Is This Mic On?
Is anyone listening?
I know everyone sees what is going on, but do you hear them? Do you hear why they are truly mad?
I can’t make sense of everything that has happened in the past 24 hours, but I can give you my opinion regarding the riots and looting last evening. What I saw on my television screen that was happening from coast to coast was basically a cry to be heard. What’s going on with our people in general, they’re fed up with it. And I’m not talking about people that are the same exact color as me. We as a society are tired of the reasons we are given for everything. I remember when I was younger, in middle school, I was called the N-word by someone that I thought was my best friend. I never heard that word come from anyone outside of discussions pertaining to history before and only knew that that word was a bad word for African Americans. Hearing someone who is supposed to be my friend called me that devastated me. So I understand how racism can affect people of color, even if I have not encountered it outside of that one incident so far. And please understand and recognize that I am not foolish. People can and may have discriminated against me behind my back or right there in front of my face without me even knowing it. So I am aware that racism can come in different shapes and forms other than just being spoken verbally.
So even though I may not be able to speak for the masses, I know any amount of racism is too much. Even when it comes from your own race. So as a whole, we need to deaden racism and the effects of it. Our Caucasian counterparts are out there with everyone and they’re working and protesting and rioting right along with everyone. I just want to keep that front and center so that we can be able to see that we’re not in this alone and that everyone is tired. The reason why I state that is because I got into a vehicle with a Lyft driver today and she was a real sweet Caucasian woman. She explain to me how last night was a night that kept her on the edge of her seat, but frightened her as well. She said that she feels like what has happened it’s going to be taken out on the rest of us instead of it being resolved. She also fears for her sons who are African-American and she wants to have her voice heard but fears that the rioting and the looting will overshadow what the message is.
I am not trying to glorify what’s going on in our world right now, but we can all pretty much understand that this is coming from a point of frustration. The way I see the frustration is basically like this: people are screaming out to be heard because they work their asses off for so many years and can’t get past their current situation. we have those of lower income that want to be middle income class but because of obstacles from life that is thrown at them achieving that middle class lifestyle has basically slipped through their fingers and they can’t understand why because they’ve worked hard. Then we have the middle class who may be able to take care of themselves but have the fear that greed is going to cause them to have to go back into the lower sectors of life and they’re so frustrated that they are normally the ones that are wiped out and have to start all over again because they fought hard and worked hard to get to the position that they’re in. With everyone fighting hard and working hard to live life comfortably here in the United States, it seems more like corporations and government care more about lining their pockets than they do human life. And the people who are in the middle class and lower class incomes are the ones who are making the corporations richer and the government richer. And then the government looks at us and tells us we should work harder. We work hard for hardly nothing.
We have some people who feel like the president doesn’t care about us. We have some people feel like our local government doesn’t care. And overall, we feel like we’re not being listened to. A lot of our issues can be fixed. But what everyone sees is that problems are literally swept under the rug if you don’t make $175,000 a year or more. So the ones who are making the least money, they are shouting for people to hear them. We’re being killed on the streets simply because of people not having enough compassion. Our pride and our egos are being killed every day simply because of the fact that there’s a certain sector that wants us to remain in our places. And there is a small group of individuals who have decided they’re not gonna take it anymore.
I may not be able to tell you every complaint that each and every individual has from the peaceful protest of earlier in the day yesterday to the rioting and looting that ended our evening. But each and everyone of those people have a reason for their role in this historical moment, with the same message tied to each one which could be as simple as this: we want equality. Equality, whatever form of it you choose, is something that should be given to each and every one of us in this supposed free nation. This is an unfortunate matter, but people have sounded the warning a long time ago. Corporations, stakeholders, owners of professional sport teams, chairpersons of corporate America as well our dear President, the question is: are you listening now?
