Outrage has no Colour

Last week, my Father told me the story of a black man in America who was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit notes to pay for goods. I was then told that a white Police Officer wrestled the compliant black citizen to the ground without cause, and proceeded to kneel on his neck. "What?!" I said in horror and confusion, "what?!"

I had a thousand questions....and that was just the beginning....the story continued. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I lost my sh** hearing how George Floyd lost his life.

I was, and still am furious, sad, in shock and trying desperately to understand....

I Googled, I watched the film of the murder. I didn't want to, but I knew I had to, to educate myself and to see for myself if this absurd and horrific story was true. It was. How was this allowed to happen?

My mind boggled... I live in the UK and our police are not allowed to use that kind of force. I was quite frankly, shocked and appalled it is allowed in America. At the time I heard this story, the Police Officer in question hadn't been fired, let alone charged, and the Chief of Police was trying to DEFEND him! What?! WHAT?!

A Police Officer is supposed to uphold the law and protect citizens, not murder the citizens he's pledged to protect.

This Officer has murdered a citizen despite the citizen's pleas for his life. This man has murdered this other man whilst others looked on and cried out for it to stop. This white man, in a position of power, has murdered an innocent black man whilst other citizens FILMED it, and told the white man they had evidence of this crime on film. Yet, he still did not stop. He knew exactly what he was doing. This was murder. This is a crime. And this is so blatant its maddening and saddening and everything in between.

Why had this white man not been arrested at the time? I looked into it. Do you know what I found? Racism. White supremacy. A corrupt system.

Whilst Racism is an issue in the UK, I don't *think* it's quite so bad and quite so blatant as it is in America. But why does it exist at all? Why should the colour of your skin suit determine how you are treated? It shouldn't.

Disgusted, I searched more, I found legitimate charities and organisations, fact checked, and signed a petition to get this Officer fired and charged.

I talked to everyone I knew about it. I engaged with the #blackouttuesday movement on Instagram. I listened. I'm writing this now. You know why? Because I am APPALLED at what I've found out and I'm disappointed in myself for being so ignorant up until now.

Is white privilege real? Sadly, the answer is yes. This is why we have to make it known that BLACK LIVES MATTER.

I am a white woman living in the UK. I don't have to be black, or American, or a man to be outraged by this. I don't have to give away all of my money to charity, or travel to America to implore change. All I need to do is educate myself, listen, learn and use my voice.

You may say, "what's the point?" the point is, if you take enough time to listen, silent voices can be heard. If you make enough noise, institution's have to make change. You engage, learn, speak, listen and then you can come together and stand as one, that’s how global action is taken and history is made.

The witnesses to George Floyd's death might have felt powerless against the police to stop it at the time, but they MADE NOISE. They filmed it. They got it out there. They spread awareness. I felt powerless when my Dad first told me the story, but I EDUCATED myself. I signed petitions, I TALKED. So many others did the same. The result? The world has listened, the guilty are slowly being brought to justice.

Don't stand for injustice. Stand for justice. Make noise, make time to listen, learn, make change. Come together. We’re not done yet. Not by a long way.

Your voice matters.

#blacklivesmatter