I am Black. I did not choose to be born Black, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
I was raised in a predominately white city, and I went to predominantly white schools. I got used to a lot of the comments I got, and at the time I didn't realize how damaging they were. I grew up thinking it was okay for people to say certain comments because I didn’t have anyone to educate me that they were wrong.
It wasn’t until I went to college that I realized how systematic racism and prejudice presented itself in everyday life.
Coming to College
I distinctly remember my first week at college. I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine, and she was expressing to me her culture shock of how white our university is. For me, I had gotten so used to being in a predominantly white environment that I started to think it was normal.
When she was explaining to me her high school experience and comparing it to our university, it was the first time that I started to question the system. It hit me and going through my freshman year, I had my eyes opened to the systematic racism that was in front of me.
A Culture Shock
During my spring quarter, I took a social stratification class and it changed my view on the world, as the course opened my eyes to the amount of systematic racism and prejudice that is still present today.
In my early schooling years, we were taught about slavery and abolition, Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the civil rights movement. It was presented in a way that made it seem like racism had been magically “fixed” after the civil rights movement and being that I had never understood that some of the things I experienced were racially prejudiced, I mistakenly thought it was “fixed”.
It was presented in a way that made it seem like racism had been magically "fixed" after the civil rights movement.
But the social stratification class gave me a better comprehensive history of systematic racism in this country than I ever had in school. This was an absolute culture shock to me, and I started to notice the effects of systematic racism all around me.
After this course, I was interested in understanding more, so I ended up taking a race relations class in the fall, and it was one of the best classes I’ve taken at my time at university.
Not only did we take a deep dive into systematic racism in the U.S. and how it affects the Black community, but we were also taught what symbolic racism is and what implicit bias is.
I learned that the little things, such as the education status needed to get a certain job, were originally implemented as a way to systematically keep Black people in non-managerial positions.
It was the fact that in most departments, even my own, Black professors are extremely underrepresented. My race relations professor even acknowledged this and explained to us how this is another form of systematic racism. It shed so much light on how systematic racism affects our daily lives.
A Piece of the Puzzle
I know, you all must be thinking, how does this affect me? How does this relate to Black Lives Matter? But the truth is, this is just a small piece of the puzzle.
Black Lives Matter is more than just the fight against police brutality, more than the fight against systemic racism.
Black Lives Matter is the fight to live without fear of being targeted, whether it be by police, coworkers, peers, etc.
It is to go to a job interview and not be humiliated over a hairstyle. To walk down the street and not be shot by the police. To walk into a meeting and not be the only person of color. To go to a university where you are represented in staff and administration.
For people not to say, "you're pretty for a Black girl".
It is to live in a world where you are not judged by the color of your skin.
This is what Black Lives Matter is about.
How You Can Help
No voice is too small. Don’t think that because you live in a small town, or that you don't have a lot of followers, or that because you're not a person of color that your voice doesn’t matter. Every voice matters, big and small. We cannot achieve change if only a few people out of the choir are singing the song.
We cannot achieve change if only a few people out of the choir are singing the song.
Change starts by first acknowledging the amount of privilege you carry, big or small, you need to be aware of it. I understand that I will never be able to experience what it is to be a dark-skinned Black woman in this country, and this is a privilege that I will live with for the rest of my life. It is only after we can acknowledge the number of privileges that we can move forward with change.
Change doesn't have to be at the macro-level, it can begin at the micro-level. It can start with advocating for more representation at your school, calling people out when you hear then say something racially insensitive, or educating yourself on the systematic racism in this country, etc.
No change is too small. For those who are white or non-Black people of color, it starts with hearing your Black friends out. If you don’t have any, make some.
It also isn’t your job to invalidate people's feelings, our feelings have been invalidated for way too long. It is your job to listen, educate yourself, and take a stand against injustices. If you are in a position of power, take it upon yourself to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves.
Black people have been second class citizens in this country for far too long and we’ve had enough. Now is the time for a change, not tomorrow, not next week.
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