I wrote this in the early hours of Thursday 4th June 2020, feeling unsettled by what had happened to black people in the news, wanting to use whatever white privilege I may have to voice my thoughts on the need for the Black Lives Matter movement. By the time I had finished the birds had started to sing and it reminded me of the book by Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird.
I’m sure many of you will now be aware of the trending #BlackLivesMatter protests following the killing of an unarmed black man named George Floyd by a police officer in the US. Sadly, the brutal killing of black people by police officers and members of the public in America and the rest of the world has gone without consequence for decades. So many people have unnecessarily lost their lives due to the ignorance of police officers and members of the public. It is just too sad to put into words.
It’s sad that it is considered controversial to reference Michael Jackson, aka the King of Pop, when many of his songs such as ‘Man in the Mirror’, ‘Black and White’, ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us’ and ‘Heal the World’ spoke to our moral compass and got a large audience to internally think about our actions (a quick look in the comments on YouTube shows that under current circumstances people are looking to the late MJ for solace). He understood that in order to bring about change we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and make the change with ourselves instead of leaving it to external sources to do the right thing because they are unlikely to do that.
He knew that we only worry about things when they are on our doorstep and this is true about the awful things that happen to black people in our communities. We all know it happens, but because it does not directly affect us – our job prospects are not affected, we don’t get stopped by the police, our families are not killed in the streets by the police and members of the public – we do nothing. After all, why waste energy on something we don’t need to right?! WRONG.
Here are some lyrics (not in order) that are relevant to black lives matter:
Man in the Mirror:
I’m gonna make a change,
For once I’m my life
It’s gonna feel real good,
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!
Stand up and lift yourself, now!
Make that change.
They Don’t Care About Us:
Don’t you black or white me
Bang bang, shot dead
Everybody’s gone mad
All I want to say is that
They don’t really care about us
Tell me what has become of my life
I have a wife and two children who love me
I am the victim of police brutality, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of hate
You’re rapin’ me of my pride oh, for God’s sake
Tell me what has become of my rights
Am I invisible because you ignore me?
Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now
I’m tired of bein’ the victim of shame
They’re throwing me in a class with a bad name
I can’t believe this is the land from which I came
You know I do really hate to say it
The government don’t want to see
But if Roosevelt was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be, no, no
Some things in life they just don’t want to see
But if Martin Luther was livin’
He wouldn’t let this be, no, no
Black or White:
Causing grief in human relations
It’s a turf war on a global scale
I’d rather hear both sides of the tale
See, it’s not about races
Just places, faces
I’m not going to spend my life being a colour
Don’t tell me you agree with me
When I saw you kicking dirt in my eye
But, if you’re thinkin’ about my baby
It don’t matter if you’re black or white
I said if you’re thinkin’ of being my baby
It don’t matter if you’re black or white
I said if you’re thinkin’ of being my brother
It don’t matter if you’re black or white
Heal the World:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me
If you think of all of the different human ‘races’ in the world as making up different parts of a single person, if one part of the person isn’t right, for example the arm, then the whole body doesn’t feel right. This is why how saying all lives matter may sound inclusive but is counter productive, as not all lives are suffering proportionally. To be anti-black lives matter is to be anti-human. Whether we like it or not we share this planet, Earth, our home, together. So we are a community of people. We like to think sometimes that we are living in our own world, but the reality is that every person in the world makes up our ‘little’ world. Each person has a role to play and turns a different cog in your world and you will likely never meet them, but they help to enrich your life because you can’t do everything for yourself or be talented in all areas needed for life. If one part of the world is suffering, ie the black community, we all suffer – directly or indirectly. We need to unite to end all suffering.
I am shocked we have to even have this conversation, as from a little girl I had no biases and didn’t see my school friends as a colour. They were just my friends, we all looked different and I liked it that way. It made life more interesting. No one is born racist, it is learnt behaviour. I have always been different in that I don’t necessarily see myself as British although it says that on my passport. The hippie in me sees myself as an earthing, part of the world and when asked where am I from I answer the world, because I know that categorising people does no good for keeping peace, brings about an us and them culture, and segregation of people who don’t look like you or are not from your ‘area’.
It seems that the get older we get, the more susceptible we are to myopic extreme racist views, perhaps as the creativity and inquisitive nature we are born with dwindles and we are left with a stubbornness to change and a lack of open-mindedness. It’s almost as if we are lost in these thoughts, but the fact is that people can change if they are willing to educate themselves and challenge their mindset. It is clear that to combat the issue we need to educate children properly on how to treat people fairly and how judging people based on the pigment of their skin is just wrong.
Something else that resonated with me was the BBC Radio 1 speech by Clara Amfo who spoke about how they (the music industry and the public) want black people’s culture and talent (and to profit prolifically from it), but do not want them. She goes on to say that one of her favourite thinkers by the name of Amanda Seales said: ‘You cannot enjoy the rhythm and ignore the blues’. Clara said she felt it deeply and I do too. You can’t take all the glory and rob black people of the credit they deserve. It is unjust to say the least. I’m not doing Clara justice by what she said and I encourage you to listen to the full 3 minutes of her anti-racism speech where she reveals her raw emotions on the live broadcast.
Finally, I wanted to speak briefly about what Diversity’s Ashley Banjo said in a recent video. He said that when he watched the video of George Floyd being killed, he saw his dad, who is a black man. I resonated with this as whenever I see another brutal killing of (predominantly) black men, I think what if that was my partner – who is also black (I think African is a better term than categorising individuals by their skin pigment – but that is a conversation for another day) and it hurts more because the reality is that it could have been anyone’s loved one in that situation. These black people being murdered in the streets are someone’s brother or sister, partner, son or daughter, father or mother, friend.. and it hurts because you know you are not safe and your loved ones are not safe. It’s a ticking time bomb and you don’t know if it is going to be your loved one or someone else from your community that loses their life needlessly and brutally – and until recently due to public pressure, without consequence.
Generally, we don’t care until a problem comes to our doorstep, but there becomes a point where it doesn’t matter if the problem is a thousand miles away from your front door, it is your human duty to take action and play a part in shaping our future for the better. We have a voice for a reason and we need to use that voice to be a positive force for change. Be silent no longer, there is strength in numbers.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my blog. By you reading this you have acknowledged the problem. Awareness is the first step towards creating change. Please take a moment to reflect. Feel free to write your thoughts in the comments.
Peace and love to all people on Earth.
Don’t spend your life being a colour.
Love Robyn
Originally published on: 4/6/20
Previous comments before republishing:
4/6/20 – Dani: Thank you for discussing this. The point Ashley Banjo makes really does hit home that every non-white person killed is someone’s everything. We all need to make a change to make this brutality stop. x
4/6/20 – Susan: Thank you for sharing this post. I hope everyone will read this and take away, understanding and the meaning your words portray.
