Everyone has probably heard about the Black Lives Matter protests in America, a
topic that is actively talked about nowadays. A question is raised: What exactly caused the protests in the first place? To start with, even in the 21 century, racism is a huge problem in the US. People of color are discriminated against and oppressed because of their race and skin color. Non-white citizens of America are the victims of systematic racism. What is systematic racism? Systematic racism is the type of oppression that involves systems, which perpetuate racial injustice. For example, According to the “Economic Policy Institute”, the black unemployment rate is at least twice as high as the white unemployment rate at the national level and in 12 states. The study of “Race Forward: The Center For Racial Justice Innovation” shows applicants with more “white-sounding” names are 50% more likely to be interviewed. It also shows that that White and Black Americans are about equally likely to use marijuana, but Blacks are 3.7% more likely to be arrested for it. Even if they don't get convicted of the crime, that arrest can stay on their record and affect their chances at good jobs, housing and bank loans for the rest of their lives. Non-white Americans are disadvantaged in every aspect of life. Systematic Racism has been an issue in America for years now. Considering America’s history with slavery and the fact that black people were enslaved by white people in America for over 400 years, black men were always oppressed and prejudiced because of their race.
The Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, was caused by what happened on May 25th in Minneapolis. A white police officer, Derick Chauvin, knelt on a 46-year old black man, George Floyd’s neck for several minutes, eventually killing him, while three other officers observed, doing nothing. The fact that George Floyd was already handcuffed, lying on the ground, meaning that he did not represent any danger, should also be taken into consideration. A witness of this scene shot a video of the police officer killing George Floyd and the video went viral on the internet. People from all over the world saw the video and demanded justice for George Floyd. Unfortunately, George Floyd’s case is not the only example of police brutality against black people and POC (people of color) in general. There are also cases of Breonna Taylor, who was sleeping in her bed, Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was playing with a fake toy gun, Trayvon Martin, who was walking home from the grocery store; all of them killed by the police. Those are only some of the examples. Over time, more and more victims of police brutality have been shown to the world.
The main reason why Black Lives Matter protests started happening in the first place,
was because these victims were not getting the justice they deserved and the police officers, who were murdering people were not held responsible for their actions. All of this because of the police officer’s white privilege. Generally, white privilege is a social phenomenon, which benefits white people over people of color. Many white people became aware of their privilege and started using it for achieving justice for black people. People all over the US started rioting, going to protests. People from different parts of the world, who were not able to attend the protests physically, started donating, educating each other on this subject, and spreading awareness. The BLM protests have made a huge impact on the world, not only have they achieved justice for some of the victims, but they also gained the attention of many non-Americans, who are now actively involved in the whole situation and spread awareness in the whole world.
A small survey was sent to the GZAAT students, asking different questions about this topic. The first question was: “What do you think about the BLM movement? How is it important?”, here are some of the responses: “I support the movement 100% and I stand by everything it has to say. It’s very important to use our voices for our movement and to speak up for the black people who are suffering, who have been suffering, whose families have been suffering. It’s time for their justice, justice for their families, justice for their culture, justice for their dead ancestors.” said a sophomore at GZAAT. Another response was: “I think it is very important for people with an open mind to protest the injustice. I always knew that there was a great imbalance between the rights of black and white people, but what I heard in the last months shook me. And I never had the idea that such things were still happening in the 21st Century.” “Has it affected your life in any way?” was another question in the survey. Some replied that it hasn’t, some replied that it has, because they were able to gain new information and get more educated on the issue. “It made me more educated and because of it, I started thinking about certain things differently.” was a response from one of the students.
In one way or another, the definition of racism, according to the society, changed after the BLM protests. Before, racism was seen as a person discriminating against another because of their skin color, however, after the BLM protests it is defined as systematic oppression. NAACP President Derrick Johnson calls systemic racism "systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage African Americans." The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops states: "Today's continuing inequalities in education, housing, employment, wealth and representation in leadership positions are rooted in our country's shameful history of slavery and systemic racism.” Racism is based on the historical context and the power of the system, the system, which supports white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to other races. It is important for everyone to be educated on this subject and spread awareness among their peers so that one day we are able to live in a society, where everyone is equal.
Edited by: Natalia Rakviashvili
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