Tag Archives: Black Lives Matter

Operation I Take Responsibility: Failed.

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Celebrities. They love to use their platforms to rally for good causes, but sometimes they take it a little too far. The ”I Take Responsibility“ video is a perfect example of when the celebrity white savior mentality goes off the rails.

YouTube

This video is only slightly less cringe-y than the Imagine video, that featured a bunch of celebrities singing about how there’s no heaven…when people are dying from a deadly pandemic.

Let’s be clear: Black people don’t need to hear you guys say a bunch of stuff you read off a cue card previously approved by your publicists. What Black people do need is equal opportunity.

Equal opportunity as actors

Equal opportunity as writers

Equal opportunity as directors

Equal opportunity as producers

Equal opportunity as agents

Equal opportunity for any job that you were handed just for the color of your skin

So let’s call a spade a spade. Sarah Paulson, we know you’re not going to turn a blind eye to racism when a job is at stake. And Stanley Tucci, the day a powerful director makes a discriminatory comment, you’re not going to call them out and storm off set. To all the actors in this video and to those even thinking about making one: just stop.

I know you think you’re helping by filming these melodramatic videos (which have potential to become a pandemic of their own), but you’re not. Taking responsibility is nothing if not paired with taking action, so please put your insincerity on hold until this global crisis is over.

Speaking of white privilege…Madeleine McCann

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The Guardian

In May 2007, a beautiful little girl was abducted from her family’s room at a resort in Praia de Luz, Portugal while her parents dined with their friends at the resort’s restaurant. Kate and Gerry McCann’s initial call to the local police quickly turned into a nationwide manhunt for Madeleine, and a worldwide media sensation. After an unsuccessful search, the case eventually quietened down and life went back to normal. That is, until last week when London’s Metropolitan Police finally found a suspect… 13 years later.

British law enforcement have continued looking for Madeleine for 13 years. Granted the parents are wealthy enough to have funded the search all these years. Clearly their wealth has kept them out of jail too, where they should be for negligence. I’ll add that Portugal has an extradition policy so the was no reason for Kate and Gerry McCann to be free all these years.

You might be wondering how any of this links to white privilege. Well I did some research on missing children in Britain, and the first article I found was from the Sun a few years ago. They claim that 140,000 children go missing in Britain every year, but these are the 10 currently missing. Notice any similarities?

The Sun.co.uk

When I saw this I thought “there must be at least one child of color who is missing.” So I did more research through the National Crime Agency and found that in 2014-2015, 20,298 Black children followed by 7981 Asian children. The article in the Sun was written in 2015.

Where are the photos of the children of color? Are they just less important than the white children?

This image is proof of the inherent racism that exists in the foundation of many Western countries. It’s subtle, but you can find it if you scratch the surface. Of 10 children featured in article, at least one Black and one Asian child should have been included. What makes Madeleine’s case stand out is that her family are both white and wealthy. The McCann’s negligence not only caused their daughter to get abducted, but also cost British taxpayers millions of pounds. Seriously, if you want to dine without your kids on vacation, leave your kids at home!

Amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is for sure: if Kate and Gerry McCann were people of color, and their daughter was abducted from their council flat, they would be in jail.

I Can’t Breathe

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Hello everyone,

I am so happy to be back (during some very unhappy times) after what has felt like an eternity without a laptop. A lot is going on in the world right now so I want to start with saying:

R.I.P George Floyd and BLACK LIVES MATTER.

The riots going on all across America and around the world are scary, but are 100% necessary for our voices to be heard. George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis last week by a Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes. Floyd was accused of trying to pay with a fake $20 at a convenience store and was subsequently arrested. Earlier today, Chauvin was charged with second degree murder (up from third degree) and the other 3 officers present are awaiting charges.

CNN.com

The first question that came to mind when I saw the video was “How is this still happening?” After all the protests and marches over the years, why is the American justice system still refusing to hold white police officers accountable for brutality against Black men and women? As relieved as I am that the officers involved were arrested and charged, I have my doubts about them being sentenced accordingly. There was so much evidence against George Zimmerman after he shot Travyon Martin in 2012, and he got off scott free. Only two of the four officers responsible for beating Rodney King in 1991 were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison during a re-trial following the L.A. riots. The other two officers were acquitted again.

So basically, I have zero faith in the U.S. justice system. I wouldn’t be surprised if Derek Chauvin gets a minimal sentence, and the others get acquitted. President Trump seems to be more concerned about photo-ops with the Bible than re-assuring his country that justice will be served. The American people are not being comforted by their leadership, they are being threatened. Think about that. Donald Trump would rather turn the military on his citizens than immediately arrest 3 police officers. I sincerely hope America will vote him out in November.

Also, a quick message to all the Conservatives complaining about the looting: Target can get their TVs back, but George Floyd’s friends and family can’t get him back. So please, focus on solving the real problem that is police brutality and racial injustice.

The New York Times

Georgia’s false promises

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I want you to take a look at the photo below before reading.

This is Ahmaud Arbery, who was jogging in Brunswick, GA when he was chased and fatally shot by two white men. A video of the crime, recorded by an accomplice, was released earlier this week by a defence attorney involved in the case. The perpetrators, Travis and Greogory McMichael, were arrested yesterday on May 7. Unfortunately, this isn’t as positive an outcome as it may seem. The Glynn County Police and the Georgia investigators never wanted to charge Travis and Gregory, because even though the video surfaced three days ago, the shooting happened on February 23.

Yes, you heard that right. The police had that video in February.

Their excuse was that they allegedly saw Ahmaud robbing a construction site, and because there had been some burglaries in the area, the McMichaels assumed he was the burglar. As it turns out, CCTV showed no robberies on the site, and only the McMichaels had one of their guns stolen from their pickup truck on New Years Day. No other residents were victims of robberies.

This is a clear case of racial profiling. You must have some real white privilege to accuse a person of colour of a burglary as an excuse to murder them. And get away with it. This incident slightly echoes the Botham Jean case; he was shot in Dallas by Amber Guyger, a white police officer when she thought he “broke in” to her apartment. Turns out she had the wrong apartment, and after a lengthy trial, she got sentenced to 10 years. I suspect the Ahmaud Arbery case will have a similar outcome, especially considering Georgia doesn’t have any anti hate crime laws.

The reality of the matter is that if Georgia investigators wanted to press charges, they would have when they first saw the tape in February. The promises made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are completely empty, and their “thorough” investigation is all for show. And let’s call a spade a spade: if the roles were reversed, Ahmaud would have gotten life in prison. This is another case of pure racism, and what’s disturbing is that there must be so many more people of colour who have been senselessly murdered and have not received justice. As Marc Lamont Hill said:

The only way this injustice will end is if law makers start holding white people accountable for crimes they actually commit, the same way they do for innocent black people.