I know this is a heavy topic to come back to blogging and get right into, however this topic obviously hits close to home and is more relevant than ever. I promise more fun times are coming, but today and next Wednesday I will be addressing two of the big reasons I didn’t start blogging again sooner.
I will start by addressing my beliefs. I am not anti-cop. But I believe there are many that abuse power and unfortunately for the good, they are often penalized if they shine light on the bad. I am for defunding the police, not abolishing, but defunding, so funds go to programs built to help those with mental illness, homelessness, and so many other issues cops need not handle. I do not approve of Trump in any facet, there’s too many proven instances of racism, sexism, and selfishness. I don’t believe in rioting and looting but I also understand that pent up frustrations and not being heard can lead to drastic measures. I also recognize that the efforts made to be peaceful were met with non-peaceful responses which escalated the situation.
I have lost friends and family over this matter. I am not cold blooded but I do not understand how some say “you can still be friends and have different beliefs”. When it comes to religion or politics, sure! This is neither, this is human rights and equal opportunity. If I am in an interracial relationship, think of the message I would send to my partner if I allowed people to remain in my life that refuse to listen or want equality for him and his race.
When my partner, who is Puerto Rican and Black, and I first started dating we spent probably 3 or more hours sitting on the couch in my old apartment arguing about systemic oppression. Not because I didn’t know it was there, but because I didn’t realize how deep the oppression was. I grew up quite privileged, in a white community, with little exposure to more urban, lower income communities. I had no idea about the crack epidemic, nor Black Wall Street, nor a lot of events that happened not even that many years ago, only about a generation back from my own. I was appalled by myself! There was no way I was racist! But I was raised in a community that didn’t teach us the truth about oppression, the only comments I heard was “why can’t they just move away from the gangs” or “well it's their own fault for not succeeding”.
I had a friend of mine say “You’ll feel different when you have kids” in reference to peaceful protests happening near where we live. The funny thing is I went to a protest, with my partner, proudly holding a sign that read “I’m fighting so our kids don’t have to”. I will not feel differently, I will feel stronger about this once we have kids. I will raise my kids to love your babies just as much as I love my own. I will raise my kids to accept people loving whom they love, practicing the religion they choose, and being in the skin they are born in. My house will always support BLM, LGBTQ+, and all religions.
As a society we need better education, to learn about America’s real history, I know more about Russian history than I know about our own history within the nation, not wars or trades or whatever else. As a society we need to listen to their voices and their stories and constantly check our white privilege to ensure that we do not allow ourselves to get complacent. My heart has hurt and I’ve shed countless tears over the hatred I have seen. People saying innocent souls deserved their untimely death caused by police, threats of running over protesters, even a coworker making racist comments in front of me while knowing my partner is of color.
Since I am white, I will not dive too deep into the topic as I stand with, not stand in front of. I simply wanted to share a post so my readers know where I stand, and may have some food for thought. The hate in the world is certainly one of the reasons it took me so long to come back to blogging. It was hard to want to do anything but sit in front of the TV and read about all the heroes trying to fight for equality and all the unfortunate cops out there continuing to kill people of color.
To end this on a more positive note, the voices of the racists seem to have been louder, but to the NBA and NFL, we see you and appreciate you. There have been many commercials (mainly done by Nike) that have touched my heart. The shirts and stories told by NBA players makes me proud to support the organization. NFL, you have a long fight to go, but your efforts have been recognized as well. It’s tiny things such as these that make being in a relationship many don’t approve of that much easier.
While we thankfully haven’t faced too much blatant hatred, we have certainly had people approach us blind to the weight of their words and simple annoyance of the movement. Every time you make a comment that you wish people would stop posting about it, remember we don’t want to post about it either but we will until our families have the same rights and opportunities as yours. Please open your heart and ears, there’s so many resources out there to learn more about systemic oppression, and what you can do to help. With the election only a few weeks away, I also hope you’ll take my family and families like ours into consideration when you vote. America deserves better than this.