Black Lives Still Matter

In my mind the Black Lives Matter movement gained more worldwide momentum after the tragic murder of George Floyd. With the trial of Derek Chauvin wrapping up recently it reminds us that Black Lives STILL matter; not matter how much the surge of Instagram protesting has died down. Admittedly I had never been aware of the BLM movement until George Floyd, it has only recently come into my consciousness, but I think that is the case for a lot of people. The movement has in fact been around since 2013, formed as a result of the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, with the movement clearly establishing itself specifically in the American Black Movement. However, it has gained a lot more publicity in the past year on a global scale, reaching numerous countries and becoming an issue that a lot more people are thinking about.

Of course all of this is extremely important and promising. The Black Movement is without a doubt one of the most important issues going on in the world right now; most likely because people are more willing to hold people to account and the strong desire to establish basic human rights. However, it does seem heart breaking that it essentially took the murder of another black man for people to realise that these issues are still prevalent. There is already enough proof of the many injustices that black people experience on a daily basis, just take a look back through history at the numerous other lives that have been lost and ignored. Not that George Floyd died in vain, of course he didn’t, he will be remembered for many years to come but the question does get asked ‘how many more people have to be murdered for people to take notice?’

As a result of Black Lives Matter there have been some people who claimed that all lives should matter, that black lives are no more important than anyone elses [which many people believed was the claim of the Black Lives Matter movement]. Perhaps these people were arguing that it was also racist to create this difference that all lives should matter. Clearly these people have not done their research and are uneducated. In the book, ‘Why I am no longer talking to White People About Race’ by Reni Eddo-Lodge she claims that ‘in order to dismantle unjust, racist structures, we must see race’. The impression I got from this was that although Black people are obviously the same as any other people there are a number of life experiences that they go through, as black people, which makes their life experiences different. And we need to be able to recognise these differences in order to eradicate them. And so the BLM movement is there to demonstrate this; they believe that black lives are just as important as any other, not better, but equal. The continual killing of black people is a significant demonstration of this.

All we need to do is look at the statistics. In the UK alone, the police workforce only has 1.3% of black officers, black people are eight times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police, the police are five times more likely to use force against black people than white. Black people in England and Wales are also twice as likely as white people to be detained by police under the Mental Health Act. Black people are also nearly twice as likely as white people to die either during or immediately after having contact with police. Between 2004/05 and 2018/19, 2,563 people across England and Wales died during or after contact with police.

These statistics prove that although the movement and struggle of black people has come to the forefront of many people’s mind there is a significant amount of change that still needs to happen. Take the recent government report from the ‘Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ that claimed that there is no evidence of institutional racism in the UK for example. After the year of protesting and highlighting the injustices of black people this was the government’s response.

It is an embarrassment to this country and it highlights the fact that race issues are still not being taken as seriously or investigated as properly as they could and should. One of the greatest powers of the UK government is their ability to enforce and change laws for the good but this report has moved that responsibility away from the government and onto the individual. It implies that it is individual’s that are racist, not the institution and so it is ultimately out of the government hands; which is clearly a huge dereliction of responsibility. Although there is little surprise that a Conservative government are unwilling to commit to change when this system of racism caters so well to their political agenda!

The time to make a change seems more important than ever, all we can do is take to the streets, join protests, sign petitions, donate to organisations, raise awareness and educate ourselves on the prevalent issues of BAME communities. Black Lives STILL very much Matter and it is important to make sure it stays in the public consciousness. I am talking about the people who shared social media posts mindlessly and have done nothing else since. These actions are not enough. People with privilege have a duty to offer unwavering support to ensure that constitutional change takes place and that starts with taking this matter seriously and doing everything that you can. If you can’t donate you can still sign petitions, join movements and show solidarity. The time is NOW.

Some great organisations to get behind:

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

http://www.discriminationlaw.org.uk/who-we-are

https://www.stophateuk.org/

https://www.kickitout.org/

https://www.runnymedetrust.org/

https://www.blueprintforall.org/

Access to ‘A Radical Library’:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Liu5aTBEdqqqntfOyAgK9IH5sfMwM4ZE1wlSE5IJUw/edit