Enough is enough.

No need for an introduction. You all know why I am writing this right now. I apologise if this article seems a bit of a mess. My brain is overwhelmed and it is hard to gather my thoughts when there are so many different things to be mad about. I am devastated, and I hope sharing this with you will help add some perspective. The most important thing is that we keep talking, writing and posting. We need to end the silence, and never let it come back. Before you continue reading, please understand that these are my own thoughts, and my intentions are not to offend anyone (except if you are racist). I understand that I will never understand. But I am on your side, and I always will be.

First of all

I am white, and have never been outside of the Western world. I have no idea what racism feels like, as I have never experienced it towards myself. I have seen it first hand happen to my friends, and have heard them tell me countless stories about how they have been treated in different situations. How their colleagues, teachers, managers, government officials and many others have flat out been racist to them. People have threatened them and discriminated against them. I cannot imagine not feeling safe living my life and doing everyday things without being faced with difficulties because of my skin tone. Every day you fight a battle, every day you need to prove yourself. That you are not a stereotype. That racism is not justified. To everyone else who is not a personal victim of racism, please, join the battle. They would do it for us. Now we need to fight their battle with them.

Everyday racism

I have a habit of always trying to see the best in people. I would never assume or expect someone to be a racist, because I always hope that they are not. Even though it is horribly common to see or hear racism, it always shocks me. It does not surprise me, but it shocks me. I remember telling someone that I was moving to Camberwell, and the person told me "But there are so many blacks living there". I was completely caught off guard with this one. Why would I care? One of my own flatmates was black. I get writing off an area based on crime rates or something like that, but not simply for the ethnicities or ratio of black people living in an area, that is just insane. It would be great to be able to say that this is unusual, but it happens far too often. I was talking to a person I was working with a while back about the diversity in London, and how much I love it. The person went on to ask something along the lines of whether I, after meeting a lot of black people, agree that they sound less educated. I tried giving the person the benefit of the doubt, asking them to clarify, although I knew that the statement could never be justified. The person then explained to me that they think black people sound stupid. To make this even worse, the person who said this is from a country which people is heavily loaded with stereotypes. The fact that they think judging someone based on their colour or background is insane. I want to tell everyone reading this... If you ever hear anything like this, use your voice. Do not let it go. Never let people get away with talking like this. Not saying anything is the same as accepting it, and saying that it is okay. Inform them, enlighten them and teach them. Let them know that racism is never acceptable. It is our responsibility to stand with the people of colour. We need to use our voices to speak up for them, with them.

White privilege

I have heard people deny that white privilege exists. White people, of course. Never have I heard people of colour say such things, for the simple reason that they know that it is real, they see it all the time. Of course, a lot of it is ignorance. I am from a small town in Norway, where the absolute majority of the population is white. I was not aware of how extensive white privilege really is. Living in the US and the UK for a total of almost seven years has definitely opened my eyes to how bad it is. Every time I am given white privilege it infuriates me. I want everyone who is not white, and does not receive this privilege to know: it feels terrible. It makes me feel dirty, and it is something I do not want to benefit from. I am not saying by any means that I have it worse in this situation, not at all. But hearing people deny that white privilege is a problem really hurts. It needs to end. As long as white privilege exists, we will never have equality. No race is superior. No race deserves privilege.

Representation

The representation of ethnicities has been an issue for a long time, and is still ongoing. I just watched the show Hollywood on Netflix, and I must say, although I was incredibly moved and loved what it did for the coloured and LGBT+ communities, it is still bittersweet when we are still facing the same issues as this fictional but still somewhat true to reality society was facing in 1947. You really would expect we would have come a longer way over 70 years later. Specifically in casting of roles, we often see controversy around which race a character should be or angry responses when the cast of a movie or series is announced. I am currently anticipating the casting of the muses in the upcoming live-action production of Hercules. These are characters where their race plays a big role, and I will not watch the movie if black actors are not cast for it. One of my black friends who grew up in Norway, surrounded by white people, told me that this scene is what first made her proud to be black. It is what finally made it sink in that her being black is a good thing. It breaks my heart to think that some kids may never have this. White people have so much representation already, they definitely do not need to take over roles that are made to be black. Children of all ethnicities need to see representation. They need to see that superheroes can be of the same colour as them, and that movies are made about not only white people or with white main characters. Representation is incredibly important, probably more than many of us can understand.

Ignorance

When I was 19 I did a Cultural Representative Program in Walt Disney World in Florida. Along with my fellow cast members I represented Norway, working in the Norwegian pavilion in EPCOT. I worked with a somewhat diverse group, all being fun and lovely people. However, as I can recall, all of my cast mates of any other background than white had multiple people approach them with the "You are not Norwegian, right?" attitude. To be fair, a lot of Guests at the park did not believe Disney had actually gone to the extents of hiring people from abroad, and had just dressed up Americans that were pretending to be Norwegian. But no one ever questioned whether I was Norwegian or not. My multiracial cast mates would frequently receive questions about their nationality, while I would be asked to say something in Norwegian, no one even questioning whether I spoke the language or was of the nationality at all. I am white with blonde hair, perfectly fitting the Scandinavian stereotype. This made everyone immediately assume and accept that I was, indeed, Norwegian. For people whose skin tone was not white, not so much.

People speaking up

I am so glad to see a great number of creators and celebrities using their platforms to spread the message to their audiences. This is a huge help. And it is great to see my social media feeds full of people actively sharing, posting and spreading the message. This is what we need. If you cannot attend a physical protest, even more so you need to keep your digital voice going. We need big numbers to make a change. I know a lot of celebrities play it safe by not speaking up about controversial topics, as you will face an inevitable backlash. I understand that many of them need their audiences to make money, but you have a responsibility to do right. Speak up for the ones whose voices do not get heard, and whose voices are not valued as much as yours. It is your duty as a human being. Human rights means rights for everyone. Mama Doctor Jones made a video titled Do Black Lives Matter in Medicine?, where she discusses how it is harder for black people to receive proper medical care, for a variety of reasons. It is shocking that this is happening in 2020, and it is a topic that deserves much more attention. Please everyone, get involved and use your voices. And when it comes to voting, really read up on who wants to and is committed to making a change and fighting for equality.

#blackouttuesday

I am writing this as #blackouttuesday is happening. It has been so nice to see the numbers of people getting involved and posting black squares. There is also a lot of beautiful art embracing black culture, as well as tons of information being shared. I have seen many people comment that these are hollow actions, and not enough to make a change. I fully agree that posting a black square does not make you a saint. But look... Today we have taken over the feed of a whole social networking app. We are causing an uproar. People are united, and we are trying to make a change. We are trying to get a message across. Social media is a crucial weapon to do this, it is an essential means to win this battle. And with so many people sharing resources, it is easy to find information and links to more actions you can take, and organisations you can donate to. Please read this article by Barack Obama, where he writes about how to really make a change this time. We need to keep going. Do not just participate today because it is a trend, then go silent tomorrow. And your reason for posting pictures and retweeting stuff should not be because you would feel guilty if you did not, and need to let yourself off the hook. Then you do not understand the issue enough. You should take part because you believe that racism is wrong, and that we need a change. Educate yourself, and continue to take part in the protests, whether they are physical or digital. Keep sharing information, and keep letting people know what they can do to help. Be an ally and fight for justice.

It needs to end now

Although I am aware this might make me sound like an idiot, I have tremendous difficulties of understanding why we are having these problems in the first place. It is absolute beyond my abilities of understanding to comprehend how people (and a lot of them, as well) can think the colour of our skin makes any difference at all. How they can determine our value based on what we look like. It is 2020. This all sounds like a game of mean kids in the kindergarten saying someone cannot play with them for some ridiculous reason like your shoes are not cool enough. That is the level this is on. Please, let us all stand together as humans, and do everything we can to end racism. It has already gone on for way too long, and we need to act now.

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