lHorizonl

Hey! Also fairly new and would love to chat with you as well : }

I first moved to the States from Jamaica and ended up in Kentucky......freagen KENTUCKY. It didn't take long for me to know racism was a thing. But after that I have lived up and down the East Coast and now the West and just as you ladies mentioned already, racism is everywhere. Still California (northern) has been pretty nice but it is sad that the idea of me leaving California is something I have to think twice about, to believe there are so many States and only maybe 4 or 5 i can see myself comfortably moving to based on the color of my skin....sometimes it's just sad.

ah you beat me to this video but I will just go ahead and bump this because it is a very good / simplified video everyone should watch surrounding this topic.

....i am confused to why you said this under my comment lol mainly because my opinion was that everyone can be racist and/or do racist things which I thinkkkkkk your trying to say here too? Or are you responding mainly to what is in that link? If so i did not say I agreed with the link only that we all as a whole need to understand that to one the definition of what a racist is might actually be completely different for someone else, I pointed out Webster because it proves there isn't even a fully defined/written definition of it out there that everyone agrees on. .

I am curious to what everyone's definition of a racist is here? But, man you guys are throwing this word around like it is a football. As we speak even the freagen Webster dictionary is currently revising the definition of the word racist because it is very clear the definition has never been written to take into account things such as systematic racism . https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/merriam-webster-to-update-definition-of-racism-after-missouri-woman-tells-them-its-inadequate/ (Link above explains what I am referencing to) But the biggest thing here......anyone can be a racist and/or do racist things.

To say everyone who is white is born racist is far fetch, are they born privileged in certain ways absolutely yes but born racist....too extreme but that is my own opinion. I agree with the comment made by @Aethelwine "Not everyone is a racist in the sense of acting on their racism, but denying your prejudices rather than catching and analysing them to learn from them and to be a better person, is a step along the journey to self awareness and a better society." To also say that you do not stand with BLM just because a person calls you racist is also extreme, if you truly believe in the injustice that is going on stand with the people who welcome your support. Our voice as a whole is not spoken by a single person.

Bruh, "Still haven't' had me checking to make sure i am actually black for a quick second there but imma just leave what I said a day ago right here: "As a black female (and sorry but i just discovered this forum post so i only read the last few responses). A few things : NO it is never a bad thing for people who are not a POC to have these discussions. I enjoy the fact that these conversations are happening BUT i do believe the moment you enter these sorts of conversations on BOTH sides, you should come with an open mind. We all grew up from all sorts of different backgrounds, but the biggest problem that occurs with such a large group of people is we are quick to respond without actually listening & understanding. We as human beings allow our emotions to get the better of us. " and just incase anyone doesn't know what POC means : Person of Color

- and another one!

Maybe you missed my comments then lol

I was gone a day and this all went in so many directions lol. I think the final thing I might add to this is final insight on the last thing i remember reading here, and this is only to add to the information already given : Someone mentioned "Only about a quarter (27%) of all officers say they have ever fired their service weapon while on the job" My addition to this quote is that: Black people were 24-25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population. (in the US) & here are some helpful links to add more insight into this : ( Data about the race percentages / breakdowns here : https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 ) Here is also a link to more detailed graph / breakdown of police violence in the US specifically towards black Americans: https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/. This link also gives a better visual representation of fatal shootings in 2019 within the US & allows you to break it down by race : https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/police-shootings-2019/ So although only 27% of the police are shooting off their weapons a large majority of the people effected by it comes from a small group of individuals. 1,004 fatal shooting occurred in 2019 249 were black (25%) Now when you take into account a lot of other factors such as people who were unarmed, who did not flee/did not resist, or were armed with other objects such as a knife, toy gun, etc. they make up somewhere around 85-90 of the 249 (34-40%) Those lives never saw a day In court or had the chance to a fair trial because they were shot dead before it could even happen. And this only takes into account lethal deaths so not including police abuse/brutality on a day to day basis.

And to note, it might have started in the US but it has grown now outside to Europe, Spain, Canada, Philippines etc. i am seeing less “BLM” targeted approaches and more “we need racial equality”

Then don’t, we never said stop standing up for everyone else you feel needs attention. But right now my main concern is my black community just like how last year it was me standing side by side with my friends who are from Hong Kong and I stood with them after i sat down and first understood what was happening. What people forget over and over and over again is there will be always be a far left and a far right to any movement, those people make it seem like you HAVE to choose a side or ***** off but what the internet blinds us from is that the majority of us stand in the middle, willing to help whoever is in need at any specific time. this is an extreme example but if i was living during the Nazi era and a Jewish friend asked me to stand by them in the US for the wrong being done to there people my response would not be “ sorry i cannot back anything that does mot take into account everyone else” i will get my butt up and ask “how can i help? Tell me what is happening and how may I assist?” again these are my own opinions but we see most of the extremists online and forget that they simply do not make up the majority.

This confused me a bit but I might just need clarification. I believe (could be wrong) Ashlyn is saying that the phrase "all lives matter" is something Ashlyn wishes the world could be but it is not the reality (hence his statement about history/past events). I could be wrong but that is what it read to me. We hope for equality "All lives matter" but history has proven that it just is not true for certain groups of people. And at this moment in time for this very specific topic/post we are talking about one of those specific groups which right now is the topic surrounding the black community. .

I totally get where your coming from "who is there for the pleasure of simply saying they participated" It is so hard to not feel that way when it took until now for this quantity of non POC people to stand by the black community, BUT and this is mainly through my experience I can understand why it has taken now for people to take note. Time has paused for many of us, we have been cooped up in our homes for the past 3-4 months and for people who are not going through there normal day to day there eyes and ears have more time to see what is happening in front of them to a specific group of people. And again, as we are apart of the black community we have to accept that there will be honest and genuine people out there that simply were unaware and want to now help. We cannot forget that the struggles we have are not ones others have to go through and speak about as often as we do. But we also have to accept that there is a group of people participating simply for the fun and trend BUT that group should not close us off from honest old AND new helping hands. I come from a Jamaican family (islander families are filled with a mixed group of family members typically) so it hard for me to see a non POC the same way as you because i could never look my uncles wife and her kids (who are white) for example like they could never understand because i know they are there for me 100%. Same goes for my white friends who grew up in a primary black community, when they stand for me I know they are there for me and the community. Nothing about this is perfect, and I agree it will get worse before it gets better and unfortunately yes corrupt governments, white supremacy, etc will be around till the day we all die. but moments like what just happened in Minneapolis, those moments are why i keep fighting even if it means some Instagram influencer gets his/her photo op in front of a BLM protest.

As a black female (and sorry but i just discovered this forum post so i only read the last few responses). A few things : NO it is never a bad thing for people who are not POC to have these discussions. I enjoy the fact that these conversations are happening BUT i do believe the moment you enter these sorts of conversations on BOTH sides, you should come with an open mind. We all grew up from all sorts of different backgrounds, but the biggest problem that occurs with such a large group of people is we are quick to respond without actually listening & understanding. We as human beings allow our emotions to get the better of us. Now don't get me wrong i 100% believe there are people who are taking advantage of the protests and are out destroying things for no damn reason other than their own pleasure. It is impossible for it not to happen with such a big movement, period. But to expect people to stop the movement because of them is also a ridiculous thing to expect because the point of a movement is to keep moving forward and we can only hope the person to the right / left of me are also genuinely there on the streets to support, listen and understand the black community and the struggles you might have the privilege to avoid in your daily lives.