I’ve sat in silence and watched the way the world has been affected by the murder of George Floyd. I’ve watched how the media and the masses, with and without social media accounts express their hurt and anger.

Why sit in silence while everyone has an opinion and is being bullied into saying something? Or not actively participating in #BlackoutTuesday or re-share every campaign circulating the internet?

It’s not because I’m not mad or hurt, it’s not even about my feelings; I’m just a small cog in the wheel of the world and I didn’t want to add to the same things everybody is saying and sharing.

I understand that right now people feel helpless and they want to ACT and RE-ACT. Pump the brakes for a second and let’s look at some of the things that we are being told that we can do to HELP the situation, to make our SELF feel better, to make a change.

1. Join in the protests
2. Give to black organizations and charities
3. Support black businesses
4. Educate yourself on “black issues”
5. Talk to your black friend
6. Re-post, like, a support campaign

I look at all the above and think, are these things really going to make a difference?

The Protests

How many protests have there been in the past regarding police using excessive force or killing unarmed, restrained black people? What change have happened? The officer(s) in question may get fired and do jail time. Protesters call it justice. YAY!

While this is important, aren’t we missing the bigger picture? The fact that it WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.

Before you start seething in anger and stop reading, follow me here. I have a point, and like any storyteller I need to paint a picture. I’m not saying don’t protest, that is not where I am going.

Throw Money at the Problem

AKA give to black organizations, charities and support black businesses. To me this seem like people want to throw money at the problem, in hopes that it will calm things down.

In my opinion, giving money to these organizations at this time, is a guilt trip. I’m not saying don’t give, but you give now because of the murder of George Floyd (fueled by your guilt) and two months from now you stop giving, you write it off in your year-end statements and life is back to normal for you, until another black person is killed by a cop.

Same for black owned businesses. If you genuinely want to support black owned businesses, do it because you WANT to and need the service or product, not out of sympathy or restitution.

Respect black business owners.

Black Issues

First off, issues have no color, gender or nationality. Issues are everybody’s problem. The things that are happening to black people right now is not a BLACK issue. It’s a people issue. As long as it is looked on as a “Black issue” we’ll see more tragedies happen.

I’ve watched Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on and off over the years and started again recently. You know how when you watch something on YouTube they start feeding you more of that something? They fed me John Oliver’s video on Police Accountability. This was posted in 2016! Yet today we are still dealing with the same problem!

NOTHING has changed.

Now to my point…

You want to make a difference?

You want to make change?

You want to educate yourself on racial issues? Then start with that video. Investigate for yourself. The problem is not with one “bad apple” as is mentioned, because killings and excessive force is not caused by one bad apple. It’s caused by many bad apples and cultivated by the farmer. While I’m not saying that the whole orchard is rotten, change needs to start here.

Unless a system of check and balances is put into place on the whole police system and money is allocated to building a system of proper training, education, and accountability, more killings will happen.

More black mothers will lose their sons or daughters. More black kids will lose their parent(s), more protest will happen, more hurt and pain will befall the black community.

So… do all the things in my points above to make yourself feel better. But take a moment and ask yourself; Why am I doing this? Is it to make my SELF feel better? Am I sorry this happened, again? Do I feel guilty? Do I really want this to STOP? Do I really want to see CHANGE?

I am surprised that the issues mentioned in this video is not shared or investigated publicly. Hmmm I wonder why…

I’m posting the video below, remember this originally aired in 2016.