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Anti-racism protests signal a shift

By Raven Roytblat | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-07-07 14:07
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[Luo Jie / China Daily]

This time things are different.

This phrase is being repeated by many people. People from all walks of life are taking a stand. A united stand for unification against an all-too-routine scenario in the United States: the dying cries pleadings of an African American man handcuffed and pinned on the ground under the knee of a police officer, crying for his deceased mother and begging for the opportunity to breathe.

Protests have energized the globe. People, east to west, north to south, from Ireland to Iran, France to Fiji, and back around the world many times over, have united. They are saying, "Enough with the institutionalized racism. Enough with the hate that has infiltrated our governments and media. Enough with law enforcement and judicial systems that do not uphold the law." After stopping the treadmill of work for a few months of quarantine measures to fight COVID-19, the working people realize there is more to life than what is offered to them.

All ages, neighborhoods and demographics are being represented in these protests that are taking place in over 1,700 places across all 50 states as confirmed by USA Today on June 19. Former US president Barak Obama on June 3, 2020, stated during the virtual town hall on racial justice and police reform hosted by My Brother's Keeper Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, that the protesters represent a broad cross-section of the American people. Middle Americans, along with everyone else who generally shies away from any sort of political pronouncements, have drawn a line in the sand and have said enough is enough.

Interestingly, mainstream Western media focused on looters and the previous police records of George Floyd. They failed to mention that a person even with a criminal record should not die during police custody. They failed to mention that many of the looters were not part of the protesters and were using this moment to engage in theft or were white supremacists. They failed to mention that this anger that arose is not only about George Floyd, but also about all the historical and current injustices that the African slaves who arrived on the shores of America and their descendants have endured. All races must be equal in the eyes of US law for civil obedience to flourish in peace and perpetuity.

Currently in the United States, peaceful protesters are being met with the type of aggression that the US often accuses other countries of engaging in. "Reports of excessive police force throughout the protests have emerged around the US. More than 130 reports of journalists being attacked by police have been recorded since May 28," Michael Sainato of The Guardian wrote on June 8, 2020. The level of aggression and the biased media coverage of the recent US protests are far worse than the US Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the recent and much publicized Hong Kong protests. "More than 10,000 people have been arrested around the US during the protests," Sainato reported, adding "as police forces regularly use pepper spray, rubber bullets, teargas and batons on protesters, media and bystanders.

Several major US cities have enacted curfews in an attempt to stop demonstrations and curb unrest." This is happening in a country that allows "the right to join with fellow citizens in protest or peaceful assembly [which is]….at the core of the First Amendment" and encourages protests in other countries stating it is a basic human right. US law enforcement is limiting these rights in the United States by corralling protesters into so-called "free-speech zones" and adopting new surveillance technologies which are tracking people even by virtue of their association with or proximity to a given protest. American protesters now face many long-term risks for exercising their constitutional rights.

World leaders, who were very vocal about supporting "human rights" protests around the world including those in Hong Kong, have fallen eerily silent when it comes to addressing the brutality that protesters and media personnel have encountered in the United States at the hands of American police forces, military, and paramilitary factions.

While a 75-year-old Martin Gugino was pushed so hard to the ground that he now has permanent brain damage, numerous media crews have been beaten and arrested, and increasing numbers of black bodies are found hanging from beams and trees around America, these "human rights loving" world leaders seem very forgiving. Although officials have determined that each case was a suicide, it stands as rather odd that four Black and one Latino male from the states of Texas, New York, and California decided to end their lives by hanging as Democracy Now reported on June 18. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch who were quite vocal about what they deemed to be abuses of human rights in China have gone silent with almost no references being made regarding George Floyd or the situation in the United States. To this day, many in the developed and developing world struggle with the divisions and scars created by white supremacy and colonial rule while international rightwing media sugarcoats and influences the news in a different light.

To combat this gross injustice, we need more compassionate, wise and honorable politicians, police officers, bankers, lieutenants, lobbyists, lawyers, and leaders. We need more educated people, regardless of social strata, to be able to think and make productive, smart choices. We need to spread the mentality of collaboration and the need for political accountability. We need to make sure that suggestions for betterment actually equate to empowerment. We need a true global community where we work together to support one another regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, or socio-economic status.

We can overcome our obstacles if we are clear in our goals. We each have a talent that is desperately needed in the world. If we center on raising the education level of our community, we will be on the road of progress. If we prioritize love actions in every facet of our lives, we will change how things operate. Positive, constructive action is so much stronger than any obstacles we face in life.

Justin Chan from In The Know reports on Yahoo Life, June 19, 2020, how Kennedy Mitchum, a university student in the US who was tired of her white university peers lecturing her about racism, wrote to Merriam Webster to "update the definition of racism to more accurately describe the systemic oppression of marginalized groups over a long period of time." Merriam Webster after a discussion period, agreed to the suggested amendments. Kennedy states, "I think people really just want to stay stagnant. I mean it's comfortable for them because they're the ones who are benefitting off …us staying the same way we are and not really breaking down a lot of these systems that have been in place for 400 years now…Racism was created by powerful people years and years ago…We have to keep pushing 'cause, at the end of the day, a couple of months of change is not going to change the entire world." Sybrina Fulton, who once assisted people with low incomes rent property as a housing agent employee, became a vocal gun reform advocate after her son, Trayvon Martin, was gunned down by a white neighborhood watchman back in 2012, according to Elyse Wanshel of the Huffington Post on June 10.

Since this tragedy, Fulton "…has used her grief to highlight the many injustices the Black community faces by making speeches across the county, co-writing a book about her experiences, and launching the Trayvon Martin Foundation, which aims to elicit positive change and end senseless gun violence." She is currently running for Miami Dade County Commissioner of District 1. Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, and Lesley McSpadden, mother of Michael Brown, both are mothers who lost sons due to gun violence, also chose to run for office. These women chose to work toward changing an imbalanced and, unequal system. These are examples of how positive policy change happens. These are the real victories for the Black Lives Matter movement.

A teacher's advice to the youth of today. Six steps to seeing this through:

1.One of the most powerful things that you can do is to make a commitment to increasing your level of education. No matter how much we have, we can always absorb more.

2.Commit yourself to learning an activity which will enrich you with mental, physical, and spiritual strength, such as learning a martial art, practicing meditation, or following yoga.

3.Eat well and learn about the many ways that foods that are in fact rich in vitamins and minerals are the true source of power. Without our health, we have nothing.

4.Make decisions and encourage every person that you love and whom loves you to commit to making quality decisions that support the greater good. Collective action is critical.

5.Invest in decisions that will support long-term changes to bring about systemic transformation.

Have good role models and celebrate them. Kennedy Mitchum and Sybrina Fulton are taking actions that truly empower.

6.Visit and support developing countries around the world that welcome and need you such as those in Africa. Build a new, hopeful life while helping others.

As Gandhi says, "As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him." This time: we must be the change we want to see. Our emancipation will be the result of strategic choices in employment and education. Let's get back to the classroom!

Raven Roytblat is a teacher of the private school Future Leadership Academy and a volunteer of 51give, a Beijing-based charity.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

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