The protests changed me in a lot of ways. One way was, I was by no means a class reductionist before. But the protests really woke me up to the real struggles of oppressed communities in the US and importantly, the revolutionary potential in those communities. I remember listening to Rev Left in my car and had to pull over for a minute to absorb it when Breht said something to the effect of "what did white socialists in America ever give us?! Bernie Sanders!? Fuck that! The real revolutionary potential is with oppressed communities."
I meant that it was sad to see white allies (but really white friends) who I spoke with before this summer about my experience as a black person/ who have branded themselves as anti racist suddenly realize that I had "been right the entire time" because it made it seem like they never listened to what I was saying in the first place, but also that they never internalized literally the million times that black people have been killed by the police before.
Their seemingly selective attention made me feel like BLM is only worth discussing when it conveniences them (and at this moment I still cant even identify what it was about floyd's case that made white people lose their shit this one time). . TBH theres nothing about floyds murder relative to what happened to other black people (in some cases black CHILDREN like tamir rice) murdered by the police that is especially scary, damning, senseless, or horrific. Obviously what happened to george floyd is bad based on what uniquely happened to him, but why HIM? and why NOW?
why is he the one that has suddenly changed all of these minds to the very simple idea that my life matters, despite being my friend for years, depsite listening to me seemingly actively about my oppression/ despite literally existing in america?
I genuinely feel like a lot contributed to this past summers' protests but i really think people came out because they were on lockdown and because coronavirus made bare some inequities that dont really have to only do with race.
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That sucks, I can't say I know what that's like to have my experiences dismissed by friends but it sounds shitty.
I gotta agree with you there, good explanation. I can't speak for your white friends, but I know it can be really easy to just mentally check a box saying "I am an anti-racist ally" and then continue living your life of privilege guilt-free because "you're on the right side." The protests provided a real release valve for white liberal guilt, I think.
It was especially hollow to see that for a month people on my social media feed focused on black issues (and restorative justice in general)... then it mostly just disappeared. Most of those white people who posted in june to "listen to black voices" were all posting about "vote for Biden" in August. For as intense as last summer was for BLM, people had far too short of an attention span for it.
definitely agree with you regarding the fact that there was a frenzied month where black issues mattered only for the focus to disapear. I think part of what contributed to this short term care was the fact that social media took on this very aggressive immediate discourse of "YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE YOU STAND UP FOR BLACK LIVES. NOBODY SHOULD WONDER ABOUT YOUR POLITICS. IF YOURE A GOOD PERSON YOULL CHECK ON YOUR BLACK FRIENDS" without really explaining how and why allies should be sharing stuff / how they should be conducting themselves when checking in individually with their friends.
There was such a focus on LETTING THE BLACK PEOPLE KNOW YOU CARE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA INFOGRAPHICS that a lot of the really nuanced stuff that we've both mentioned in our comments/ throughout this thread were lost.
not that white people shouldnt be treated aggressively and made to answer yes or no immediately to asks for solidarity, but maybe expecting an immediate yes or no is a reason why white people think giving monosyllabic answers / performative easy stuff means doing the work
Every other murder has had some kind of shaky excuse, some imbalance of information. We either had no video, or if we did, the cops got to say they were "scared" and while many people don't accept that, others do, and those others have a dampening effect on the actions that can be taken, and on the size of the movement. But Chauvin just fucking slowly strangled him to death for no reason. It was shocking to a lot of people, and an opportunity for people who weren't so shocked.
It was clear cut, more clear cut than EVER. That's unfortunately the bar.
But the bar is going up- people lost faith in the pigs.
made an account to say this:
it was election season