06/04/2020
I'm trying to find the right words for this post without taking away from the real subject.
Some say "All lives matter!" Yes yes I get it but you're missing the point! You're a part of the real problem if you keep saying that.
Let me explain honestly the best I can as a person who is not black nor white.
I grew up in a black country. I have many many black friends. I've also lived in India. I am a brown girl. I've been faced with words of hate because I'm too dark to be a pretty Indian. I used bleach cosmetics to become " fairer". Yes thats a real multi billion dollar industry. Obviously it didn't work but that's besides the point.
I was the girl who sat under an umbrella on the beach so I wouldn't be too dark, meanwhile all my white friends wanted to be dark ironically. I have always felt inferior to the pretty white girl. If I was dark I would be ugly and I would never be good enough. I was conditioned to believe that. Does that make me racist? Well it certainly doesn't make me feel proud. Does it make me fear for my life? Hell no!
While I've faced these minor insecurities and a few harsh comments like "curry girl" or made feel like I'm moving to Canada only for immigration, I have never felt fear for my life. I have never been afraid to go out and be pulled over for absolutely nothing. My skin colour has never been perceived as a weapon. Sure I've been called names and ignored but who hasn't? I have managed well to the point where I'm so okay with the colour of my skin today, more than okay!!! I have embraced it and I'm the first one to get on the beach without the umbrella now. I am okay! George Floyd wasn't okay and his fellow brothers were not okay! The millions of other black men that are racially profiled on a regular basis are NOT okay! They couldn't BREATHE!!!
I stand by my black friends. Not only have they faced judgement for the colour of their skin but unlike me, they have faced fear for their lives every single day since history. They are angry and hurt and have every right to be. They are strong but only together. So when you say " All lives matter" your'e saying that yours is just as significant of a problem and needs attention right now. I'm not saying racism on a whole shouldn't be given attention because it certainly should. If you don't think there's a problem then you are the problem. I'm not trying to be political but only human. I will always fight for the people I know and love and for the people I know need love and most of all understanding from everyone. The people who have to live their entire lives defending themselves for how they were born. I won't be silent because their pain is far greater than mine. I stand with you. I cry for you. I love you!
