It was supposed to be a PROTEST, not a ROBBERY
It was supposed to be an arrest… not a murder. Let’s focus, people.
All across social media, I continue to see the same phrases. “It’s terrible what happened to George Floyd, but rioting and looting isn’t the answer. What would Martin Luther King Jr. do if he were alive today?”
For starters, please stop with the MLK quotes that you ONLY use as a way to control black people. Seriously, when was the last time that you were hanging out around the water cooler with Chad and Kyle and said “….well like my man MLK used to say, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”? NEVER. So unarm your MLK quotes and stop firing them at us as an attempt to defuse our justified frustration. Also, let’s stop asking what he’d do if he were alive, because he isn’t. Because like many unarmed black men, he was murdered. So here we are again, back full circle.
The lives of black men, women, and children are seen as being worth less, and this is proven throughout various prejudices across this country. Particularly, when our lives are taken, by cops and civilians alike, and the killers face little to no consequences.
Yes, we are aware that there are currently three battles happening in our country. The coronavirus, racism, and looters. Right now, one of them should be SIGNIFICANTLY more important than the rest. Therefore, it should be our main focus. Yet, the focus is beginning to shift from racism to looters. Let’s get our focus back to the right place.
No, this doesn’t mean that we are condoning looting and that doesn’t mean that the coronavirus was a hoax. It means you have to make a choice. Right now, choose your focus, and if you choose anything EXCEPT racism, then YOU are part of the problem. Black people don’t get to choose. Even when we’re focusing on ALL the other amazing causes we fight for year after year in this country, we ALWAYS have to focus on racism. Racism is limiting our rights, killing us off and getting away with it.
It doesn’t matter what the media is showing. It doesn’t matter that people are looting. Our ONLY focus should be on the horrendous treatment of black people in this country. Choose a focus and that focus should be on the lives of black people. If you’re focusing on ANYTHING other than the lives of black people, you’re just another person saying that black lives don’t matter. There are quite a few individuals, groups, organizations, leaders, and platforms, that are coming together and coming up with plans and ideas to change things. If you want to be apart of the solution, then find one of them and contribute. If you’d rather focus on looters, then you are a part of the problem.
You’re upset about looters, we get it. However, right now, you HAVE to be more upset about racism. Let the police focus on the looters. They don’t need to be cheered on by you, the media, or anyone else. If your focus isn’t on racism right now, then you may want to look at yourself and ask why you think the lives of black people in this country are less important.
P.S. If your answer to this question is “They’re not less important BUT…” then that “but” just proclaimed that you do, in fact, think that we are less important.
