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No Justice, No Peace

Don't Let This Protest Be The Next Thing You Appropriate From Black Communities

By Paige GraffunderPublished 4 years ago 4 min read
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Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash

As I sat down to write this, I searched on Unsplash for BLM, specifically looking for Black Lives Matters Signs wielded by Black protesters. It was important to me that none of the images contained the full faces of protesters and that the sign in question was in the hands of a Black person. As you can see the image I found contains no sign, but it does center a Black person and features no full faces. Why is this? Because through the thousands of images that I went through there was not a single image of a person holding a sign that wasn't white. Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to diminish the importance of Non-Black POC or white folks in this fight, because it is a fight that we are here to offer aid to, not to center ourselves in. It is vitally important that we remember that for the duration.

Now, I am sure that what I am about to say is going to ruffle a few feathers, and frankly, I am ok with that. This is not a time to be comfortable, and I am not here to cut the crust off anyone's experience. White people, and Non-Black POC, this is not your fight, but it is a fight that needs you. We need to be ever vigilant in our efforts to raise Black voices, and to always make them the center of the conversation. This is a fight that in the long run will benefit everyone, but they are the ones who are being punished by a system that we, however directly or indirectly benefit from.

This inherent bias to center white faces in coverage of this global movement is not necessarily anyone's fault, but unless we are mindful, and take actions to dismantle it. Without this constant correction of conformity to systemic behavior we are complacent, and culpable for the upholding of that system. Go to protests, be there, be loud, participate. However, do not be so loud that you talk over the voices of those that have some actual skin in the game. If this movement fails, and we go back to the way it was before, nothing will change for us. It does change for Black communities. If this movement fails this already subjugated community's situation gets exponentially worse.

I know that this has been going on for over a week and people are tired, but this isn't over until the Police are abolished, not just in Minneapolis, or Seattle, or DC, but nationwide. The entire Justice Department from the beat cops to the Supreme Court needs to be dismantled and rebuilt in the spirit of equity. There needs to be a way to weed out aspects that allow for white supremacy to reign, and when we are done with the Judicial Branch, including prisons, police, and military, we need to move on to the other two.

This doesn't end with the abolition of police, it ends with a complete restructuring of the way we govern and are governed. These things don't happen overnight, and they don't happen casually. These things require fight, and sweat, and blood, and pain. They require overpowering presences, and we must after nearly 500 years of systemic oppression, slavery, segregation, and persecution needs to be centered on Black communities. There is no way around with fight without unity, but we must remember that Black people are not the ones causing the division, it is us.

No community is perfect and there are going to be things you disagree with. Just tonight I watched a man mock Seattle City Council Woman Ksharma Sawant's accent while asking her important questions. He was immediately shut down, and a crowd of white people started to remove him from the area, when another man took the microphone and made it a moment to educate the man who had done this. It is vitally important that we allow these moments. Several times during that interaction I witnessed white protesters trying to quiet down a crowd of Black people and I need you to understand that this is not your place.

We are there to support, not center, and we need to understand that we have had 500 years of telling Black Communities to quiet down. Now is the time to fight for them, not assert our dominance. Our dominance is an illusion we created, nothing more. It is not enough to be not racist, we must be actively anti-racist, anti-fascist and without a moment of peace in our own course correction, as white people have given no rest to Black communities since before this country was a country. This is non-negotiable.

White people have stolen much from Black Communities, we have commoditized, appropriated, and fetishized Black bodies, and it must stop. Here. Now. With us. We must not fail.

activism
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About the Creator

Paige Graffunder

Paige is a published author and a cannabis industry professional in Seattle. She is also a contributor to several local publications around the city, focused on interpersonal interactions, poetry, and social commentary.

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