HUMAN, was shot multiple times in the presence of his three children on Sunday. You don’t have to watch the video to judge the actions of these cops. Even if he would have been armed, it still doesn’t warrant the excessive force. Black lives continue to be disregarded, and disrespected. Their pain continues to be unheard and dismissed. Non-Black people have no business telling Black people how to act or feel. If you have a problem with that, you need to take a seat and gather yourself before life gathers you.
To bring about change it is imperative to reform the way we teach history. We don’t know and are not taught Black history, all we know is the whitewashed version. I feel robbed of the miseducation I received in school. History is taught so backwards, actually it’s not that it’s backwards, it is just wrong. Just the other day I learned why Haiti has a poor economy. In 1804, they were the first nation to abolish slavery after they successfully revolted the French. In return, the French slapped them with an indemnity of 150 million francs (equivalent to $21 billion today) to pay the “losses” (enslaved Africans and the colony) their slave owners suffered. It took Haiti 143 years to pay this debt. France has rejected reparations demands multiple times. Just think about that for a minute. It pisses me off that we aren’t taught this in school.
With everything that is going on, I am not saying you have to march in the streets and protest. However, if you have the energy to post about it on your social media, you should replicate that energy everywhere and anywhere you go, even when and where nobody else is doing it. I feel like social media has become a new form of activism but requires minimal effort. Social media can be used effectively but it can also be very deceiving. I don’t need to expand more on this, if you know you know. Protect and uplift Black lives at all times and at all costs. Educate yourself, and check yourself.
“To refuse to listen to someone’s cries for justice and equality until the request comes in a language you feel comfortable with is a way of asserting your dominance over them in the situation.” - Ijeoma Oluo
If you haven’t watched this video, do yourself a favor and watch it now.
