Will there be a Revolution?

REVOLUTION

Six years ago I wrote a post about Mike Brown. Here we are again, another unarmed black male being killed by a racist Police officer.  2020 has been a crazy year to say the least. We heard about the story about Ahmaud Aubery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and more recently Ryshard Brooks.

There have been many similar deaths for a number of years but the murder of George Floyd literally caused a major worldwide shift. I think it is due to the nature of his death, a police officer putting his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, while he was begging for his life. This reminded me of Eric Garner's death, because they both said "I can't Breathe" whilst dying.  

There were hundreds of protests which took place around the world. Protests  took place in every single state in the USA, Canada, all over Europe ( I went to a protest in London), Australia, New Zealand, South America, middle east,  Africa and Asia.  All 54 African leaders united and demanded that the UN have a meeting about racism against black people. This has never happened before in history. People of all races came together to protest the racial injustice in the world.

Almost every company has  issued a statement expressing that they are against racism and support the Black Lives Matter movement (though I do not believe they are all being genuine). Many of these companies are having diversity meetings and training.  Some companies have shared data in regards to the number of black employees they have, including in leadership positions, and have made pledges to increase the number of black employees in leadership roles.

I have seen many other positive actions which have emanated from this shift. I've seen that black businesses are being promoted more and black people are taking part in initiatives to support black businesses (group economics).  For example, here in the UK we have Black pound Day. More black people are unifying (which I love because I believe in Pan-Africanism),  huge amounts of money are being donated to help black organisations. Statues of racists are being pulled down, laws and policies are being enacted, councils are agreeing to defund Police departments in the USA, meetings have  happened in the USA senate, and in the White House regarding police brutality and racism. Some white people are educating themselves about the black experience, and many racist white people are losing their jobs! (goodbye Karen!).

On July 4 2020 I saw a viral video of a 1500 strong, armed Black Militia Group called NFAC (Not

F***ing around Coalition) led by Grandmaster Jay, marching in Stone Mountain, Georgia after threats had been made by the KKK that they were going to kill black people. I loved seeing this imagery of strong brave black men (and women) who  are willing to protect each other by any means necessary. The white supremacists were scared!. These are the images we need to see instead of the usual victim role we are used to seeing. Our ancestors were fighters and always resisted against the oppressors.

George Floyd did not die in vain. His death has sparked a huge increase in the Black Lives Matter movement which is literally changing the world. The discussion of racism is everywhere. I believe that the COVID-19 pandemic, as unfortunate as it is, has helped the shift. As more people are at home due to quarantine they have more time on their hands, and are able to focus more on what is going on in the world as distractions have been removed. 

The world is changing before our very eyes. The system of White supremacy is starting to be dismantled. Many of the young generation  (especially white people) have a different mentality to those of the older generation. This gives me hope. Though I believe things will improve,  I do not believe that  racism is ever going to completely end. The onus should not be on black people to end racism, as racism was  created by white people, therefore only they can end it. I do not believe that black people should be begging racist whites for equality or their validation. I believe that as black people we should demand it! we should not give all our power to Massa but empower ourselves. When a racist white person does something bad to a black person there needs to be consequences. We also need to create our own establishments, our own networks and do things that benefit us instead of everyone else. We can learn from our Asian and Jewish Counterparts who practice this. The global African diaspora need to collectively  focus  on gaining economic power. With  economic power it would become difficult for racist whites to mistreat us. We need to liberate ourselves to power and do for self.