Black Lives Matter

Copyright Picture: Vince Fleming on Unsplash

I decided to do this post in English. Please excuse the grammar and spelling. 

On May 25th George Floyd died during his violent arrest in Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA). Four police men participated in this arrest during which George Floyd was forced to the ground, held down and pressure was put on his neck with a knee. The video went viral and I will spare you the gruesome details. The four police men were fired and one charged with second-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter, the three others were charged with aiding and abetting in the charges mentioned before. 
The damage was done - a life was taken in a more than violent way - it was hard for me to watch the video, which is now document of this act of violence and the starting point of demonstrations, riots and political movement. "All lives matter" is now something we are not supposed to say anymore and I get it. My instinct and wish is, that we can live in a world were all are equal, but I am smart enough to know, that this is a future we can not achieve. Therefore: "BLACK LIVES MATTER".
I am privileged. I am a white straight woman,  living in Europe, having had a good education, being a 100% employed during the pandemic, renting an appartment and being able to pay for it. But I know what it means to be bullied for how I look - I was absurdly obese and am still way overweight. Don't get me wrong - I still have all the privileges above and so I can't and won't complain. Yet I always keep wondering if the movement is taking the right direction. I am all for the change, but I am afraid other topics or groups of people will fall way back on the agenda. 

Copyright Picture: Mike Von on Unsplash

And I am not the only one. Posters like the one pictured above are getting more and more visible. It must be even harder if you are part of one of those groups. LGBTQ+ people, people of different religions, indigenous people and the list goes on. That bothers me. It depresses me, because it makes me aware again and again, that there are so many topics out there that need to be handled. Protests are a good way to create and reinforce awareness, but I doubt that it will really change the matter. I think the problem lies deeper in the education. I can't say anything about education (be it in schools or in families) in the USA. But I know that we learn our prejudices from the people we grow up with: Our families, our teachers, our peer group - society. Look at the gender topic. Why is it, that in most of the minds women are said to be better caretakers and men are better "providers". It is a system we learned from the society around us and it is changing very slowly. But this is not the topic at hand. The Black Lives Matter movement is not new. It is almost as old as time. And yet it never lost its explosive force. It is good, that the topic is back in focus. But there are so many angry people using this "new" platform to make their anger heard. 

Copyright Picture: Donovan Valdivia on Unsplash

I understand the anger towards the police - but saying "ACAB = All Cops Are Bastards" is this true for the black cops as well? Or do you not mean them "girl with the sign"? Saying ACAB is like saying "Every Black Man is selling drugs" - this is angry, verbally violent bullshit. There are decent cops out there - this does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to misbehaving cops - but we should also not turn a blind eye to people using the platform to proclaim their anger and stir up the pot. 

Copyright Picture: LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

If someone is misbehaving - speak up - but do it with decency and thought. Try to find words that help. Educate. Discuss. Help. Those are the things we need to create change. Each and every day. 

If I offended anyone with this text, please forgive me - this was not my intention. I simply needed to get these thoughts out of my system.