Black Lives Matter: build a better future
Hivda Aydogan, discusses the Black Lives Matter movement and why change is long overdue
There is a certain aspect of equality that all human beings are aware of. A sense of “hold on a minute, this isn’t exactly the fairest thing”. What I have realised since educating myself on the subject of racism is that some people only use their knowledge of equality when it comes to a circumstance where they don’t have to associate with people of a different race. They will use equality within the confines of their own race. This is not something new. This is just something too many of us have been blind to for too long. Equality and equity applies to every situation, every circumstance, everywhere. You cannot restrict your humanity to the boundaries of your own race, because black, white, or any other race, we were not born to wage war against each other because of the colour of our own skin.
By war I don’t mean physical war. Not completely, anyway. Years of segregation and discrimination, mistreatment and oppression on our black brothers and sisters have taken their toll. This utter dehumanisation causes emotional war within oneself, and within the rest of our society. Our history has drawn a line between the races black and white, and only those whose eyes are truly open to the humanity that lies beneath the colour of our skin have managed to live their life free of that line separating us.
This subject begs the question: Why did we ever feel the need to segregate? What made any of us think that one race was superior to another? Why did we let white privilege become a thing?
White privilege is most certainly a thing, although people still make a point to deny its existence. What I fail to understand, however, is how people are so adamant in their belief that the amount of pigmentation in our skin should get to decide for us what our life is to be like. Black people are victims of police brutality. George Floyd was such a clear example of this, but the countless names of black people that have also lost their lives due to being murdered without reason and as a result of systemic racism on the part of the police (albeit mostly American, however the UK and other countries are far from blameless) is so many. We just have never taken proper notice of it.
American advocacy group Mapping Police Violence found that a shocking 99% of killings by police from 2014 - 2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime. I want to bring light to a few of these situations, because our lack of knowledge is like a blindfold on us. We cannot feel if we do not know, we cannot act if we don’t know what to act on, and we cannot fight for justice when we don’t even know that justice needs to be served.
Quote: George Floyd wasn’t a “wake up call”. The same alarm has been ringing since 1619, you all just kept hitting the snooze button.
Darren Rainey, a black man who was killed by being subjected to scalding shower water for two full hours. Inmates said prison guards laughed at him and shouted, “Is it hot enough?” while he was heard screaming “Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!”. They were never criminally charged and blamed it on the victim’s schizophrenia.
Breonna Taylor, a woman who was shot eight times in her sleep (wrongfully) after police officers, executing a search warrant, used a battering ram to crash into her apartment.
Willie Simmonds has been in prison for 38 years for a 9-dollar robbery. But Brock Turned, a white man, was sentenced to prison for six months after raping an unconscious woman.
Sandra Bland was found hanged in her own prison cell after a routine traffic arrest – a death that still hasn’t been properly explained and led filmmakers to produce the documentary ‘Say her name’ https://youtu.be/3wsRe454u8s
What is one similarity between all of the people that I have just listed? They were black. They were treated horribly, for being black. Proving that white privilege is indeed a thing. This is not to say that white people have not had their fair share of problems, this is not to say that white people do not have a hard time in life. It just means their skin colour isn’t one of the things that make it hard. It just means they’ve never had to fear for their life simply for being white.
The sad truth is, we live in a world where trained cops can “panic” and act on impulse, but untrained civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face, or a knee on their neck. When it comes to rioting, there are people who don’t agree. That’s perfectly okay, we’re all entitled to our own opinion. But justice has to be served - frankly the amount of justice that needs to be served is shameful, considering the huge list of names we need justice served for. When being peaceful gets you nowhere, a change of tactics is required. Gay people acquired rights through rioting, remember Stonewall? Women acquired rights through rioting, remember the suffragettes?
So what about people who say “All lives matter”.
Of course, all lives do matter. That’s the problem. All lives won’t matter until black lives do, because you don’t see white people being discriminated against for the colour of their skin. If they are murdered, it’s on account of the murderer’s lack of humanity, not because they’re doing it for racist purposes! Imagine a street of houses, with one being burned to the ground because of a fire. When people say “All lives matter” in times like these in contradiction to people saying black lives matter, it’s like someone whose house is perfectly fine asking the firefighters, “What about my house? My house matters too!”, while watching the other house burn. And that’s what’s happening. Black people are suffering, and people are still looking for a way to justify that their own race matters too. Nobody said it didn’t matter. You’re just not the ones being burnt. This is not a competition on who suffers the most. This is about putting out the fire that’s been blazing around black people’s lives for centuries.
None of us are born racist. We are born as clueless babies, blind to any hatred whatsoever. The hatred that is accumulated whilst growing up is a result of the way people are raised and the environment around them. We learn to hate. We learn, however subtly, that we are superior.
In a way we should be grateful, that even after the centuries of oppression and violence that black people have fallen subject to, they are looking for equality, rather than revenge. I urge you to sign petitions online that demand justice. I urge you to raise awareness. We need equality. We need to call out racism when we see it. Your skin colour should not determine how you are treated. It’s time for another change in the world to begin, and we are the ones who are going to help make it happen.
The time for us to live in peace as one is long overdue. We are all gifted with morality, with humanity. Use it to open your eyes to what’s right and what’s wrong. Do not let history repeat itself - we can make a change.
Hivda Aydogan, Year 8
There is a certain aspect of equality that all human beings are aware of. A sense of “hold on a minute, this isn’t exactly the fairest thing”. What I have realised since educating myself on the subject of racism is that some people only use their knowledge of equality when it comes to a circumstance where they don’t have to associate with people of a different race. They will use equality within the confines of their own race. This is not something new. This is just something too many of us have been blind to for too long. Equality and equity applies to every situation, every circumstance, everywhere. You cannot restrict your humanity to the boundaries of your own race, because black, white, or any other race, we were not born to wage war against each other because of the colour of our own skin.
By war I don’t mean physical war. Not completely, anyway. Years of segregation and discrimination, mistreatment and oppression on our black brothers and sisters have taken their toll. This utter dehumanisation causes emotional war within oneself, and within the rest of our society. Our history has drawn a line between the races black and white, and only those whose eyes are truly open to the humanity that lies beneath the colour of our skin have managed to live their life free of that line separating us.
This subject begs the question: Why did we ever feel the need to segregate? What made any of us think that one race was superior to another? Why did we let white privilege become a thing?
White privilege is most certainly a thing, although people still make a point to deny its existence. What I fail to understand, however, is how people are so adamant in their belief that the amount of pigmentation in our skin should get to decide for us what our life is to be like. Black people are victims of police brutality. George Floyd was such a clear example of this, but the countless names of black people that have also lost their lives due to being murdered without reason and as a result of systemic racism on the part of the police (albeit mostly American, however the UK and other countries are far from blameless) is so many. We just have never taken proper notice of it.
American advocacy group Mapping Police Violence found that a shocking 99% of killings by police from 2014 - 2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime. I want to bring light to a few of these situations, because our lack of knowledge is like a blindfold on us. We cannot feel if we do not know, we cannot act if we don’t know what to act on, and we cannot fight for justice when we don’t even know that justice needs to be served.
Quote: George Floyd wasn’t a “wake up call”. The same alarm has been ringing since 1619, you all just kept hitting the snooze button.
Darren Rainey, a black man who was killed by being subjected to scalding shower water for two full hours. Inmates said prison guards laughed at him and shouted, “Is it hot enough?” while he was heard screaming “Please take me out! I can’t take it anymore!”. They were never criminally charged and blamed it on the victim’s schizophrenia.
Breonna Taylor, a woman who was shot eight times in her sleep (wrongfully) after police officers, executing a search warrant, used a battering ram to crash into her apartment.
Willie Simmonds has been in prison for 38 years for a 9-dollar robbery. But Brock Turned, a white man, was sentenced to prison for six months after raping an unconscious woman.
Sandra Bland was found hanged in her own prison cell after a routine traffic arrest – a death that still hasn’t been properly explained and led filmmakers to produce the documentary ‘Say her name’ https://youtu.be/3wsRe454u8s
What is one similarity between all of the people that I have just listed? They were black. They were treated horribly, for being black. Proving that white privilege is indeed a thing. This is not to say that white people have not had their fair share of problems, this is not to say that white people do not have a hard time in life. It just means their skin colour isn’t one of the things that make it hard. It just means they’ve never had to fear for their life simply for being white.
The sad truth is, we live in a world where trained cops can “panic” and act on impulse, but untrained civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face, or a knee on their neck. When it comes to rioting, there are people who don’t agree. That’s perfectly okay, we’re all entitled to our own opinion. But justice has to be served - frankly the amount of justice that needs to be served is shameful, considering the huge list of names we need justice served for. When being peaceful gets you nowhere, a change of tactics is required. Gay people acquired rights through rioting, remember Stonewall? Women acquired rights through rioting, remember the suffragettes?
So what about people who say “All lives matter”.
Of course, all lives do matter. That’s the problem. All lives won’t matter until black lives do, because you don’t see white people being discriminated against for the colour of their skin. If they are murdered, it’s on account of the murderer’s lack of humanity, not because they’re doing it for racist purposes! Imagine a street of houses, with one being burned to the ground because of a fire. When people say “All lives matter” in times like these in contradiction to people saying black lives matter, it’s like someone whose house is perfectly fine asking the firefighters, “What about my house? My house matters too!”, while watching the other house burn. And that’s what’s happening. Black people are suffering, and people are still looking for a way to justify that their own race matters too. Nobody said it didn’t matter. You’re just not the ones being burnt. This is not a competition on who suffers the most. This is about putting out the fire that’s been blazing around black people’s lives for centuries.
None of us are born racist. We are born as clueless babies, blind to any hatred whatsoever. The hatred that is accumulated whilst growing up is a result of the way people are raised and the environment around them. We learn to hate. We learn, however subtly, that we are superior.
In a way we should be grateful, that even after the centuries of oppression and violence that black people have fallen subject to, they are looking for equality, rather than revenge. I urge you to sign petitions online that demand justice. I urge you to raise awareness. We need equality. We need to call out racism when we see it. Your skin colour should not determine how you are treated. It’s time for another change in the world to begin, and we are the ones who are going to help make it happen.
The time for us to live in peace as one is long overdue. We are all gifted with morality, with humanity. Use it to open your eyes to what’s right and what’s wrong. Do not let history repeat itself - we can make a change.
Hivda Aydogan, Year 8