We are protesting for CHANGE (rights,liberties,opportunities). You are protesting about change (loose dollars,profit,revenue).

I’ve spent a crazy amount of time and energy trying to explain MY emotions towards the BLM (Black Lives Matter), George Floyd police reform protests and before that, I was pushing every agenda towards school reform. (You do NOT want me going down THAT black hole of renaissance and rebirth. *wink*) From FB to IG, texts to phone calls, friends to family and back to former colleagues, I’m constantly being gauged on my opinion towards all this. Nevermind that if you KNOW me, King/Queen/Bro/Sis, you KNOW I’m down for reform like ditches and soft dirt. (You’re either a King/Queen or a Bro/Sis in MY book. *shrugs* Real shit homie.)

In the past, I didn’t do well attempting to explain my emotions, much less the emotions of an entire people but I’m pretty sure that I represent my GAH DAMN SELF very well. So, what I’ve done is gather my responses to regular whites, colonizers and anything that questions looting, rioting, “destroying their own small businesses”. I’ve only recently found the patience to do this after another King (what I call Black men) bragged that he was able to sit and have a conversation with his neighbor about BLM and police reform. This neighbor didn’t see any need for reform but agreed George Floyd was wrongly killed. I can’t even stomach that conversation but listening to his passion about crossing bridges, giving people time to OVERstand and realize an inconvenient truth. According to this King, “Bro, white people just don’t know the depths of media perversion and shit. Sometimes, we actually gotta teach THEM how fucked up our lives really are because they wouldn’t know. EVER know unless one of US explains it.”

THAT was the most GANGSTA stuff the King ever said to me. I adjusted my actions and now…

Feel free AF to copy/paste/share/whatever.

 If you’re truly see/aware of the stuff you mentioned, why even bring up property destruction? If you aren’t aware, doing stuff like THAT, “OH, I was just pointing out all the bad shit the minority of a movement do. I didn’t mean to DISTRACT…” Come on… Stuff like THAT is exactly how the oppressor splinters/deters/impacts/INVALIDATES all attempts at balance. IF Blacks are FINALLY freaking treated equally, every bit of property destroyed is worth IT. THAT is the point. We are protesting for CHANGE (rights,liberties,opportunities). You are protesting about change (loose dollars,profit,revenue). I’m NOT shutting anything down in terms of points of view but when you complain of property as some sort of vindication of your sincerity… *sigh* Even when I’ve done aallllll this, you respond with “Oh. Don’t take it personal, I was just saying…” All THAT is attempting to distract/discredit/deter/INVALIDATE. Whether you know it or accept  it, what you’re doing is the textbook parallel to telling women, “Hey honey. *manly grunt* Long as you wearing that black dress, ain’t NO man gon listen. You might be harassed too. *wink*” Stop. Please, improve YOUR argument. EVERY movement in human history came with property damage. EVERY single one. If you’re TRULY supportive, why take ANY energy to do what you’re doing? I’m NOT the FIRST one that “you’re just saying… to”. I’m sure you’re the person who always is “just saying…” Think about it homie. How often are YOU the person “just saying” and WHATEVER it is, you’re repeating mainstream media messages like, “Slavery is wrong BUT not all owners raped.” or “Rape is awful but what was she wearing?” or “Protesting for HUMAN RIGHTS is great but what about looting?” Am I REALLY the first person to explain this is what you’re doing?

Next, I want to provide an easy way for those supporting the movement to reach back to pull up stats, changes, just a reference of POSITIVITY concerning the movement. Below, I have copied from FB, some random things that shed light on HOW the movement is working, WHERE the movement and WHEN the movement began working.

ENJOY THE FUCK OUT OF IT.

HOW/WHERE/WHEN the movement is working

👉🏾Within 10 days of sustained protests:

👉🏾Minneapolis bans use of choke holds.

👉🏾Charges are upgraded against Officer Chauvin, and his accomplices are arrested and charged.

👉🏾Dallas adopts a “duty to intervene” rule that requires officers to stop other cops who are engaging in inappropriate use of force.

👉🏾New Jersey’s attorney general said the state will update its use-of-force guidelines for the first time in two decades.

👉🏾In Maryland, a bipartisan work group of state lawmakers announced a police reform work group.

👉🏾Los Angeles City Council introduces motion to reduce LAPD’s $1.8 billion operating budget.

👉🏾MBTA in Boston agrees to stop using public buses to transport police officers to protests.

👉🏾Police brutality captured on cameras leads to near-immediate suspensions and firings of officers in several cities (i.e., Buffalo, Ft. Lauderdale).

👉🏾Monuments celebrating confederates are removed in cities in Virginia, Alabama, and other states.

👉🏾Street in front of the White House is renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”

👉🏾Military forces begin to withdraw from D.C.

Then, there’s all the other stuff that’s hard to measure:

💓The really difficult public and private conversations that are happening about race and privilege.

💓The realizations some white people are coming to about racism and the role of policing in this country.

💓The self-reflection.

💓The internal battles exploding within organizations over issues that have been simmering or ignored for a long time. Some organizations will end as a result, others will be forever changed or replaced with something stronger and fairer.

Globally:

🌎 Protests against racial inequality sparked by the police killing of George Floyd are taking place all over the world.

🌎 Rallies and memorials have been held in cities across Europe, as well as in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.

🌎 As the US contends with its second week of protests, issues of racism, police brutality, and oppression have been brought to light across the globe.

🌎 People all over the world understand that their own fights for human rights, for equality and fairness, will become so much more difficult to win if we are going to lose America as the place where ‘I have a dream’ is a real and universal political program,” Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the US, told the New Yorker.

🌎 In France, protesters marched holding signs that said “I can’t breathe” to signify both the words of Floyd, and the last words of Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old black man who was subdued by police officers and gasped the sentence before he died outside Paris in 2016.

🌎 Cities across Europe have come together after the death of George Floyd:

✊🏽 In Amsterdam, an estimated 10,000 people filled the Dam square on Monday, holding signs and shouting popular chants like “Black lives matter,” and “No justice, no peace.”

✊🏽 In Germany, people gathered in multiple locations throughout Berlin to demand justice for Floyd and fight against police brutality.

✊🏾 A mural dedicated to Floyd was also spray-painted on a stretch of wall in Berlin that once divided the German capital during the Cold War.

✊🏿 In Ireland, protesters held a peaceful demonstration outside of Belfast City Hall, and others gathered outside of the US embassy in Dublin.

✊🏿In Italy, protesters gathered and marched with signs that said “Stop killing black people,” “Say his name,” and “We will not be silent.”

✊🏾 In Spain, people gathered to march and hold up signs throughout Barcelona and Madrid.

✊🏾 In Athens, Greece, protesters took to the streets to collectively hold up a sign that read “I can’t breathe.”

✊🏾 In Brussels, protesters were seen sitting in a peaceful demonstration in front of an opera house in the center of the city.

✊🏾In Denmark, protesters were heard chanting “No justice, no peace!” throughout the streets of Copenhagen, while others gathered outside the US embassy.

✊🏾 In Canada, protesters were also grieving for Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old black woman who died on Wednesday after falling from her balcony during a police investigation at her building.

✊🏾 And in New Zealand, roughly 2,000 people marched to the US embassy in Auckland, chanting and carrying signs demanding justice.

💐 Memorials have been built for Floyd around the world, too. In Mexico City, portraits of him were hung outside the US embassy with roses, candles, and signs.

💐 In Poland, candles and flowers were laid out next to photos of Floyd outside the US consulate.

💐 And in Syria, two artists created a mural depicting Floyd in the northwestern town of Binnish, “on a wall destroyed by military planes.”

Before the assassination of George Floyd some of you were able to say whatever the hell you wanted and the world didn’t say anything to you…

THERE HAS BEEN A SHIFT, AN AWAKENING…MANY OF YOU ARE BEING EXPOSED FOR WHO YOU REALLY ARE. #readthatagain

Don’t wake up tomorrow on the wrong side of this issue. Its not too late to SAY:

“Maybe I need to look at this from a different perspective. Maybe I don’t know what its like to be black in America… Maybe, just maybe, I have been taught wrong.” 

There is still so much work to be done. It’s been a really dark, raw week. This could still end badly. But all we can do is keep doing the work.

Keep protesting.

WE ARE NOT TRYING TO START A RACE WAR; WE ARE PROTESTING TO END IT,

PEACEFULLY.

How beautiful is that?

ALL LIVES CAN NOT MATTER UNTIL YOU INCLUDE BLACK LIVES.

YOU CANNOT SAY ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ WHEN YOU DO NOTHING TO STOP SYSTEMIC RACISM & POLICE BRUTALITY.

YOU CANNOT SAY ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ WHEN BLACK PEOPLE ARE DYING AND ALL YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT IS THE LOOTING.

YOU CANNOT SAY ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ WHEN YOU ALLOW CHILDREN TO BE CAGED, VETERANS TO GO HOMELESS, AND POOR FAMILIES TO GO HUNGRY & LOSE THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE.

DO ALL LIVES MATTER? YES. BUT RIGHT NOW, ONLY BLACK LIVES ARE BEING TARGETED, JAILED, AND KILLED EN MASSE- SO THAT’S WHO WE’RE FOCUSING ON.

🖤🖤🖤BLACK LIVES MATTER🖤🖤🖤

IF YOU CAN’T SEE THIS, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. 

Copy & paste —> AGAIN, THIS IS NOT MY WORK!!!!!

Link to Previous Related: I’m NOT a social justice warrior like my Momma…