Black Lives Matter More Than a CVS

The murder of George Floyd has spurred a nationwide series of Black Lives Matter protests that have captured the attention of citizens, the media, and, most importantly, the government. But Floyd’s death was not the singular spark that galvanized these protests. They emerged out of America’s legacy of institutionalized racism, police brutality, and poverty that preys on black Americans. 

George Floyd’s murder was not yet another excuse of a panicked, split-second decision made by a police officer fearing for his own life. Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck, slowly suffocating him while in a clear position of power (Floyd was face down on the pavement with handcuffs, not resisting arrest) for five minutes. 300 seconds, during any of which Chauvin could have removed his knee or another officer could have interfered. Granted, the other officers present at the scene have professional training, but in terms of humanity, it is utterly atrocious that they calmly stood next to an innocent man being brutally killed for the color of his skin. Those officers had the ability and authority to question and interfere with Chauvin while he committed an act so evidently immoral and unwarranted, yet they failed to do so and must be held accountable.

Of course not all police officers have racist or violent tendencies, but it is worth questioning that their voices are the loudest, most prominent, and most urgent when there is every reason to not listen. Officers have a track record of being vocal about race-related civil rights issues and discrimination, but only when the police force is under scrutiny for racism and murder. This advocacy cannot be selectively dispensed at their convenience or when it is the ‘right’ or safe thing to say. Doing so appears calculated and ingenuine. Such an attitude must be consistent, not only when it is in police officers’ best interest.

Likewise, we all have the human obligation to resist and combat blatant institutional racism. Silence in circumstances such as these is complicit because by adopting any form of neutrality, you are the oppressor. The denial of racism’s existence is an act of racism in itself. By turning a blind eye to Floyd pleading for air, protesters being tear-gassed and maced, and Ahmaud Arbery being shot while jogging, you are demonstrating destructive privilege 

Racial privilege, but specifically white privilege, is a concept that is now even more prevalent than usual because being white means that you have a shield - a shield that enables you to simply exist without perpetual fear of being eliminated or stifled because of your race. White privilege means that unlike Breanna Taylor, you can relax in your own home without fear of being shot. Unlike Jordan Davis, you can play loud music. Unlike Tamir Rice, you can be a child playing with a toy gun. America as a whole, especially the justice system, has been deliberately crafted and tailored to benefit its white citizens.

Even if you are not white, you are by no means exempt from the narrative of racism in America. Minorities in the US are all oppressed to certain varying extents, but if you are not black, you will never experience police brutality in the same way that black people do. In Floyd’s case, the world witnessed a black man murdered by a white police officer, who was assisted by two officers of color in front of an Arab-owned store. There is not a single ethnicity or race that is uncontaminated and untainted by racism. Every race is racist. In a country that is a 300 million-person melting pot, we are also essentially a congealed mess of inherent racial and cultural biases - one that it is our duty as Americans to dismantle. Do not make the ignorant mistake of believing that just because you are Indian, Korean, Israeli, or any other non-white ethnicity, you can ignore racism because you are a person of color. We have seen the skin whitening creams, the rhetoric, the segregation. Demolishing racism in America is a cross-cultural effort because the system itself is one as well. 

Racial privilege must be used to help advocate for those who are not heard or valued by society. Discomfort and your own race are not excuses to be a bystander while black people are killed by police officers whose tendencies have consistently benefitted you.  But, as always, countless white liberals endorse the protests’ cause from the safe, comfortable distance of social media through the form of black squares, while denouncing the tactics used.

But protests cannot and should not be invalidated and condemned because there is never a correct way to protest, especially in the eyes of onlookers. Notice how an overwhelmingly large proportion of the people who disapprove of the BLM movement are of an older generation and not black. Besides the fact that they are not personally victimized by police brutality, this is because they are perpetuating and profiting from the system that the protests are resisting. When Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem to protest racism in America, the entire country was outraged because his action was considered an inappropriate way to protest. People were as incensed by a man kneeling during the national anthem in resistance of racism as they are now to a police officer kneeling on a black man’s neck to murder him. Like the American flags that are being burned in BLM riots, the national anthem is a symbol of the liberties, rights, and equality of all American citizens. When the country that one lives in does not respect him or her as a human, what obligation or incentive do they have to honor its flag and anthem?

The biggest controversy during the BLM movement is not regarding the national anthem, it is about the violent and destructive nature of the protests. In essence, a riot is an escalated protest and an act of desperation after remaining unheard for too long. Riots are never the immediate recourse, rather the last resort after too many frustrated attempts.  Like nearly every conflict, the BLM movement has gradually built up to this point, but in this case, we have seen decades of ineffective peaceful protests. In an ideal world, we would not have tension with police officers, ACAB, buildings burned down, or businesses looted. But this is what it has come to because we also certainly should not have innocent unarmed black people murdered regularly by the law enforcement system. Of course, it is disappointing that the government responds more to empty shelves than to the lynching of innocent citizens, but it is far more devastating that a ‘progressive’ country still has to fight for black people’s right to life in 2020. If a ransacked Target is what draws the much-needed attention of the government and media, it is an effective and apparently necessary method. 

People who are disgusted and made uneasy but the looting of Target and other stores are often the same ones who will never be forced to experience the perpetual fear of being black in America. One cannot tell African-Americans how to calmly and peacefully face their struggle when they bolster black oppression or will never experience it themselves. But, nonetheless, they are distressed because societal agreements and rules are being breached, in the same way that protesters are rightly outraged by the perpetrators of violent racism being the same ones intended to enforce these regulations. Society is a mutual understanding between the members of a community to uphold specific values and behavior, but when the police force does not adequately uphold their side of the agreement and black people are systematically victimized, society falls apart. Those who do not benefit from the functions of a society have no reason or motivation to uphold and comply with societal institutions that do not respect their humanity, nor should they be expected to.

Outrage due to the destruction of businesses is rooted in the fact that American capitalism demands the prioritization of property over human lives, especially those of black people. A CVS has more protection and insurance than a black person and the media obsesses itself with the hysterics of a stolen microwave or lamp over the devastation of a stolen life. Insured buildings and corporations cannot be placed on equal footing with the endless stream of black men killed by those who were supposed to protect them. The reason that the BLM protests are receiving so much criticism is that the white-dominated media and government respond only when they feel financially and physically threatened and targeted, which is precisely how the African-American community is forced to exist on a daily basis. Actions are denounced as violent when objects are the targets, warranting federal response, but not when the police directly threaten individuals’ existence.

Americans, of all people, should not frown upon stealing and burning down buildings to protest for rights. Considering that the Boston Tea Party, which was a movement against taxes on tea, has been written in history books and praised as courageous and patriotic, the double standard of American protests must be examined. In the 21st Century, when there shouldn’t even be a discussion about whether or not black people should be murdered by law enforcement officials, we are seeing atrocious levels of police brutality and, as a result, protests and riots are breaking out across the country. Both the Boston Tea Party (and other protests leading up to the American Revolution) and the BLM protests were created out of minorities manifesting their desperation to be heard and for there to be change under a repressive regime. But when protesters’ anger is motivated by racial inequality and systemic racism, they are labeled as unethical and unamerican, when in fact, they are embodying exactly what it means to be American. Rebellion is an American tradition etched into our history, just one that is conveniently excused and forgotten when carried out by white people. The United States was founded upon principles of equality, freedom of speech, right to protest, etc.. It was built on stolen land by stolen people. Stop reprimanding black people for being angry, for trying to steal back their rights and control over their own lives. They have every right to.

Condemning the looters, besides being ignorant and insensitive, overlooks the root of the problem that spurred the riots. The media intentionally shifts the focus away from the ingrained injustice to criminalize those who defy it. As a society, we cannot blame the victims of our mistakes. The violence that is occurring in these protests is by no means irrational, unorganized, or unwarranted. It is a deliberate resistance against a broken system that we have created and is continuously encouraged by our government.

Donald Trump, after emboldening American racism and white supremacy for his entire campaign and presidency, is calling for the murder of unarmed black people. By demanding that they are killed for resisting their murder, he sends a very clear message: if you are black, stay in line and tolerate your oppression or you will be eliminated. Trump has consistently pushed racist rhetoric in partnership with a severe double standard that applauds his archetypal supporters and scorns minorities. When white, middle-aged protesters demanded mid-Coronavirus haircuts while armed with assault rifles, Trump praised them for being “very good people” fighting for their liberty. Just weeks later, he referred to groups of younger, more diverse people protesting against police brutality as “thugs,” a term that is often associated with the crime in black communities. The riots and protests occurring in opposition of police brutality are not to be equated with gang-related violence, a concept that Trump’s inherent racism and bigotry seem to have hindered his grasp of. There is an evident distinction between black-on-black violence and a federally-endorsed system that deliberately targets and murders people of a specific race. By threatening violence as a response to the emergence and magnifying of black voices, Trump aims to create and perpetuate a society in which white superiority and power overtake cries for justice.

Rebellion is inevitable and indispensable as long as we live in a society that stifles civil rights for the sake of maintaining order and the status quo. People aren’t protesting for BLM because they want hair and nail salons to reopen during the Coronavirus. They’re protesting because they want to live, to breathe without being violated by their supposed protectors. As uncomfortable it may be to watch corporate buildings burn, as seen by the Civil Rights movement, riots accelerate revolutionary change - change that we need to support because it is long overdue.