There is a big schism in contemporary American society. You are either liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, Progressive or traditional, left or right, pro-this or pro-that, blah or bleh. And finally, maybe by that same principle…black or white.
Before the discovery of the Americas, there was no such things as systematic or widespread racism. Of course there were separated, cultural and ethnic empires, villages, and kingdoms all around the eastern hemisphere, and sure, they occasionally—scratch that—constantly fought each other on the basis that they were different peoples and upon the principles of tribalism. That is simply human nature and human psychology. But there was no such a thing of a tangible and instilled hierarchy based on race and ethnicity within a society. That all changed after Christopher Columbus and the commencement of triangular trading (AKA the Columbian Exchange). Slavery, specifically black slavery, became a rampant and new tradition. And for the next two hundred years, the Americas received more than 10.7 million African slaves. The literal inferiority of these forced laborers were apparent in the society: they were viewed as objects and property that could be bought, sold, or easily disposed of. Thus was this newfound systematic racism born in the world.
Fast forward to the mid-1900s when the Civil Rights Movement erupted. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments have since passed but men were yet to be equal. Since their passage, there were Jim Crow laws, Plessy v. Ferguson (“separate but equal” accommodations), grandfather clauses, racial gerrymandering, you name it and the deep south and even the rest of the United States was still discriminating. But activists fought back and America gained landmark events like Brown v. Board of Education, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S., the March on Washington. Things quieted down after the 60s, and you would think we finally had this race issue settled and all Americans are finally equal and that we achieved world peace and found the cure to cancer. Yeah, so you see it was not that simple.
It is 2017, the 21st century, the modern age. But what have we here? If you have listened to any of current news you know the stories: there seems to constantly be breaking news of another kid shot and killed by the police. And out of this dark time a movement erupted. A beautiful unison of colored people in protest to this brutality—Black Lives Matter. But of course, others backlashed and this schism I talked about slowly formed. Is this officially black against white? The (mainly) white people against BLM perceived the organization and protests as a direct threat to other races. Many think that “black lives matter” means that only black lives matter. And that is not the case. Of course all lives matter, but the current situation calls for an urgent action to help our black brothers and sisters—they need support more than any other race in America right now. To put this into perspective and in a hindsight viewpoint, think about anti-Semitism—specifically before and during the Holocaust. Advocating for the Jewish people and against their atrocious treatment does not mean all other ethnic and religious groups do not matter. They are simply the ones who need the help of others the most. You can be Christian or atheist and condemn anti-Semitism, vie for the Jews. You can be white or brown and believe in the movement.
Black lives matter.
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