All Lives Matter

The current events in the USA are absolutely unthinkable. From the unnecessary and violent death of unarmed people going about their lives, to a president who is so uncaring about his people that he’s advocating for dominating the protests with mass arrests and chemical weapons, we’re seeing ‘the land of the free’ show its uglier side, and many have now stated that enough is enough. The evidence is damning that the tree of anglophone society is rotten, root and branch, and that it needs renovating in order to protect and serve all who live in it, regardless of their heritage or more generally who they are. In this country, we have a much better record in recent history with inter-cultural relations in general, but there is still significant evidence of inequality. However, the universal outcry has shown that there’s hope for the future, if only we can maintain momentum in a positive direction. When we started with a group of people being owned as property by others, all rights removed, there’s a seemingly insurmountable battle to fight to prove that black lives matter just as much as any other.

Black is watchin’ child soldiers gettin’ killed by other children
Feelin’ sick, like, “Oh shit, this could have happened to me”
Your mummy watchin’ tellin’ stories ‘bout your dad and your niece
The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice
A kid dies, the blacker the killer, the sweeter the news
And if he’s white you give him a chance, he’s ill and confused
If he’s black he’s probably armed, you see him and shoot

‘Black’ by Dave

Nothing is going to change overnight, which is what I worry is what people are hoping for, and when this leaves the news we’re likely to go back to not caring at all, because it doesn’t directly affect us. The situation in Hong Kong, for example, shows a people being beaten into submission by a regime that wishes to remove the rights we hold to be a given in the West, despite an internationally guaranteed declaration to the contrary. It has received much less widespread attention, because largely it lacks the impact of a clear murder at the hands of an authority figure. In twelve countries, homosexuality is punishable by death. Women continue to experience much more difficult lives around the world than the men in their identical situation. We cannot continue to care about all of these things on a global scale, or nothing will be achieved at all.

So how can you see what your life is worth
Or where your value lies?
You can never see through the eyes of man
You must look at your life
Look at your life through heaven’s eyes

‘Through Heaven’s Eyes’ from ‘The Prince of Egypt’

Many of the above examples stem in one way or other from the pervasiveness and rigidity of the British Empire. As such, we must lead from behind, allowing and supporting those who have been affected by past and present injustice to stand up for themselves, and to provide weight and credence from the established power to ensure that energy is not lost in the process. Historically, we as humans have shown a desire to create insular communities, with a view of personal exceptionalism above those who are ‘other’. This is not easy to fix, so all we can hope for in the short term is coarse-grained motion in the direction of improvement.

I commend everyone who has jumped at the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement as the cause they truly believe in and will throw their weight behind. I, personally, cannot find the energy to put more effort into it than I do otherwise beyond continuing to try to be the best that I can be, and to be appalled that a society is deteriorating in front of our eyes. Nobody should live in fear for their lives, especially not when the threat is those in positions of authority. We just can’t lose sight of those whose journey seems to be finally getting there in our communities but have a massive chasm to cross in others, and also of the good that has already been achieved by those through centuries of trying to redirect the tide of human nature.

Stay safe, get angry, be the best that you can be.