An Outsider’s Perspective of the (Very Necessary) Anti-Racism Protests by Victoria Romão Nóbrega ('23)
Angry, upset, disgusted. Those were just some of the things I felt during the past weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. I didn’t have the guts to watch the video. It is absolutely and completely nonsense that in 2020 black people still have to go to the streets and ask to not be killed, fight for their lives, fight for their rights.
It took me some time to write this, I was thinking about the right thing to say. But I realize that the only wrong thing to say (when you want to say something in support) is nothing (or “all lives matter”—if you are going to say that, just stay silent). I’m currently outside of the US so unfortunately, I haven’t been able to participate in any of the protests, but I’ve shared everything I could, signed petitions, read books, and watched movies about it. I want to do everything I can to support the Black Lives Matter movement. But the thing that has encouraged me to keep sharing and signing and learning is to see all the brave people going to the streets advocating for BLM; to see that people will no longer stay silent about racism.
All around the world, I’ve seen people speaking up, standing up, and fighting back! Especially here in Brazil, a country that, although we are very warm and kind, people are also very racist. But for the past two weeks, I’ve seen important national artists speaking up, people going to the streets, manifesting themselves to stand in solidarity. Even though our country is facing the COVID-19 pandemic—and not very well—we are still fighting against racism, racists, and even our own president. But not fighting only that; fighting back this pandemic that has persisted way too long, fighting back the unprepared police officers that punish the innocent, and the oppression of certain governments (my own included). The people have been silent for too long: racism has survived in the society about 500 years, but no more racism should be or will be tolerated. This fight goes beyond just black people fighting for their rights; it is also the fight of whites, Hispanics, and everyone who lives in the society because while we are still treated differently, we will have no peace without justice.
It is not enough now just to be anti-racism; it is not just about identifying the racist problems in the system and eliminating them. Instead, we need to be actively fighting against racism and therefore, we need to be anti-racist! Racists are constantly trying to slow down the progress towards a better society. They support the oppression of people that are different from them, and that is no longer tolerated! Karens are so over.
Now for my Hispanic fellows and white, if you have doubts about what to do, here are some tips and resources:
Read: look for books about the subject, websites, blogs, any serious source is valid. A good website to check for updates and resources is the Black Lives Matter website and a book recommendation is How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. You can buy the eBook from The Lit Bar, a black-owned bookstore and coffee shop in the Bronx.
Share: share in your social media posts about the subject, pages that are exposing racism, posts that can give more information on how to help, and what to do. Follow @blklivesmatter on Instagram.
Support: any way you can is valid. If you have money and can donate, please do. The organizations always need funding to keep fighting for their cause. Or if you can, give space in your social media account for activist organizations, everything you want to do to help is valid!
Sign petitions and share them so they can keep growing. One petition that I’ve signed is the one against the KKK, and you can find a lot of other ones on Blacklivesmatter.carrd.co
Give more color to your social media: there are so many incredible accounts of people of color, Asians, blacks, Hispanics that will help you learn more and also help them to have more visibility! It is important to begin in your own environment, so then you can return to number 2 above, and share with everyone you know.
Protest: if you can, go to the protests happening around you (of course wear a mask, and gloves if possible, because the coronavirus is still out there).
Support black-owned business: if there is the opportunity to support these businesses and buy from them, do it! They are also usually local businesses, and they need support, especially during this double pandemic. As a resource there is this app called Official Black Wall Street, that helps you find black-owned businesses near you: .https://officialblackwallstreet.com/app/
These are just some of the things that we can do! As one of my professors always says: “Do your best better and make your better best.” So that is not a very far future in which we can all be not just anti-racism, but also anti-racist.