This is not about me. I am a straight white male living in America. This is not about any hardship that I may have endured in my life. These hardships don’t even compare. This is about the pain, suffering, and fear that a whole race of people have felt for countless years. This is about the discrimination and racism they have faced even after others have said “look at the progress we made from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to President Obama being elected”. These were baby steps. Baby steps that we hoped would lead to betterment. Baby steps that we would hope we could build upon. Well, hope wasn’t good enough.
I have tried to write something the past week plus about how all of these past events have made me feel, but wanting to see the exact right thing has held me back. What I have noticed though, is there is no perfect way to write how I currently feel. The flux of emotions that course through my veins along with everybody else that is going through the same thing makes that impossible. I am angry. I am sad. I am furious. I am mad. But once again, this isn’t about me. I needed to do what I am best at, which is to write. Write that I am here for anybody in need of a listening ear. Write that I am here for the black community and I stand side by side with you in demanding change. Write that I am not only writing, but donating to the cause through donations, signing petitions, educating myself, and trying to reach and educate as many as I can reach. Write that I know I have a lot to work on, as does any white person. Write that I will not only try to get better, but I promise that I will do anything and everything I can to be better. To be a better ally. To be a better listener. To be a better person. In order to be that better person I must continue to fight in every way possible to stop the injustices that have continued to oppress people of color throughout our history.
One of the main morals that I stand behind is that of empathy. I believe the best way to continually better yourself as a person is to constantly better your sense of empathy. This is something that I feel like I have been successfully doing over my life, but that has changed over the past week. I have come to the conclusion that I still have an incredible amount of work to do in order to even scratch the surface of being able to empathize with the black community. This isn’t because I have not tried, but because of my continuing education on the subject and the protests over the recent murders of George Floyd and way too many others I have found one thing: I will not understand. I will not understand that I could be stopped and frisked for no other reason than the color of my skin. I will not understand the fear of being killed for the way I look. I will not understand that going for a jog could be a deadly activity. I will not understand having to teach your child that because of their skin color they have to be hyper vigilant of their actions and if they make any false move that could be the end of their life. I will not understand that being arrested could lead to a murder by the people that are supposed to “serve and protect”. I will not understand many things that the black community have to deal with on a daily basis, and that is not just. Nobody should fear for their life when they walk out of their front door, let alone fear for that life because of the color of their skin. While I will not understand what the black community has gone through and continue to go through, I can fight alongside them to not call for change, but demand it. These demands must be met. If they are not met now, we will continue to fight. If they are not met in the near future, we will continue to fight. If they are not met before our generation dies out, we will continue to fight. Systemic changes won’t be easy to change, that’s okay. The roots of how this country was formed are deeply ingrained into our culture and society, they must change. No matter what the issue is, we will fight it, we will change it, and will continue to get better as a community and as a country.
In regard to the protests and protesters, I stand with you. To Black Lives Matter and the Black Community, I stand with you. To the families of the murdered victims, I stand with you. Like I said before: I am here to listen, I am here to learn, and I am here to get better. I will never be perfect, I will always be learning, and I will always stand with you.
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