The Black Experience: Exploited & Marginalized - Part 2 - VA Thrive Virtual Business Support Services

In light of recent events and current racial tensions, I thought this would be a good time to write this article highlighting the current racial tensions, and how race continues to impact our society.

This is a continuation of The Black Experience: Exploited & Marginalized. If you haven’t read Part 1, I highly recommend you read that first before you continue with Part 2.

Will the Protesting Make Any Difference?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen people of all races protesting over the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Multiple countries across the globe have also taken a stand in solidarity for the disproportionate treatment of black men and women by police officers in the US.

Countless stories of racial prejudice towards people of colour have since emerged across our screens and media platforms, from the everyday person to celebrities to birdwatchers. As a black woman, such experiences are nothing new. Every black or brown person I know has experienced some form of racial discrimination at some point in their lives.

As I write this article, the protests still continue. But this isn’t the first time we have witnessed such protests against police brutality towards people of colour. From Rodney King to Trayvon Martin and many others. There’s been a myriad of protests in the US against injustice and discrimination against people of colour since the civil rights movement. Even way before then. And yet black men and women continue to be racially profiled and killed by police officers than any other race in the US.

A question that’s been on my mind a lot these past couple of weeks is whether this time around things will be any different? George Floyd’s death brought the whole world’s attention to the pre-existing issue of racism. But could it be because more people were at home due to COVID-19, and therefore were able to witness his unjust death? Either way, the tragic incident opened up a lot of people’s eyes and has made more of us aware of how big of an issue this is.

Over the past few weeks, the protests have caused for some changes in policies and legislations to be made. But the major changes aren’t going to happen overnight. For lasting change to happen, it’s going to take making major reforms in a system that’s been dysfunctional and broken for centuries.

A Broken System – It’s All About Power and Control

Race in itself is a social construct, where distinct cultural traits and characteristics are associated with specific groups of people. Now, when you have one group of people who think that they are superior to another, then we have a problem.

The thing about racial prejudice is that it’s deep-rooted in a system that’s designed to protect and serve the interests of those in power ( who also happen to be predominantly white men), without much concern to those at the lower end of the chain.

This systemic power structure has been going on since the colonial times. It’s prevalent in institutions, corporations and the education system. I hate to say this, but until there are more people with diverse backgrounds & experiences at the top, then we’ll continue to face the same social and economic problems.

Take main stream media for example. The media is extremely powerful because it shapes how we think and act every single day. The media’s job is to spread information among the general public, and they’ll use fear, division and biased agendas to spread their message. This is exactly why I threw out my TV many years ago for the sake of my sanity. I got sick and tired of the brainwashing.

For so long the media and movie industry have continued to push biased agendas of minority groups, that society has completely bought into it. All black men are thugs and drug dealers, all Muslims and Arabs are extremists, Muslim women wearing a hijab are likely to be oppressed, Africa is full of starving kids and poverty. The same continent that they keep exploiting off its resources and raw materials. Isn’t it interesting how the white man is always portrayed as the saviour?

Such propaganda has been going on for so long that no wonder most people are brainwashed and believe it to be true. And when a society is being fed the same message over and over again, how do you think they’ll react? It’s this kind of nonsense that continues to divide communities.

If more people could educate themselves and put themselves into situations where they can actually learn something without being spoon-fed by main stream media and their propaganda, perhaps we could start to see some positive changes.

If all lives mattered, we wouldn’t have to say Black Lives Matter. Black lives are just as worthy as any other human race.

Is America Really the Land of the Free?

The number of stories I’ve come across in the past few weeks related to police brutality, while researching content for this article is just astonishing.

You don’t have to be an American to see the racial division that’s going in the country. For a country that has thrived off the backs of native Americans and black people, it seems the laws and policies were built to keep them oppressed, while those in power reap the benefits.

Police Brutality

Let’s start with some numbers first, because numbers never lie. In an article from the LA times, LAPD police searches in 2018/2019 showed (24%) black and (16%) Latino drivers and passengers are more likely to be searched during traffic stops than (5%) white drivers. This same study also found that police were more likely to find drugs, weapons or other contraband among (20%) whites.

According to The Washington Post, although half of the people shot and killed by police are white, black and Hispanic Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. Black Americans account for 13% of the U.S. population, but the rate at which they are killed by police (24%), is more than twice the rate of white Americans. White Americans make up roughly 62% of the U.S. population, but only about 49% are killed by police officers.

And for the police officers who continue to murder civilians? They are barely ever held accountable. As I write this article, the police officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s fatal shooting are yet to be held accountable. According to Mapping Police Violence, 99% of killings by police from 2013-2019 have not resulted in any officer being charged with a crime.

And what happens when the good cops try and speak out against the bad ones? They are ostracized, fired or stripped off their benefits. Cariol Horne was a Buffalo Police officer who was fired from her job and her pension benefits stripped from her, because she was trying to do the right thing.

America may be the land of the free for white people, but when you’re black in America, it seems like you can’t do anything without being racially profiled, and with your life being at stake.

In America, a white man is considered innocent until proven guilty. A black man is considered guilty until proven innocent

The Black Experience in America

The United States of America Abomination

You can’t jog while black – Ahmaud Arbery

You can’t listen to music while black – Jordan Davis

You can’t sleep in your own house while black – Breonna Taylor

You can’t play in a park while black – Tamir Rice

You can’t shop at a convenience store while black – Trayvon Martin

You can’t shop at Walmart while black – John Crawford

You can’t sit in a Starbucks while black

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

And the list goes on. When you’re black, you always fit the description of a suspect. And even if you were unarmed, for some reason, the police officers always feel threatened. They have no time to negotiate, they let the guns do the talking instead. In the words of Donald Glover, This is America.

Stopping people for no reason or because they fit a description of someone who’s suspect is absolute bias. Imagine living in constant fear for your life from the same people who are meant to serve and protect you.

Yes, people do commit crimes and they deserve to be punished for the crimes they’ve committed. But it’s wrong to assume that every black person or person of colour is a criminal or suspect and should therefore be treated as such. Just like it’s incorrect to assume that every white person is innocent.

The sad thing is, these are only cases that we’ve heard of. Imagine the number of incidents out there that haven’t been been caught on camera. The plight of our black brothers and sisters has been going on for centuries in America. And here we are in 2020 – same issue different year. When does it end?

White Privilege

None of us chose to be born in the skin we are in. We are born into a world where the rules have already been set for us. The treatment white people receive and the treatment people of colour receive in our society is a by-product of a flawed system. Irrespective of social class, education, financial status or geographical location.

If you’re a white person, whether you are unaware of it or not, here are some of the ways in which you benefit from the system because of your race:

You’re less likely to be followed or harassed by the police if you’re white
You have a higher chance of landing a job opportunity than a person of colour
Your identity is hardly ever questioned because of your skin-tone
You rarely feel isolated or outnumbered in places of work because there’re more people who look like you
You have more access to resources and opportunities
Your history is represented with stories of heroes, contributors and founders. It’s also available in schools everywhere, while historical contribution from non-white people is erased, and rather depicted with brutality and oppression
People of your skin-tone are largely represented. From entertainment to everyday life. So much so that some people of colour feel they need to bleach their skin to be accepted by society
You could pull an Amy Cooper at any time, only that this time you may not be caught on camera. Shame on you.
You can easily walk into a store without being looked at as a suspect
You’ll often criticize other non-white groups for emotionally expressing themselves when a conversation is going in a direction that makes you feel uncomfortable. Whether you realise it or not, you’re protecting your privilege by silencing the voices of those who are hurting.
You don’t listen and you think you know what is best for everybody

As Francis E. Kendell writes in her article Understanding White Privilege – white privilege is an institutional (rather than personal) set of benefits granted to those who, by race, resemble the people who dominate the powerful positions in institutions. As a white person, you are a beneficiary of a system that was set up by people like you for people like you to protect and serve their own interests.

Why Can't We Just Embrace Our Uniqueness?

No matter where it happens or who it happens to racism is still racism. Discriminating another human being because of the colour of their skin is disgraceful. We were all created with our differences for a reason.

It’s our uniqueness that makes the world an interesting place to live. Our cultures, our languages, food, clothing etc. No one is better or lesser than the other. Instead of judging each other, why can’t we all just embrace our differences and learn to live together as one human race?

We all like comfort and things we are familiar with. When you’ve been told a certain narrative for so long, that eventually becomes your truth and you end up becoming a product of that story (whether it’s true or not). The only way long lasting change is going to happen is if more people are willing to get uncomfortable and have uncomfortable conversations.

It’s not our job as people of colour to educate white people on racism. Based on history, white people ought to be the experts on this subject. Let’s unlearn the biases that have been ingrained in all of us for so long. The education we get from schools alone is insufficient to live in a world that is constantly changing, socially, economically and politically.

The real work always starts with us as individuals and in our homes. What we learn from home, spreads into our schools, local communities, work places and organisations, which all make up a society.

We all have our own individual battles to fight, every day. But it doesn’t take much from anyone to be kind and be a respectful human being. At the end of the day, we are all just one human race. Let’s ease down on the judgements and stereotypes, and learn to value people for who they are.

Silence is complicity. Speak up against injustice. Listen to understand. Educate yourself with viable and trustworthy resources.

To all my brothers and sisters regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age group, wherever you’re from or whatever you are – Let’s DO Better.

Keep Winning & Follow your Dreams