Do Black Lives Matter?
Your first reaction to the subject would be “what a rude question”. Right? Think again. Are you sure?
Since the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in 2013 and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, leading to the Ferguson unrest in 2014, the phrase “black lives matter” has become a new chapter in the long black freedom struggle and rallies. But this new movement’s penchant for instigating public speeches about persistent racism have been disconcerting to many Americans who wonder what this new generation of protesters is aiming to achieve.
While I am a staunch supporter of “equality”, I also am a researcher of indie music. So the other day, I came across this beautifully tailored song “Burning Buildings” sung by Clive Stewart, directed by Himesh Bhargo. While Clive Stewart is an independent music maker, Himesh Bhargo has directed award winning independent films. Both of them came together to make this amazing indie love song in Reggaeton Jrock genre. This song is an independent educational song to promote love and harmony in the society. While I was watching the video, I happened to read the comments and it led me to understand that our society still has a long way to go in doing justice to the people we (shamelessly) call “blacks”!
The young people taking to the streets in protest have a justified cause. They deserve a fair hearing. I’ve come to believe that a few myths about what the “Black Lives Matter” movement is and what it isn’t, need debunking. Why does the focus continue to be on black-on-black crime? This is a diversionary tactic that aims to suggest that black people don’t have the right to lose temper and become outrageous about police violence in sensitive black communities, because those communities have a crime problem. Those who insist on talking about black-on-black crime frequently fail to acknowledge that most crime is intraracial. Ninety-three percent of black murder victims are killed by other black people. Eighty-four percent of white murder victims are killed by other white people. It is a myth that the movement doesn’t care about black-on-black crime.
The Black Lives Matter movement does not overlook the crime problem, but it refuses to point the crime problem as a problem of black pathology. Black people are not genetically more violent. They are nomore criminal minded than other groups. The fact that we need to acknowledge is that black people are disproportionately poorer, more likely to be targeted and assaulted by police, and more likely to attend poor schools. All these social indicators place a person or community at greater risk for being either a victim or a perpetrator of violence and crime. What we actually need to fight is the system, rather than demonizing people.
Many believe the Black Lives Matter movement does not have an agenda, other than disrupting the lives of white people by yelling and protesting. This is also not true. Since the beginning of the movement in Ferguson, supporting groups have made a clear list of demands – swift and transparent legal investigation of all police shootings of black people; official governmental tracking of the number of citizens killed by police, disaggregated by race; the demilitarization of local police forces; and community accountability mechanisms for unreasonable police officers.
Although much of the protesting in the movement to date has been centred on the issue of police brutality, there many issues that the movement plans to get addressed in years to come. One is the issue of our system of public education which fails the underpreivleged, which is a virtual school-to-prison pipeline for many black youths; followed by abolishing of prisons to end the problem of mass incarceration of black and Latino people.
Do black lives matter more than white lives? As mentioned in my blog “Impact of Indie Music”, music has the ability to impact the lives of people culturally, emotionally and morally. Considering this, the more indie artists get better with the messages and emotions they convey through their music, the more successful they will be in leaving an everlasting impact on the audience or listener. Indie artists have the order and power as specialists and musicians to change their society with the kind of music they make, and that really makes music something worth committing a lifetime to. After watching this video, I can easily say that Clive Stewart and Himesh Bhargo have done a commendable job in setting one such example for indie artists. Along with displaying their talent, the song also conveys a strong message of oneness to humanity. This is one indie song that has left an everlasting impact on me, and I wanted to share it with everyone.
Reminds me of another interesting poem that I had read a long time back. Written by an African child and nominated by The United Nations as the Best Poem of 2006, it continues to be one of my favourites to date.
And You Calling Me Colored?
When I born, I black.
When I grow up, I black.
When I go in sun, I black.
When I scared, I black.
When I sick, I black.
And when I die, I still black.
And you white people.
When you born, you pink.
When you grow up, you white.
When you go in sun, you red.
When you cold, you blue.
When you scared, you yellow.
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you grey…
And you calling me colored??
Makes sense, doesn’t it? Reminds you of something you want to share? Please leave your comments and I will add them in my future blogs.
