Since the incredibly tragic, heinous and unlawful death of George Floyd I have remained fairly quiet on social media about the disgusting systemic racism that is rampant through most of the world. This is not because I condone it, but because I want to make sure that when I do speak out on this issue, I do it thoughtfully, calmly and accurately.

I, like many others, am appalled by the recent events in the U.S and absolutely support all of the protests taking place. Reform is necessary, it has been necessary and will continue to be necessary until those in power actually start listening, start dropping their defences and truly engage with the truth.

Another reason that I have withheld my thoughts on social media (aside from sharing a few petitions and donation pages) is because as a white woman of relative privilege (both racially and economically) my words will always fall short of fully describing the fear, anguish and injustice that ethnic minorities face every day of their lives. I don’t walk down the street afraid that I will be stopped by the police just because of the colour of my skin, I don’t feel watched when I walk around shops, I don’t get sideways glances from people when I step onto public transport and I don’t get scapegoated by the media and those in power when crime statistics go up. As I can’t do this constant battle justice with my words I am going to share a few posts and links to those who can express it so much better than I can. I will also share links to places where you can donate to fight for racial justice.

Before I share those links though I want to make one thing clear. This issue of systemic racism is not someone else’s problem. It is not the USA’s problem. It is not just a racial hatred problem. This is a problem for all of us. It is as much a problem here in the UK as it is elsewhere. If one community is pushed down, our whole society is pushed down – we must ensure that we lift everyone up for us all to thrive. We must tackle to problem in all areas of our life. Tonight when you watch TV I want you to consider how many BAME people have leading roles in the shows being recommended to you. When you pick up a book I want you to consider the last time you read a book that had a BAME character in it. When you’re next at a loss for what to do I want you to google information about BAME leaders, BAME pioneers, BAME inventors and I’ll bet you’ll not have heard of most of them. Our history has been white washed, our present is a war to keep it that way – let’s make our future full of colour and let’s do it together.

Instagram:

  • @miriam_isa
  • @mumsthatslay
  • @jameelajamilofficial
  • @aoc
  • @thisisbooklove

Places to donate:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/peoples-city-council-ticket-fund

http://www.gogundme.com/f/georgefloyd

There are far more than I can list here but this is a start – now go do some work and find more and learn more because that is how I will be spending my time for the next few days.