Every revolution starts as a small spark. The people who start the revolution are often not seasoned or practiced in igniting and inspiring people. That is why, sometimes people find it difficult to see a revolution when it takes off. This year, has been particularly trying. Already, as the economy soared in a bubble before the pandemic, China’s lies about the virus and a devastating lack of leadership in the US had caused the pandemic to expose the raw divide among those who have and those who don’t. Even now, the stock market is boosted by equal parts greed and stupidity. So, as shocking as the death of George Floyd was, and as intense as the initial protests themselves were, many of us were simply tired. Tired of the lies. Tired of the pandemic. Tired of gross governmental ineptitude. Tired of seeing black people killed by police officers with no consequences to think it would be different this time. Tired. Just tired.
Then, as it always happens with these things, we started paying attention. This time IS different. I was already feeling it in my bones, when I woke up one morning to read about 17 year old (17!) children who were tear-gassed in Washington. That sent a shiver through my spine, but what really embarassed and enthused me was the fact that many of those young people were going to go back to protest!! More than the news of protests globally and within the United States, that was my moment of change. If they could be so brave, what was my excuse?
I chose a long time ago that I will never be a parent. Yet, I have always found children to be saying and doing things that hold me in awe. I started asking myself, “am I doing enough?”
Given this watershed moment, I know I have not done enough. I will.
One of the things I want you to do, in case you haven’t asked yourself this question just yet, “What am I going to do?”
Sure, there are doubts. Sure, there are those incorrigible police unions. Politicians sitting in cages denying and lying about the situation. People who are discouraged and discouraging. Thing is, they have always been there. The difference is, at this point in time, as his own, very young, wonderful daughter said, George Floyd HAS changed the world. This time IS different.
Will the changes be instantaneous? Will it mean black men and women will be safe on the streets? Or as unlike St. Louis, at least in the privacy of their own bedrooms? Not all at once. Not for a long time yet, unfortunately. But we can make sure they are. We can make sure that race as a deciding factor is used only to create equity and not inequity. Such change takes effort. It takes time. It takes every voice. It takes a revolution!
The Amplification of Voices
In 2010, around the big recession, with ugly partisan uprisings and racial hatred towards a Black man, Barack Obama at the helm, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert organized a rather amusing and yet, quite enlightening rally, Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. In it Jon Stewart spoke with his usual eloquence and pithiness, “If you amplify everything, you will hear nothing.”
In that, he meant for us to focus on the battles and disagreements that are important and not to view everything as a problem. At one point, one particular television channel spent hours and days agonizing over a tan suit worn by President Barack Obama!
Well here we are. We now have one cause, one thing to amplify: racism.
In polls, significant number of Americans see it as a problem. And people the world over are waking up to racism in their own backyards, front yards, homes, offices and streets. Leaving the few detractors behind, we all know, this needs to change!
This is where we all need to say something, do something and be something.
Yes, the path is long. It is strewn with stones and thorns. Danger and strife await us. But, we have this moment. We have this voice. We have this energy.
This, now, here, is when you ask: “What am I going to do?”
This is not about an “also ran” moment. It is time we add our voices so that we can breach every fortress and fill every street with one message. That racism will not be tolerated. It takes everyone chipping in. Now is not the time to shy away from action. It is time to join in, chime in and go all in.
Therefore, I hope you ask yourself.
I know I wont be silent anymore. When I see racism rear its ugly head, when I see people being treated badly based on their skin color, age. religion, sex, orientation or any other reason to discriminate, I hope my voice is one of the loudest out there. I will read, understand and empathize. I will always ask myself if there is something more I could do.
I hope you are already ahead of me, or will join me!
Thank You for reading.
Reference:
- Photo by Josh Hild, courtesy Pexes: https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-protesting-on-a-street-4508669/