black lives matter Archives - The Race Card Project

Black, but I don’t fear police

April 13, 2022April 13, 2022 8th Grade Holland New Tech High School, black lives matter, calm, collected, fear, Holland, honest, MI, police, present yourself, relationship gap, tactful

Rinard,
Holland New Tech High School,
Holland, MI.

Yes I feel there is an issue and a relationship gap between black men and police. It’s unfortunate what has been going on in our nation lately. I agree black lives matter and I can see how one may think they don’t given the recent sad events. On top of that however, I believe if you present yourself as a confident professional you have nothing to fear. Be tactful, calm, collected, and honest and things will work out. I’m black but I have never had any fear when it comes to dealing with law enforcement.

I have broke free from colorblindness

September 27, 2021 All Lives Matter, black lives matter, Boston, colorblndness, conversations, Jim Crow, MA, Michael J

Michael J,
Boston, MA

I used to be colorblind. I was taught all about equality. I wasn’t even allowed to say black or white. Sounds great right? At the same time society was feeding me prejudice, but under the guise as “calling it as one sees it”. It was hearing the “I’m not racist, but…” followed by some sort of racist prejudice or stereotype. It was very confusing but I didn’t know any better. I had no clue about BLM and even did the same knee-jerk All Lives Matter response as other whites. But the more I heard about BLM and the cry for equal justice and treatment in society, the more I felt that my colorblindness was preventing me from seeing something. I decided to figure this whole thing out. I wanted to clearly listen to the black community so I attended a college lecture put on by black scholars and black community leaders about BLM. My mind was blown. I was sitting in a sea of white faces, me included, listening to a side of life I never heard of. Whites just like myself were asking the most innocent and daring questions to figure out BLM and racism, it was all new to me. It changed my life. Since then I have attended more lectures, attended workshops on how to talk about racism, and have read stacks of books on the topic and it’s various aspects. I am now fully aware of the hidden nasty racist things about our nation’s past that are not taught or talked about in school/society; I learned how all these hidden truths of the past have shaped today; I can now see racism still at work in our nation. We traded open racism such as segregation and Jim Crow laws for colorblindness in order to continue racism under another name. I now have had very long conversations with friends, family, coworkers, and strangers about racism. Some of the conversations and dialogue are constructive, some end in an impasse, and other conversations go completely sideways. Being white, I feel the responsibility to teach my fellow whites about racism. To engage in dialogue and educate about racism, I now listen for subtle or not so subtle clues of racism during conversations. Never in a million years would I have known that this white introvert would stand up against racism and engage another person in racial conversation. Sadly, I have learned that white Americans need lots of help and education. Many have colorblindness and don’t know there is an issue and some don’t care to learn. It’s exhausting, and at times frustrating, to tell someone about a problem that they don’t believe exists. …and then there are those who harbor and promote racist thoughts. Sigh.

Native Stand With Black Lives Matter

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021 black lives matter, hope, incarceration rates, Native, Native American, racial profiling, SD, stand, Stephanie Traversie-Baechler, ticketing, unfair, Watertown

Stephanie Traversie-Baechler,
Watertown, SD.

Growing up in South Dakota, many experiences Native Americans have gone through are familiar to those that have been expressed by Blacks in this country. We, too, have endured racial profiling, high incarceration rates, unfair ticketing practices designed to provide financial gain to counties, and we have experienced deaths. I have always felt that South Dakota was really a state that migrated from the South. Racism is rampant across this state and has been for decades. My prayer is that Natives can become involved with standing up like the BLM movement. Many of continue to scream out in response to an unjust legal and political system in this state. We hope to be heard.

I pass. What is my place?

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 biracial, black father, black lives matter, CO, Denver, Jennifer Ward, mixed, pass, place, proliferated, skin color, what's my place, white mother

Jennifer Ward,
Denver, CO.

As discussions have proliferated in Denver and online about race, the Black Lives Matter movement, and how change should be implemented, one idea that has been reiterated is that white people’s place is to support, while black people’s place is to lead and direct. I understand that, but where does that leave me – the white-looking daughter of a white mother and black father, who has never directly faced discrimination based on skin color but has certainly felt the repercussions in her family life and beyond?

Double standards and mutual racial fragility

July 21, 2020February 14, 2022 All Lives Matter, black lives matter, cracker, hate crime, hillbilly, Lily, N word, passing, slur, UK, white devil, white trash

Lily,
UK

I don’t understand why people on all sides of the racial debate, despite wanting equality, suddenly splutter and get defensive when people criticize another race, even when it is valid. I see white people replying “all lives matter”, because they feel that “black lives matter” is somehow diminishing them. I also see black people in online spaces who get defensive whenever a negative aspect of black culture is highlighted and blame white supremacy as if that negates responsibility and makes expectations of personal agency unreasonable.

Surely, if our goal is to ensure that race – which cannot be changed (yet, waiting on science to make it a choice) – no longer matters, and pursue equality, I think we need to be open about it. I see white people saying that racism doesn’t exist and that black people are “the real racists”, and black people saying that all whites are racist and share sole responsibility for helping black people.

It doesn’t make sense to keep passing the buck back and forth when we already agree on the solution: stop discriminating. I am not advocating for complete “color-blindness”, but rather that we acknowledge what has happened and opt to not perpetuate it. We acknowledge that discrimination exists, and choose consciously to refuse to continue the cycle.

I am a white (MtF) woman, and I wouldn’t want to be called “white trash”, “cracker”, or “white devil”, just as a black person wouldn’t want to be called the N-word, or the C-word, or J-a-B.

The way the media buries white hate crime victims (unless they’re too huge to ignore, like that one disabled guy who got tortured by four racist black girls), makes me feel that my efforts to reject and challenge racism are going unreciprocated. I feel like the onus is always on me when we should be lifting each other up and bonding over the common acknowledgment that being victimized is a horrible experience for any human to experience.

How did we get the idea that understanding that white people can be victims too become an attack against the black community, or somehow implicitly racist? It may not happen as bad, or as often, but I doubt that matters to the actual victim of a hate crime. If I’m being beaten, or robbed, or murdered, am I really going to care that other people are getting it more often?

The buzzword “white fragility” is thrown around a lot, but every time I mention that we can also be victims, people freak out as if I’m trying to steal their thunder or something. There is nothing wrong with adding nuance to a conversation, in my opinion.

Use privilege to give a voice to others

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019 black lives matter, Black Student Union, CA, discrimination, experience, group, impress, Isabelle Norconk, LGBTQIAS+, Minority, other, privilege, racial, San Diego, Standing Rock., stereotypes, struggle, systemic, voice, white woman

Isabelle Norconk,
San Diego, CA.

As a white woman, I don’t experience the struggle and discrimination that other men and women of minority groups feel. That’s not to say I have no problems, they just don’t have to do with systemic racism and racial stereotypes. Something I can do to combat this and to add my support to others that can help themselves is to add my privilege to an organization so that they can impress upon me their wishes and I can do my best to support, listen, and spread their cause. Like Black Lives matter, Black Student Union, LGBTQIAS+, or Standing Rock.

Stop explaining why black lives matter

February 11, 2019February 11, 2019 #blacklivesmatter, black lives matter, dismissive, food, GA, Jonesboro, people of color, restaurant, Tonisha C.

Tonisha C.,
Jonesboro, GA.

All lives didn’t matter until black lives mattered. This response is no mistake. It is intended to be dismissive of the perils faced by people of color. It is humiliating and degrading to have to explain why black lives matter. It is a waste of time to explain, time and time again, that there is an implicit “too” at the end of Black Lives Matter. There is no need for the colorful language, reducing the plight of people of color to plates of food in a restaurant. It is not rocket science.

Black Lives Matter, Act Like It!

December 14, 2018December 14, 2018 black lives matter, Detroit, judgewhite people, Michigan, privilege, USA

Nayana Davis,
Wayne State,
Detroit, MI

Black people should not have to keep repeating that we matter because just like white people we matter too. White people do not have to keep saying it to get their point across because they already have privilege that is given to them without them even asking for it.