The Blog — That Middle

I’m at a loss for words so let me be brief.

This is not the first time such tragedy has struck the Black community and probably won’t be the last, but when will it be enough? I refuse to perform for you on social media about how I feel. Let’s all do better and and hold each other accountable. In three weeks time where will you be? As a white woman I cannot fix this problem but I can call out anyone who makes racist comments and jokes and amplify the voices of people of color (POC) who can speak on this issue. Black Lives Matter is not a new organization, they’ve been fighting for this issue for years. And this is not the first time rioting has resulted from these protests just check out what happened in Baltimore or Ferguson.

I’m tired of having to watch the death of a human being circulate online for people to get all up in arms, post about it on their social media page, then go back to whatever they were up to in their daily life. That isn’t a reality for POC! Standing up against racism in moments when there isn’t the looming reality of black death circulating online should be a habit for all of us. When the protest sign comes down and your social media feed goes back to being pictures of cats will you still stand up when someone makes a racist comment or tries to separate someone from the group because they don’t look like you? Those moments matter as much as when you post online or go to a march. Your daily actions on this should reflect what you post about otherwise was all of it in vain? If you want change implement that into your daily life and show others that it isn’t as hard as it seems.

There is a portion of the Canadian population that believes we are above this issue in compared to the United States, that is an inaccurate description. We may literally be above the United States but as a former colonial country we are not above the US in terms of race, we both have racist history.

If you know of great resources to check out please let me know in the comments. I know I am not including everything but I really don’t think you should be looking to me for these answers. Black Lives Matter has some great resources on their website here. If you want to donate to either George Floyd who lost his life in the US you can do so, or if you want to donate to Regis Paquet who lost her life in Canada you can do so as well.

Let’s just all remember to extend our humanity to everyone no matter what they look like.

Stay safe, and I hope you are doing well.