Black Lives Matter have been protesting for years now trying to bring some notice to the injustice that is still occurring in the US.
For the most part they are non-violent…..I know there is reports of vandalism and looting…..for the most part it is thugs using the protests as cover for their criminality….it is mostly citizens protesting calmly and with purpose.
I need to ask….what has these non-violent protests accomplished?
I know there are bringing a focus on the injustice and inequality in our society….but the conversation around these protest are more about the isolated acts of criminality than the issues that caused the protest to start.
What will it take for this situation to generate a real conversation on the social inequality?
Black Lives Matter has brought about a few “promises” from governmental agencies…..
While it is too early to assess the global impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, emerging evidence indicates that it has made significant progress. The first significant impact of the protests has been the toppling of Confederate and slavery-related statues around the world — statues that had stood all-too-proudly for centuries. In England, protesters toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a prominent slave trader. In Belgium, protesters set fire to a statue of King Leopold II. In the USA, statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln have been toppled. Airports and schools are also being renamed.
Second, city councillors have vowed to reform police departments. From Minneapolis to New York City, and from Los Angeles to Denver, mayors have pledged to take money away from the police and reinvest it in community programmes. In Los Angeles, for example, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that he would redirect US$250 million from the police budget into healthcare, jobs and ‘healing’ programmes for the city’s communities of colour. Democrats in Congress have also unveiled sweeping legislation on police reform, including banning chokeholds and mandating federal police officers to use body and dashboard cameras.
Third, corporations such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Reddit and Amazon have promised greater diversity and inclusivity. In fact, Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian recently resigned via a video urging the board to fill his seat with a black candidate. Ohanian also pledged US$1 million to Colin Kaepernick’s Know your Rights Camp in the announcement. On top of this, a new database has been set up to collect video footage that documents police violence at demonstrations across the country.
(By the way….I do not agree with this supposition…..what it calls for has not worked in the past and most likely will not again)
These promises are nothing but a pacifying move…..cities are promising reform and yet the killings continue and the cops still walk or get slap on the wrest for their murder…..and corporations are throwing money at the problems hoping it will put them in a favorable light…..basically the same crap they pulled in the 60s and we all know how that worked out, right?
I sorry to be a downer but I do not see any change in the future because of these protest….any change will be incremental at best…..and that tactic has gotten Blacks where they are today.
If they want to progress then there must be a new way….and that way is for them to work out…..but without another tactic nothing will change.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”