I know all of us grew up with those little rock'em sock'em robots, and although I haven't seen one in ages, this week feels like a fat game of those. Not only is our family extremely divided with the election, but literally everyone around us is brawling about what's going on.
I don't have a lot of room to speak on this topic; One, because I don't believe myself educated enough to go and try to persuade people and Two, being that no one is going to change their minds if they are already so set on a certain topic. But last night, I had a very intense conversation and I was put into a situation where I could defend my side of an argument vs staying quiet and allowing someone else to have their own opinion. We can disagree on pizza toppings, we can disagree on ice cream flavors, but I'm not going to sit and disagree with you about basic human rights.
I'm definitely not the type to sit and argue with authority, or blow a fuse trying to get someone else to see the way that I think, if they cared enough they would already have tried to see from another perspective. But unfortunately, a lot of people around us do not give a single fuck about what you have to say if it is not the same opinion as theirs. So for a while, I decided that I'd shut my mouth, because it is big enough to get me in trouble sometimes.
The thing someone had said to me last night was pertaining to the BLM movement.
"I used to work with a lot of black folk, and I used to tell them how entitled they were. They have more opportunities than we do, they are so ungrateful. Look at where they come up from slavery and they still have to say that we have 'privilege'." And this person continued to go on. I'm sitting there straight dumbfounded.
I think a lot of people do not understand that the BLM movement does NOT mean that other lives do not matter, but that POC lives are the ones being effected and hurting right now. And as for ACAB, yes people understand that not all police officers are terrible corrupt people, but they work for a corrupt system and they chose to do that. Blue Lives Matter is straight up the most ignorant thing I have ever heard- you choose to be a police officer- you don't choose your race.
White people who do not recognize that there is a distinct white privilege are a part of the problem. Being apart of the BLM protests in Portland was truly one of the most eye opening things I have ever done. That is a community full of love, pride, and unity. For me it was a week of protesting, for POC- that is an every day fight and it doesn't just end based on who is elected and what the officers (who were tear gassing & assaulting innocent people) have to say about it.
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