The company I work for started phasing out employees to work from home around mid March, before the government made it an official act of mandatory social distancing under lockdown.
A dystopian novel trickled out into reality where wearing face masks seems to be the new normal and a form of safety and leaving the house for anything other than necessities was unlawful. At the beginning, I found it to be an awkward adjustment. Our usual routine was in someway disrupted so that paired with the unknown of the future was quite unnerving. Government guidelines were murky at best so it was really down to you to make sensible decisions for your health, as well as the general public. As a result, I felt fearful every time I had to leave the house. To be honest, I dreaded it. Nearly 80 days later and lockdown is slowly easing.
Over such period, the good shone brighter. There were so many wonderful examples including people helping those in need, a large number of small and large corporations giving away free products such as mindful apps and virtual guitar lessons for the public to use under lockdown and healthcare providers and essential workers were putting their lives on the line to save others. But with good, comes bad and that came in many forms, including people protesting because they couldn't get a haircut or go to the gym when people were literally on their death bed. I was at a loss for words. Humanity became quite selfish at a time of global emergency.
COVID-19 has put several spotlights on injustices across the world. The Office of National Statistics found that the impact of the virus was heavily dependent on socio-economic status which led to finding the statistic that black people were twice as likely to die a COVID-19 related death than white people. This socio economic structure was built from many years of systemic racism and this is clearly seen with what is currently going on in America. More recently, more awful news has been coming from the U.S. when another case of police brutality has added to the never ending increase in deaths caused by racism. Racism is entrenched in our global society but it is more prominent in certain areas over others.
If this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, it is a fraction of what the minority have to go through. If you think this is a "touchy" subject or "you just want to stay out of it", you clearly need to unravel your own ignorance and educate yourself on the many years of wars, genocide, apartheid, desensitisation of racial slurs and the long line of horrific history that is still continuing to this day. That knowledge came at the price of someone's life, many lives. It is not the duty of anyone to educate the ignorant. It is our own individual duty to undo the years of indoctrinated hatred within society. People love other cultures, the cuisine that it brings and the music that follows but are afraid to walk alongside us in the face of oppression. We have to constantly excuse the ignorant slurs that come our way or the non-existent banter that it supposedly brings.
I personally do not watch the videos that are taken proving police brutality because I do not need to watch the last moment of someone's precious life be boiled down to being treated worse than a caged animal. But imagine if those videos were not taken? Would justice ever be met? Money and power over humanity is clearly a defining trait in this situation. I am disgusted. We must do better, we must be better otherwise everything will remain the same. And I am afraid it might. George Floyd's murder seems to have ignited a fire in so many as the camel's back finally broke. Enough is enough. A change for equality is the only thing we will accept from now on. These incidents are no longer shocking and people are fed up. I am exhausted. All lives matter only once black lives matter. Martin Luther King said it best, "there comes a time when silence is betrayal".
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." - George Orwell
It is about damn time systemic racism crumbled into the past but we have a long way to go before a seismic shift in equality occurs.
If you can support in any way, even by sharing these links, please find them below:
Mandatory Racial Bias Test
Minnesota Freedom Fund
George Floyd's family GoFundMe
Petition for the mayor of Minneapolis to seek out justice for George Floyd and his family
Petition for punishment to equal actions made
Petition for all four officers to be charged
Life sentence for police brutality
National action against police brutality
Censorship of police brutality in France
Belly Mujinga who died from COVID-19 after a man spat at her- they are not prosecuting him
Please find links for petitions for those who never received the respect or justice they deserved:
Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Regis Korchinski, Tony McDade, Joao Pedro, Julius Jones, Willie Simmons, Kyjuanzi Harris, Alejandro Varagas Martinez, Sean Reed, Kendrick Johnson, Tamir Rice, Jamee Johnson, Darius Stewart, Chrystul Kizer, Andile Mehunu, Eric Riddick, Amiya Braxton, Emerald Black, Elijah Nichols, Zinedine Karabo Gioia, Angel Bumpass, Sheku Bayoh, Jennifer Jefley, Amari Boone, Crystal Mason, Rashad Cunningham, Tazne Van Wyk, Tete Gulley, Marshae Jones, Michael Dean, Dion Johnson, Tamla Horsford, Shukri Abdi, Macie, Albert Wilson, Siyanda and countless more with untold stories.
Over such period, the good shone brighter. There were so many wonderful examples including people helping those in need, a large number of small and large corporations giving away free products such as mindful apps and virtual guitar lessons for the public to use under lockdown and healthcare providers and essential workers were putting their lives on the line to save others. But with good, comes bad and that came in many forms, including people protesting because they couldn't get a haircut or go to the gym when people were literally on their death bed. I was at a loss for words. Humanity became quite selfish at a time of global emergency.
COVID-19 has put several spotlights on injustices across the world. The Office of National Statistics found that the impact of the virus was heavily dependent on socio-economic status which led to finding the statistic that black people were twice as likely to die a COVID-19 related death than white people. This socio economic structure was built from many years of systemic racism and this is clearly seen with what is currently going on in America. More recently, more awful news has been coming from the U.S. when another case of police brutality has added to the never ending increase in deaths caused by racism. Racism is entrenched in our global society but it is more prominent in certain areas over others.
If this topic makes you feel uncomfortable, it is a fraction of what the minority have to go through. If you think this is a "touchy" subject or "you just want to stay out of it", you clearly need to unravel your own ignorance and educate yourself on the many years of wars, genocide, apartheid, desensitisation of racial slurs and the long line of horrific history that is still continuing to this day. That knowledge came at the price of someone's life, many lives. It is not the duty of anyone to educate the ignorant. It is our own individual duty to undo the years of indoctrinated hatred within society. People love other cultures, the cuisine that it brings and the music that follows but are afraid to walk alongside us in the face of oppression. We have to constantly excuse the ignorant slurs that come our way or the non-existent banter that it supposedly brings.
I personally do not watch the videos that are taken proving police brutality because I do not need to watch the last moment of someone's precious life be boiled down to being treated worse than a caged animal. But imagine if those videos were not taken? Would justice ever be met? Money and power over humanity is clearly a defining trait in this situation. I am disgusted. We must do better, we must be better otherwise everything will remain the same. And I am afraid it might. George Floyd's murder seems to have ignited a fire in so many as the camel's back finally broke. Enough is enough. A change for equality is the only thing we will accept from now on. These incidents are no longer shocking and people are fed up. I am exhausted. All lives matter only once black lives matter. Martin Luther King said it best, "there comes a time when silence is betrayal".
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it." - George Orwell
It is about damn time systemic racism crumbled into the past but we have a long way to go before a seismic shift in equality occurs.
If you can support in any way, even by sharing these links, please find them below:
Mandatory Racial Bias Test
Minnesota Freedom Fund
George Floyd's family GoFundMe
Petition for the mayor of Minneapolis to seek out justice for George Floyd and his family
Petition for punishment to equal actions made
Petition for all four officers to be charged
Life sentence for police brutality
National action against police brutality
Censorship of police brutality in France
Belly Mujinga who died from COVID-19 after a man spat at her- they are not prosecuting him
Please find links for petitions for those who never received the respect or justice they deserved:
Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Regis Korchinski, Tony McDade, Joao Pedro, Julius Jones, Willie Simmons, Kyjuanzi Harris, Alejandro Varagas Martinez, Sean Reed, Kendrick Johnson, Tamir Rice, Jamee Johnson, Darius Stewart, Chrystul Kizer, Andile Mehunu, Eric Riddick, Amiya Braxton, Emerald Black, Elijah Nichols, Zinedine Karabo Gioia, Angel Bumpass, Sheku Bayoh, Jennifer Jefley, Amari Boone, Crystal Mason, Rashad Cunningham, Tazne Van Wyk, Tete Gulley, Marshae Jones, Michael Dean, Dion Johnson, Tamla Horsford, Shukri Abdi, Macie, Albert Wilson, Siyanda and countless more with untold stories.
