Enough!

Black lives matter!

What is happening in the world right now, especially in America, hurts me.

I have a platform, I small one but still, it’s something and I feel I need to speak about it. Some of you might not like it but you can unfollow me just like about 200 of you from IG have done since this madness kicked off last week. George Floyd tragically losing his life due to an absolute waste man thinking holding down with his knee to someone’s neck is fine to do!

I write blogs because I enjoy them and always try to leave a message for you to go away and think and this is exactly what I am going to do here. I am writing this with tears in my eyes, I speak on topics that upset me, annoy me and I just want some to think differently. It’s crazy what’s going on right now, people are angry and frustrated.

Black Lives Matter is equality. The movement literally wants us to be seen as equal, it does NOT indicate that our Black lives matter more. Yes, we know, all lives matter but we are merely trying to be included in the all. I really struggle to understand why people don’t get it. Racism is a real fucking problem. I’ve grown up around racism my whole life. It’s a real problem that some people like to sweep under the carpet. Nah, that’s not happening anymore. It needs to be slam into the light and attention. As a kid, growing up in London, words like Monkey and Nigger was words aimed at me on a constant basis. I remember like it was yesterday! Even as an adult, I feel it. My full name is quite ‘English’ and I can sound ‘proper’ on the phone when applying for jobs but as soon as I turn up to the interview, I can feel it, I wasn’t what they expected. Racism, right in front of my face? Why? It’s frustrating, it really is.

However, that simply ain’t the case with me anymore especially after the madness that has happened, just recently. In the few years I’ve seen rights and awareness for the alphabet gang, improved rights and awareness around women’s causes, “Me Too” Movement Etc”. I’ve seen causes and awareness for animal rights, veganism but nothing in the fight against police brutality and racial profiling against Black people in this world.

Now someone will say one cause doesn’t have precedent over the other well you could have fooled me, it’s draining and tiring to see these clips every other month and although I’m not an African American going through this, it makes me angry. It makes me wish someone would say something reckless to me so that anger can be let out because although we are oceans away, Black people globally see these scenes we are affected and that is why it is “Black Lives Matter” because we’ve waited, we tried all avenues, we’ve done the peaceful protests and got nowhere. So all we have is each other and if you don’t see why people need to say “Black Lives Matter” then you are in my view part of the problem, and part of the ignorance as to why these issues still exist, simple as that!

We had the awful killing of Ahmaud Arbery (back in February, but only came to light in May), shot for running in his neighbourhood by an ex-police officer.

Let’s not forget about the incident that happened in NYC Central Park with Christian Cooper. There was something so sinister about the way a white woman had to exclaim “I’m telling the COPS an AFRICAN AMERICAN is threatening me.” She knows the police are racist and she’s weaponising her whiteness to threaten a Black life. Honestly evil.

Do you remember Eric Garner he went through a similar thing in 2014. After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers attempted to arrest Garner. The officer then placed his arm around Garner’s neck and wrestled him to the ground. With multiple officers restraining him, Garner repeated the words “I can’t breathe” 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, officers turned him onto his side to ease his breathing. Garner remained to lie on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. Garner was pronounced dead at an area hospital approximately one hour later.

That George Flloyd incident is one of the thousands and that’s just the ones that have been caught on camera. What about the ones that haven’t been caught?

Now we see a police officer, who is here too ‘serve and protect’ chill on a man’s neck for 10 mins while George, clearly shouting out, he can’t breathe. The murderer must have been able to feel George’s life leaving his body but still treated him like like a piece of shit. A third-degree murder charge makes it seem like the officer had no intention of murdering George Floyd. There’s literal video evidence of George Floyd saying he can’t breathe over 3 times. The officer applied MORE pressure to his neck even after it was quite clear George was not moving. It’s sick!

Some people are angry that people are looting, smashing up cars and windows, there are bigger things than that going on in this world. Martin Luther King changed the world without looting anything, burning a building or attacking anyone and they STILL killed him. So where do we stand?

I can’t sit here and pretend to you, that my walk of life that racism doesn’t exist, it does! What I do, I cover it up, I pretend it doesn’t exist. But that’s what a lot of Black people do and for us to fight this, we need everyone to stand with us. Everyone that is not a racist, I’d like to think everyone I know or around me in my everyday life is not, stand with us and talk about this. Let’s fight this together. If you see in the workplace, say something. You see it on public transport, address it there and then. You see it anywhere, comment on it.

Don’t you find it weird that paedophiles can get jobs that they can take advantage of young, valuable people? It’s the same thing with racists! They have the power in the police force to do what they want, abuse it and act like it’s legal.

I don’t have to guilt-trip any of my non-Black friends into supporting the movement. If it isn’t a natural reaction then that says enough for me. I’ve got a mental note and I’ll address things behind the scenes.

It makes me feel sick, seeing what us, Black people have to go through in an everyday life. It’s 2020, FFS and this is still happening. If I was to carry on making blogs, bussing banter on IG and act like nothing is happening, I’d look like a real fool. It needs to stop because of the colour of someone’s skin? A skin colour? Does that make me any different from you? Does it?

The UK isn’t any different to what is happening in the US. I see no real intention to stamp out racism and change the culture for the better, but only to suppress it. This is why public statements acting like the UK is racism free is stupid.

Belly Mujinga didn’t want to go to work. She didn’t want to be around crowds (especially as she had an underlying condition) yet her workplace was adamant she worked. Belly got spat on and the person who did that said “I have COVID” and for the police to close the case, shows us again how much Black lives aren’t valued. Painting key workers as heroes is propaganda. Her murderer is being protected by the police. We haven’t seen a single image of him and they’ve closed the case. This along with the thousands of Covid-19 deaths is a national scandal.

Jermaine Baker was shot dead by Armed Police. the officer claimed he was acting in “self-defence”

Kingsley Burrell died from a heart attack after being left face down in handcuffs, in a room with a blanket covering his head

Mark Duggan’s death kickstarted the 2011 riots.

and many more.

The UK media deliberately do things such as this to paint Black people as “dangerous” when in reality they’re anything but (unless provoked). This would never happen to a white person! This is what Black people have to go through and I am tired of it! Things need to change.

Also, it’s all good organisations that profit from the Black culture, speaking up but let’s look at your senior corporate teams, is there any diversity there? Look closer to home before you start piping up and trying to support something that will make you look good. Bitch ass bitches. Black people have largely invested in brands over the years despite often controversial views and campaigns those brands have run and yet I’ve never seen any of them come out against inequality towards ethnic minorities, so when things like this happen, please don’t expect me to condemn or speak out against these actions, because as they have turned a blind eye, so shall I.

To the Black community, look out for @johnboyega and protect him at all costs as the deeper he goes into his career, the more outspoken he becomes. That Disney Cheque can’t change him. Maybe, wrongly but I judge Black celebrities and influencers at times like these. I am constantly watching who speaks out and who stays silent, if you aren’t vocal in these situations, then why should the people continue to give you that power and influence when it doesn’t fit our core principles and values as a culture!? If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem!

I don’t necessarily agree with the looting but people are pissed off and they always say, when people move mad, that is when others will listen! I am seeing a lot of women getting pushed over during these protests and people commented stuff like “women shouldn’t be putting themselves in that position” let me make this clear. These women who do it, have bigger balls than a lot of you man that like to sit on the internet and chat shit. They are the first ones to come to our defence, first ones to speak on our behalf, and first ones to get in the faces of our oppressors and voice their thoughts every time. If you have protested or spoke out about injustice or inequality, thank you!

I thought long and hard about this post, putting aside own personal experiences, I’m sure there are some good cops, there must be, for me to say there isn’t would be equal to a white person having a bad experience with someone of a different race and judging all people of that race the same. More importantly, when the dust settles and the protests are forgotten, the institution as a whole needs to change and my views are exactly why I believe that the very structure of the police leadership from all over the world and archaic culture needs to undergo a transformation as quickly as possible. What needs to happen is dialogue, change and action, all of which must involve the police.

Stay safe my fellow brothers and sisters x