Dear America, We Need To Work To End Racism Now

This week I was struggling to find an idea for what to write my blog post on until I realized that I needed to talk about a very important matter that is impacting our nation right now: racism and inequality. I was going to write about what I had been cooking this week or where I had been eating but that felt wrong and insensitive. So here I am, writing a post about what we as a nation can do to help remedy the issue of racism that has been plaguing us for centuries. Here are my thoughts on the current protests and issues at hand and how I believe that we as a nation can get involved to do better.

My First Experience Learning About The Racism That Exists in America:

In the summer of 2018, I visited Montgomery and Selma Alabama with my mom. During this trip, we visited many historical sites of the civil rights movement such as churches where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, the bus stop where Rosa Parks got on to the bus and refused to get up, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But, besides seeing these important historical sites first hand and really feeling how people felt 60 years ago, we also visited the Legacy Museum and The National Memorial For Peace and Justice, a brand new museum at the time that showcased the injustices and harm Black people have gone through in the past as well as now. The museum and memorial are part of the life work of Bryan Stevenson, a lawyer and social justice advocate who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization designed to help out Black Americans in the prison system who have been wrongfully incarcerated or treated unfairly. The goal of the Equal Justice Initiative is to reform the prison system, combat past and current racial injustice and to educate the general public on these issues.

While visiting the Legacy Museum and Memorial, my eyes were opened to the fact that Black Americans were treated poorly in the past and that they are still discriminated against today. The National Memorial For Peace and Justice showcased all the different counties in the south and the number of lynchings that occurred in them and it included the names of some of the victims. The Legacy Museum showcased historical events that showed discrimination against Black people in the past and also showed events from today that show that racism still exists. Furthermore, the museum is trying to tell a story of how Blacks in America went from slavery in the past to mass incarceration and inequality today. While viewing the memorial and museum, my heart instantly filled with sadness and I knew that America needed to change. I realized that Black Americans were treated poorly in history and that as a result of years and years of oppression they are still treated poorly today as it is engrained in our society. But, even though I had this reaction, I did not act on the issue at hand and did not do anything to attempt to fix it. Instead, I watched more and more of this same violence occur for the past two years until this past week it reached a tipping point for me with the death of George Floyd.

My Thoughts On The Current Protests in America Today:

first and foremost, my heart goes out to the family of George Floyd as well as anyone else who has been affected by the years of injustice and police brutality in America. When I first watched the video of the Minnesota Cop pinning his knee down on George Floyd until he was unconscious and eventually dead, I was devastated and deeply saddened. For the couple of days after I watched that video, I could not think straight and could barely accomplish anything. My mind kept drifting towards the inequality and racism that exists in America today and how many people’s lives have been taking too soon as a result. Then, after a few days of denial and shock, the protests all across the United States began to occur and I began to feel like maybe Black Americans were finally going to get some justice and that our system would change. After watching these protests for a few days and slowly seeing them escalate into violence and chaos, I realized that these protests were different than the ones that occurred in the past and that they may be able to make change. I believe that the death of George Floyd was the straw to break the camels back. After years and years of not being heard and of no change, people are finally fed up with the racism and inequality and are demanding action. As a result of this, I think we as a country are at a pivotal point and need to decide our next steps wisely. I think that now is the time that we can really make meaningful change to our society through legislation as well as through education. Now is the time to act on this issue at hand or it could be too late. If we do not act now and attempt to get to the roots of this issue of racism, then many more people may have to go through this in the future. With that being said, here is what I think we as individuals and as a country can do to make meaningful change.

What We Can Do To Make Change Happen Now:

1. Peaceful Protests– I believe that peaceful protests are one of the best ways to make long and lasting change. During the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. prided himself in peaceful protests and nonviolence. Eventually, after years and years of peaceful protests, Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers were able to change the system and made things happen. The peaceful protests and other protests that are occurring right now are a good step in the right direction and they need to continue until something is actually done from the top. If we just protest for a couple days and then let it be like we did in the past, then nothing will happen and the racism will still exist. But, if we continue to protest and fight for change for the months and years to come, then eventually we will not be ignored and the change we desire will be achieved.
2. Education– The next big step I believe we need to take to address the issue of racism and injustice in America today is education. Today in America, many people do not see the opportunities that they are given based solely on their race and that they are given an advantage over someone just because of the color of their skin. I think that this is completely wrong and that this needs to change. We need to teach people through seminars or through school what it is really like to be in someone else shoes so that they can learn how to be anti-racist. There are many videos and resources out there to help teach and educate people on how to feel like they are in someone else’s shoes. Here a few examples:

• The Long Shadow- The Long Shadow is a documentary about our past dealings with slavery and how that affects our current lives and beliefs about racism today. This documentary details the steps that we as a nation need to take to overcome our past and to become a more just nation.
• The Brown Eyes Blue Eyes Experiment- This experiment was done a few days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and showcases what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. In this project, a school teacher divided the class in to two groups based on their eye color and then treated one group better than the other. This experiment is supposed to show what it is like to be discriminated against and treated unfairly just based on a characteristic that you cannot control.

3. Do Community Work and Make Donations– Although not everyone can get involved in this way, this is a great way to get involved and to help show the people in power that we want and need change in America. Over this past week, I have seen many communities coming together to do community service or other work in the community to help end the racism that is still prevalent in America today. This works comes in many forms, such as voter registration drives and community education events, and can have a huge impact on the issue of inequality and injustice.

Possible Places To Donate To:

• The Equal Justice Initiative- eji.org– As I stated above, the EJI is the life work of Bryan Stevenson and is designed to help fight the injustices that Blacks face today in America from mass incarceration to police brutality.
• Victim memorial funds or bail funds- Currently, there are many memorial funds online for victims of police brutality and racism such as George Floyd. These are good funds to donate to if you want to support a specific person who was a victim of race related violence. Alternatively, the bail funds are designed to support protesters who have been put in jail and if you donate to them then you are paying for their bail in states where they can post bail.
• The NAACP- naacp.org– This is a more national and well recognized organization that is fighting for change at the political and national level.

4. Voting!- I saved this one for last as I believe that it is the most important thing we as a society can do to make long and lasting change. When I was visiting Alabama a couple summers ago, one of our tour guides told us that a lot of people in Alabama do not vote and that they were trying to fix that through education as well as voter registration drives. Voting is one of the keys to solving the problem of injustice in America and getting the legislation that we need passed. If you are tired of seeing the same people and policies in power, then go out and vote to change that. If we all go out and vote then we can make meaningful change and take a step in the right direction to get the legislation that we need passed.

My Final Thoughts:

Before this past week, my experience visiting Montgomery Alabama and getting to see how people in America have been treated unequally for years just based on the color of their skin was a mere glimpse in the past. But now, after witnessing these events this past week and watching how our nation has come together, I realize that my mom had a purpose in bringing me to Montgomery to see what life is like for a big percentage of our population. I now realize that I can no longer stay silent on this issue and must use my power and my voice to promote change in America. We all should have seen the warning signs earlier from Colin Kapernick taking a knee during the national anthem to innocent Blacks being killed by police officers. But, now is not the time to dwell on our past failings; we need to focus on achieving long and lasting change. Let’s all stand up and demand an end to the injustice that exists in America today. Thank you for reading this blog post and I hope that you now better understand the issue at hand and what you can do to help.