Last week and over the weekend the protests continued marching for Black Lives Matter, and wider than that, basic human rights for everyone.
I admit, I got a little overwhelmed by it over the weekend but was comforted when I saw a Twitter thread advising [white people in particular] that this protest and action needs to be sustainable. Going hell for leather over a weekend and losing sight of the goal is not going to help in the long run.
I’m back writing this week and I want to continue to educate as best as I can. I’ve signed petitions and shared resources on Instagram. I will be looking elsewhere for my ‘usual’ online content focussed on my passions, but not from people who look and sound just like me. I want to highlight Black music and its influence on the world we currently live in.
I’m not going to do this perfectly, and may even stumble into doing things the ‘wrong’ way. My intentions are good, and I want my actions to achieve results.
I’ve seen another great tweet that shows the number of police decisions that have led to arrests of police officers and reopened cases and I can see that Minneapolis has decided to completely re-do their policing by disbanding the police force. What a huge step that is!
In the UK, a statue of Edward Colston was shoved into the dock water, slaver of 84,000 kidnapped Africans. 19,000 dying before reaching their destination. I’ve now come to learn about Sir Thomas Picton, the highest ranking officer killed in the battle of Waterloo, and tyrant of Trinidad. I walked past his Blue Plaque in my town just the other week, we had a school named after him… ironic when you consider that he was tried for authorising the illegal torture of a 14 year old!
I still have a long way to go in learning about the past, and where that puts our country now, but I’m willing to do to it. It may not look like much to others who are far more proactive, but this is a slow burn that I want to sustain the overhaul of an unfit system in our society.
We are all human.
hellotomdyer.com 