As long ago as October 2013, the National Geographic ran an article on the "The Changing Face of America" and there is a You tube video on "This is what people will look like in the future" that came out in 2017. The one thing that struck me was that the predictions are that in the end we will be a multi-racial world with pure white faces a rarity rather than the colour of the western world.
I remember reading that article, looking at the pictures and thinking that the world would be a better place for ALL of us if we did end up in that world. When you are made up of bits from everywhere and everyone and you can all find a shared ancestry, then maybe we may be able to stop having to defend our differences and respect each other.
2020 certainly has been full of drama one way or another but the biggest letdown this year is the way it has impacted people of colour. It isn't as if they needed any more hardship or more suppression and abuse. They have been the underdogs in most societies and to add insult to injury they have been more affected by COVID-19 than other demographic groups. So why have I headed this article with "All Lives Matter!".
If you can stop seeing a black person as the enemy, the thief, the offender, the violent convict, the drug dealer, the gang member or any of the many titles that are awarded to people of colour without any knowledge of them, their lives, their situations, their family, their education, their profession and most importantly, their hearts and minds, then maybe be we would be further ahead in 2020 then we were 1920.
My life matters! Your life matters! The man on the street - his life matters! The girl in the school playground - her life matters! Your bus driver's life matters! Your doctor's life matters! WE ALL MATTER! And I don't even know what colour you identify as!
What is happening in the USA is depressing, shocking and absolutely disgusting:
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When a police officer kills an unarmed man and acts as though it is just another fine day, then we are no better than cavemen.
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When you have a president who will allow his military police to shoot and ram the people he is supposed to be representing out of the way so that he can have a photo opportunity, then something is very, very wrong.
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When you are not allowed to protest peacefully by taking a knee or walking the streets then riots become a natural next step.
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When your leaders do not listen and have made it clear that they do not wish to represent you and their own racist and white supremacist views are clear to the world at large then you have to look at your so called democratic process
Let me be clear!
WE collectively are responsible for letting this happen by electing egotistical, self aggrandising buffoons to the most powerful positions in our countries and then letting then get away with murder (in some cases literally).
WE put them there and they have put us back 100 years or more!
One day, the world will be a wonderful shade of golden brown as our genes mix and we become one. We will wonder at the different tones of our skin, our hair, our eyes. BUT only if we can get rid of this notion that white is superior. For generations the people with so called "superiority" notions have appropriated cultures, lands and wealth in the name of this superiority. It is time to understand that you are not better than others, you just have a different context because of an accident of birth. I'll say it again!
AN ACCIDENT OF BIRTH!!!
You don't have better organs or brains; you don't have different colour blood and when you need either, you don't know the colour that saved you.
Being human is one of the hardest things to do - harder than starting a business; harder than being Mr President or Prime Minister.
TRY BEING A HUMAN BEING! IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE ANIMALS!
(Actually, I think most animals have more compassion)
And this is why I will be on my doorstep at 6pm on this Wednesday 3rd June 2020 taking the knee because our lives matter and it is time for us to start treating Black lives with the same importance we give White lives.