THEY DID NOT COME FROM SILENCE - Black Lives Matter Protests in the US by Giovanna Andreassi
We asked an American teenager in her hometown of Santa Rosa, California to pen an opinion piece sharing her perspective on this historical moment of protests. The Black Lives Matter protests drew crowds of all generations and sometimes even different political backgrounds. Racism has never disappeared, it is simply recorded on our phones now and unfortunately not much seems to have changed through the decades, but sometimes, the youngest voices are still the clearest. - Hook Literary Magazine
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down (...)
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
Buffalo Springfield
***
THEY DID NOT COME FROM SILENCE - G. ANDREASSI
Andy Lopez was only thirteen years old when he was shot and killed by a police officer in my hometown of Santa Rosa, California. Being a young white woman in Northern California, I often find myself in my own bubble of privilege. I do not witness violence first hand, I do not get used to hearing gunshots outside of my window, and, most of all, I do not fear for my life due to the color of my skin. But at 10 years old, Andy Lopez’s death disturbed me. Now, at 17, the deaths of Keith Scott, Jordan Edwards, Stephon Clark, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and too many more, outrage me.
We are six months into 2020, and black people are still not granted basic human rights. And as more and more innocent lives are taken from the world, I start to wonder when this became a debate. When did ending racism become so controversial? George Floyd’s murder was only one in thousands that sparked an outrage around the world. And yet, instead of talking about the issue at hand, people want to talk about violence. To be specific, white people want to talk about violence.
I wish just as much as the next person that racism could be solved with peacefulness. I wish that we could all just get along and racism would disappear. Unfortunately, that is not how this country works. This country wasn’t built on peace. This country was built on the backs of black people - slaves - who still do not have equality. While it should not be, violence seems to be the only answer in America. Derek Chauvin chose violence when he kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes until he stopped breathing. Gregory and Travis McMichael chose violence when they shot and killed Ahmaud Arbery while he was going on a run. And people want to talk about damaged property? Don’t get me wrong, there is a difference between people who protest with the intentions of opposing a racist system, versus looters who could not care less about the cause and just want a flat screen T.V. But if violence is suddenly of the utmost importance to the most privileged in our society, let’s talk about it. From 2013 to 2017, white patients in the United States received better quality health care than 40% of black patients. This is violence. Black women are up to 4 times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women. This is violence. Black and white Americans use drugs at similar rates, yet black Americans are six times more likely to be arrested for it. This is violence. In the United States, black individuals are twice as likely to be unemployed than white individuals. Once employed, black individuals earn nearly 25% less than their white counterparts. This is violence.
If you are not black, it is simply not your place to pick and choose how an oppressed group protests. It is not your place to say that protests are merely overreactions when black people still live in fear everyday of their lives. It is not a white person’s place to argue for peace, when the Boston Tea Party is one of the most famous symbols in America’s fight for independence. People who vouch for peacefulness during times like these are denying the fact that marginalized groups aren’t often heard. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in 2016, the world went crazy. People were furious. Critics began to light their Nike apparel on fire. They said it was not the place and time. And so people began to riot. Well, now is not the place and time either, according to the people who focus on property over a human life. When is the place and time? When will people stop worrying about the method, and instead focus on the message?
We cannot let this moment simply be a moment. This must be a movement. A movement to fight against the systemic racism ingrained in our justice system. A movement to dismantle the racist sentiments that are passed on from generation to generation. It is no one’s job but our own to educate ourselves on racism. We, as privileged people who benefit from the discrimination towards blacks, have to be unapologetically anti-racist. We must educate ourselves. Learn about the struggles that black people face everyday. Pick up a book. Donate.Watch a documentary. Have uncomfortable conversations with your family members. Sign petitions. Vote racist leaders out of office. Protest. The global uprising that followed Floyd’s death not only sent a clear message to our world - we need change - but it had tremendous positive effects. Breonna Taylor’s case has been reopened, and a law has been passed under her name that will regulate “no-knock warrants” in Louisville. A number of lawmakers have called for the defunding of police. States have finally addressed abusive law enforcement policies. Ferguson, where Michael Brown was unjustly murdered by law enforcement, just elected its first black mayor. All four officers involved in Floyd’s death have been charged. Statues of racists have been removed in multiple states. While these actions are long overdue, they did not come from silence.
So let’s keep the momentum going. It is not enough to believe that we are not racist. We have all grown up with racial biases, so let’s confront them. Do not forget about this. Do not forget about the unjust deaths of innocent black people, many of whom have gone unknown. What would have happened if Floyd’s death was not recorded? So let’s be educated. Let’s amplify black voices on our social media pages. Let’s support black owned businesses over large corporations. Let’s check in on our black friends. Let’s educate our misinformed family and friends. We have so many resources to take advantage of. And if you are tired of reading about racism for a few weeks, imagine how people feel having experienced it for hundreds of years. Although we are long overdue in our fight to finally end racism, it is never too late to change.
Giovanna Andreassi is a young journalist, a 17 year old rising senior in Santa Rosa, California. She would love to pursue writing or producing in the entertainment industry and theater. She’s in journalism at her high- school. She went to protests in her hometown.
“It was really touching, Everyone had signs and we were chanting and marched through the town and blocked off all of the streets. We went to the Sheriff’s office and the Police watched us from the roof. People were super vocal and it really opened my eyes to how effective protests really are. They force people to listen.” @giovi.andreassi
Video of the protests in Brooklyn shot by Angelo Vasta, a filmmaker whose work has been featured by many venues, companies, artists and by the New York Times