Black lives matter. All lives matter. We keep hearing the second sentence as a response for the first, usually by the non-black population. So I asked around in my communtiy and asked how does one explain why black live matter more than everyone else? Here a few responses full of wisdom and understanding. I hope we can learn from each other, now and forever more.
A single black mother of a toddler shared with me this analogy: We are all in a neighborhood. Everyone comes out for the street fairs and holiday parties in each others' homes. Relationships are really tight amongst the community. All lives matter. A loss of one hurts us all. Right now the black family's house is on fire. What do we do now, as a community who cares? We give all of our help, care, attention, and rebuilding energy to our black neighbor and their family. All lives matter, but at this moment, and for the past years unfathomable, the black homes have been on fire becasue the electric company somehow didn't care to upgrade the electric systems in the black homes. The company took care of everybody else for years and let their homes slide. Right now and forever more we need to systemically fix the racism in our world. Fix and love the neighborhood. Our attention is NOW upon what is on fire, previosly smoldering and yet nobody high enough up in the company called the negligence out. That is systemic racism. It is common.
In Japan there is a subculture of youth tanning very dark to rebel the traditional ways of paler skin considered more desirable. This subculture grew into a popular Japanese cafe model in the 1990s, with the dark skinned men and women as the servers, called "maids," and the customers called "masters." The subculture is known as Ganguro. This is NOT OKAY by any measure of ethical standards. This is celebrated racism. The pop up cafes even spread to the USA. Thankfully the maid cafes closed down due to lack of returning customers. The racism is not only in the USA and that is why the protests are not only in the USA.
Scores of white youth tan for the purpose of looking black, to "pass," wear hip hop style clothing, and a lot of overdone bling bling. Even the language of these wannabes copy black youth. White youth are the largest ticket holders to black rap and hip hop concerts performed by black entertainers. If everyone thinks it is so cool to be black, why are black communities so expendable at the hands of our elected officials and police personnell who took an oath to protect and serve? Black lives matter, now and forever more.
I watched a young white woman on the social media app named Tik Tok explain to her community why black lives matter and not all lives matter at this time. She stated in her own way that we all are at the table for dinner. We are a great diverse group of friends. The family platters get passed around and everyone has a full plate except for the black persons at the dinner table. Everyone is chatting and having a good time, yet the black people are still not being fed. They aren't being served at all. A few moments pass and the platters are emptied of food. All of the friends are gathered and want to eat together. Some folks see that the black folks haven't been given food. No one who sees them hungry and acknowldege their hunger offers them food from their own plates. No one who is oblivious to their empty plates offers to share either. They just do not see, or the non-black friends turn thier heads at an opportune moment to not feel the pain and suffering of friends. For years and years we have all eaten from the platters, overlooking black neighbors. This was her analogy about why black lives matter more than all lives matter.
Let us keep the momentum and conversations going. I want to hear from you.
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Blessings,
KJ Landis
A single black mother of a toddler shared with me this analogy: We are all in a neighborhood. Everyone comes out for the street fairs and holiday parties in each others' homes. Relationships are really tight amongst the community. All lives matter. A loss of one hurts us all. Right now the black family's house is on fire. What do we do now, as a community who cares? We give all of our help, care, attention, and rebuilding energy to our black neighbor and their family. All lives matter, but at this moment, and for the past years unfathomable, the black homes have been on fire becasue the electric company somehow didn't care to upgrade the electric systems in the black homes. The company took care of everybody else for years and let their homes slide. Right now and forever more we need to systemically fix the racism in our world. Fix and love the neighborhood. Our attention is NOW upon what is on fire, previosly smoldering and yet nobody high enough up in the company called the negligence out. That is systemic racism. It is common.
In Japan there is a subculture of youth tanning very dark to rebel the traditional ways of paler skin considered more desirable. This subculture grew into a popular Japanese cafe model in the 1990s, with the dark skinned men and women as the servers, called "maids," and the customers called "masters." The subculture is known as Ganguro. This is NOT OKAY by any measure of ethical standards. This is celebrated racism. The pop up cafes even spread to the USA. Thankfully the maid cafes closed down due to lack of returning customers. The racism is not only in the USA and that is why the protests are not only in the USA.
Scores of white youth tan for the purpose of looking black, to "pass," wear hip hop style clothing, and a lot of overdone bling bling. Even the language of these wannabes copy black youth. White youth are the largest ticket holders to black rap and hip hop concerts performed by black entertainers. If everyone thinks it is so cool to be black, why are black communities so expendable at the hands of our elected officials and police personnell who took an oath to protect and serve? Black lives matter, now and forever more.
I watched a young white woman on the social media app named Tik Tok explain to her community why black lives matter and not all lives matter at this time. She stated in her own way that we all are at the table for dinner. We are a great diverse group of friends. The family platters get passed around and everyone has a full plate except for the black persons at the dinner table. Everyone is chatting and having a good time, yet the black people are still not being fed. They aren't being served at all. A few moments pass and the platters are emptied of food. All of the friends are gathered and want to eat together. Some folks see that the black folks haven't been given food. No one who sees them hungry and acknowldege their hunger offers them food from their own plates. No one who is oblivious to their empty plates offers to share either. They just do not see, or the non-black friends turn thier heads at an opportune moment to not feel the pain and suffering of friends. For years and years we have all eaten from the platters, overlooking black neighbors. This was her analogy about why black lives matter more than all lives matter.
Let us keep the momentum and conversations going. I want to hear from you.
Follow me on YouTube on SuperiorSelf
Instagram and Twitter: superiorself
Facebook: Superior Self with KJ Landis
LinkedIn: KJ Landis
Blessings,
KJ Landis
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