I wanted to
write details and support it with news documentation etc. however after hard
thought on all that’s gone on since the pandemic and after all that’s now going
on in the states, I just want to write on the black lives matter versus the all
lives matter subject and what is making me upset. There will however be links
to further articles I read near the end of this article. This is going to be a
long post and before you suddenly call judgement I’d like you to listen and
read. All lives matter but more importantly Black lives DO matter because they
are our foundation. Scientifically speaking we have proven archaeologically
that we come from Africa, the wellspring of life. We went into the vast unknown
separated and developed in different regions. We white people, of all
nationalities, have in some way built our countries on the backs of slaves and
the backs of coloured people. I am not proud of my ancestors in this way. I
don’t know if any of them stood up to it or refused to own slaves etc. I know
that I am one fifth Native American Indian and I am proud of that. I would like
to hope that my ancestors were accepting.
When I was
a child I had hope, did not see colour and I was taught by both my parents that
there are differences that are good and that we can learn from them and that
all people are equal or should be treated so. However as I’ve grown up I’ve
been shown by bullies, by media, by our government and our history and lack
thereof that this is not true. In fact I learned that women have little rights,
that those with mental illness are stigmatized, that men get thrown in jail
because they’re men when accused by a woman and most even more horrifying is that
we have covered up atrocities here in Canada with the “niceties” and excuses.
We had residential schools and masses of children taken from their homes and
murdered and we tried to appease, make light and cover it up to the point where
Natives fought for this to come out and for them to get compensation. Except
how can you compensate for lives lost, horrors and trauma, the erasure of lives
and history and for our destroying their land and people? You can’t! Most
people, including those of the Underground Railroad, came here to find peace
and sanctuary from their oppressors, refugees of war and of destitution to find
a new way of life. What did we give them? We welcome them with open arms but
then we have white supremacy groups in my own backyard and out in the open and
we allow it to be “free speech”! We welcome them and then we turn our backs and
tell them they should go home, work for their keep, and we erase them by not
listening to their horrors and their stories, we give them more trauma and
fear! Yet they continue to help aid our communities by giving food and shelter
to those in need, by taking the oath of a healer and sticking to it despite
their colour or faith.
I learned
that those who are different in any way get reprimanded, singled out, bullied, beaten,
silenced. This includes women, LGBQT2+ community, those of a different religion
and ethnic background and those of colour. The thing is about blacks more
specifically is that we took their culture. We erased them or tried and they
are trying to get that back and hold onto it any way they can be it with their
food, their dress or style, their music and singing. We took them from their
home and most don’t even know where home specifically is or was. We walk into
their countries and we owned them and made them dependant on white ways, white
trade and business, white clothes, white religion, white education. We forced
it upon them.
I read
about a tribe in Africa that is and has been untouched by our outside world for
the most part. They do things their own way and I often find myself thinking
about the Prime Directive on Star Trek and what it stands for. I think about
what that show taught me, that we should be tolerant and accepting of those who
are different and should not interfere. I thoroughly believe that we must have
something of that as our law, that we should not touch developing tribes etc because
of exactly this reason. What gives us the right to force ourselves onto another
culture? It’s the same as what gives a man the right to force himself upon a
woman? Look at Japan for instance, at one point they barred America and the
British etc because we imposed ourselves upon their culture. I completely
understand why some of the East hates the West. I continue to think of my
favorite show and how it changed things and how it has continued to be an
inspiration and address issues head on, an example of point is that of Picard
and how it addressed racism and judgement and how even Discovery addressed the
Klingon war, both a direct shout out to how we treat each other and how we try
to take over, control, how and why we should leave things alone in some cases
and how we should give respect to one another and accept differences. Picard
himself is an example of how one can aid in helping a minority be heard and
used his influence to the best of his ability. We need more Picards! Star Trek
also brought us the likes of characters such as Uhura , first black woman to
have a real main role that was not subject to stereotype and when Nichelle
Nichols wanted to leave after the first season she had spoken to Martin Luther
King Jr. who encouraged her to stay with it because she was going to be influential
and important to black history. I’m certainly glad she did because I think she’s
one of the best characters, one of the strongest female characters and made way
for a lot of others. It made changes in media with that one act.
I also
think of what I learned from the Bible and though I am not a person who fully
supports it as a text of religion (yes I think it’s been another way of white
supremacy and misogyny to enforce itself upon others), I do believe that it’s
an historical text that should be considered and a moral taken from that of the
story of the tower of Babel where we had been separated by language, colour and
culture. We were made to not understand each other. Know that we likely once
did and the moral of the story that I get from it is this: We were so selfish
and narcissistic to think that we were above God or the powers that be that we
were separated and that only until such time in which we can come together to
love one another and find peace and understand one another then we can find and
love God and be one. I think for me being more of a spiritual person, that it
means for me loving one another and seeing each other the way we once were (for
those religious, as God intended without colour etc.) as our spiritual selves,
our non corporeal being, then we can go back to being where we belong, one with
God or one with the universe however way you’d like to look at that. In fact
from a Star Trek point of view from First Contact, we’re not ready to join the
rest of the universe and be visited by aliens until we can put aside our weapons,
accept our differences and create peace and become one group.
In order to
do so we have to start making changes and we have to teach our children to see
colour yes but know that we carry the same blood, that there is no race but one
race which is human and we were made internally the same and that on the
outside we were made different to be taught that differences should bring us
together in learning acceptance and seeing the soul. We should also teach them
not the history of only the victors but the history of those that have lost
battles and have fought for what they believe in and that is what makes change.
We are not above another and we all have faults and some unfortunately are
horrific and must be seen as that. Do you want your children to live in fear?
Do you want them to fear what they do not understand always? If not then teach
them acceptance and love!
I know that
now as an adult I find myself also putting myself in those shoes of a coloured
person even for a moment in my mind. As a woman who has been abused, and sexually
assaulted I find myself relating to some of those fears. However as a white
woman if I were to reverse my colour of my skin and my family’s, quite a
different outcome would have come from my past. My mother’s illness would not
be diagnosed and she would have been out on the streets and likely dead or if
she did manage to have me and any accusation my father has been subject to by
her (because of her illness) or the cops would have resulted in him being
immediately jailed for being a black man and sentenced without any inquiry to
the matter further and may not even have been able to get a lawyer at all and
or if my father was black, he would not have the education he has as a
millwright and electrician either. I might not even have been born, and had my
siblings and I been born black we would have been subject to even more from our
peers for the bullying we already endured as whites. It would go as far back
into our past and we wouldn’t know our lineage, all we would know is that
likely our ancestors were slaves.
I am also
going to add that I am not one to deny that I too have been mentally encouraged
to think that that I am better or smarter than another of race. I work at a
call center where admittedly it seems every day we take the same type of calls
but what make each call different are those of a coloured background or other
nationality vs. white or European decent. I have found that most whites
actually act more entitled and tend to either stay calm , cry or end up
shouting at you while giving you derogatory names , especially if you’re a
woman on the phone and those of colour seem to “play the role” of the
stereotypical to get what they want or get sympathies. I won’t deny that I have
said to myself, why are all “these” people so demanding or hard to understand at
times. I’ve had to check myself. I’ve had to do some serious thinking and
really listen, try to hear them out equally and treat them as equals while
admittedly others around me whine and complain and say “all those Chinese
people want is to bargain”, “all those Indians want is it to be handed to them”,
“they’re in Canada so they should learn our ways and how to speak English!” I’m
surrounded by it day in and day out. I
also have to point out that it is in fact only a small percentage that actually
call in to speak about their billing or services compared to the actual amount
of customers my company has. Therefore one must deduce that of course not all
people are like this and why judge all those that act this way. As a customer
service representative you really get to see some of what humanity is capable
of behind a phone or screen. I’m not immune to all this. I don’t blame others,
I’ve done it. I am responsible for my actions and my action now is to think,
listen and then act when and if I can appropriately and try to be unbiased.
Now I’d
like to mention what started all this. Firstly it’s been brewing for an
extensive amount of time throughout centuries. Secondly, when that cop and
those that stood by him choose to murder a black man for something that he did
or did not commit, even a minor crime, they started a course of events that was
like dominoes and an explosion on top. It was a volcano ready to erupt that
came bubbling to the surface that had laid semi dormant on and off.
I do not
condone violence but that is hard for me to say in these times when peaceful
protest is fought against and not heard and silenced, when peaceful protests
are met with violent actions and therefore without a more forceful action back
how can we fight? We’ve made it normal every day to see this and not do
anything, to sit in silence. Social media and other outlets are making certain
items more and more “normalized”. This article says it best addressing the Information Apocalypse.
Here are
some definitions to consider right now as well:
·
noun: totalitarianism - a system of
government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete
subservience to the state.
·
noun: communism
- a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading
to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and
is paid according to their abilities and needs.
·
noun: democracy
- a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible
members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
·
Nazism - noun: Nazism; noun: Naziism Historical
- the political principles of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
"the rise of Nazism in prewar Germany" - Derogatory , extreme racist or authoritarian views or
behavior
The reason
why I mention these is what I said earlier, we are having all this information thrown
at us and we are being taught to ignore it and normalize it and when we fight
back it’s shuffled under the rug and we are silenced. More so in the states
this is becoming apparent and this article called
Silence is Health explains it best from a journalist
who lived in Argentina and the states and is seeing it so clearly. It really made my head think and see what is
going on and what we’re allowing to happen.
We may
think that even here In Canada we’re not normalizing it, but we are on TV, games,
news outlets, social media and American culture brought in. I am glad to hear
the words of our Prime Minister that this is not acceptable but where are his
backing actions along with our other leaders such as Premier Ford. In fact just
the other day and what really riled me up about this is that as a leader of our
Ontario province, who is white, dared to say that here in Canada we do not have
these kinds of issues and that we do not have racism here. Yet there are
councillors sitting on my city council that are black and that are painting
things much differently! Protests are being organized here in my own country
that says differently. We recently have also had a surge in attacks of Police
against those of colour and of people randomly hurting those of Asian or Native
decent due to the pandemic and growing fear of China and their way of living.
I’ve even had to remind friends of mine that the virus may have come from the
country and yes info wasn’t given but it was their government that did it and
lied about it, NOT the people. Would we condemn all those of German decent to
be Nazis? They aren’t proud of their history either but at least they tell it
true that Hitler did what he did and it was WRONG as to avoid it happening
again as much as they can!
Furthermore
the whole, oh “but it is one bad apple”, mentality must go! No ! This is a
cancer! Those officers stood by and were begged by those looking on to stop and
did nothing! NOTHING!!! Four officers in total and now we’re seeing it in more
and more cities of cops turning off body
cameras to have it as a cover-up, undercover cops causing parts of the riots by
smashing in stores and setting things on fire and city mayors and the president
stating it’s all due to anti-facisist and anti-racist groups. We have to
dismantle our police and reassess it all entirely. Like a cancer we must cut it
out! We have officers who don’t listen
to what people are saying, they assume and they have it in for someone and they
just do it. They have a hate and a growing taste for violence and want to drive
their ego so sky high they can’t see the ground anymore and it’s time to take
them off their high horses. They have become a militarized force without
training and without empathy. They follow their own laws. Now don’t get me wrong, there are those few
good cops that will do the right thing and I would have liked to think that
there were more than those that don’t however considering the RCMP’s past with
Native Americans, their past with their own female officers of sexually
assaulting them, Provincial police brutalities and of various city and town
cops not doing their jobs or found guilty of domestic violence or child
pornography, I unfortunately have a bad
taste in my mouth. I will give any cop on the street a benefit of a doubt but
believe me; I don’t fully trust them as I once was taught as a child.
Trust is
earned. Respect is earned when it comes to authority. Basic human decency is
everyone’s right!
Some of you
may find it shocking; some of you may think I’m coming on too strong and saying
pretty extreme things. Some of you may even want to unfollow, unfriend me on
social media, I don’t care. You can do that. I will no longer tolerate hate and injustice.
I am using this platform to speak out for those who suffer. You ask, how does
this have anything to do with our health, cause this is a health blog right?
Well it is and it’s our mental state, our physical well being and our fight for
our lives, a fight for our coloured brothers and sisters lives that is what is
being taken, snuffed out one by one. Will we allow it? Will we continue the
erasure? Will we think before we speak and act? That’s up to the world now to take a stand. I
leave it to you, my white readers, to help in any way. If you feel you could be
at risk then at least use your platforms, speak out in any way you can! Do not
sit in silence anymore! It’s enough! It’s time for change. We are in the sparks
of revolution!
Examples in
fiction that we could use as a good example of our heroes and what they’re
fighting for: Luke Cage, Black Panther, Black Lightening , Remember the Titans,
the Help , Star Trek , Carnival Row , and I’m sure there are a great many more
but those are just a few that have given me an understanding, as best as a
white person can understand, of what they fight for and what they deal with on
a daily basis and hope and inspiration to do better for the future of humankind.
I’m an empathic person and I feel other’s emotions, I feel emotion through
other’s stories being told and I feel it through music. Let us not also forget
the whitewashing of music as well where even our King of rock ‘n’roll stole
from the black community and that’s what made it popular was a white boy
singing like a black man and that’s what made it mainstream. I could go on but
I am going to leave it to you now to do read on, do your homework and help end
this injustice in whatever way we can, hopefully peacefully.
I’d also
like to include some articles that I’ve come across while doing some reading
and research that I found interesting:
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