Black Lives Matter: the importance of anti-racism
Photo by James Eades on Unsplash
Abigail Ani discusses the importance of anti-racist allyship among white people and non-Black people of colour.
George Floyd. Death by asphyxiation. On 25 May, a white police officer pressed his knee against a Black man’s neck for almost nine minutes, as the victim repeatedly called out the words “I can’t breathe” on a street in Minneapolis. Prior to the incident, it was a given that stories of violence and police brutality against Black people tend to fade from general public consciousness, even when there is clear evidence of injustice. However, history will recall the unprecedented response to the case of George Floyd, with its impact being indicative of a new chapter in the Black Lives Matter movement.
With large-scale protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement taking place despite the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions about racial injustice and social reform have been forced to happen everywhere. Although this is a good sign, we still have to see whether these conversations translate into significant developments that help to dismantle racism and anti-Blackness within communities globally. This is because although the media often focuses on the US, it is important to remember the fact that Black people also face racism elsewhere in the world.
On 18 May, a police operation in a favela in Rio de Janeiro led to the death of 14-year-old João Pedro Matos Pinto, who was shot dead inside his aunt’s home. In 2016, Adama Traoré died of asphyxiation in police custody in Paris after having been pinned down by the bodyweight of three Gendarmerie officers. In 2013, Julian Cole was left severely brain damaged and paralysed, suffering a broken neck and spinal cord injury at the hands of British police officers. In 2012, Sarah Reed was assaulted by a white London Metropolitan Police constable who was caught on CCTV, “yanking her by the hair, dragging her across the floor, pressing on her neck and punching her several times in the head” according to the Guardian. Four years later, Sarah died while in police custody after the assault and collective institutional failures exacerbated her preexisting mental health issues.
Photo by Duncan Shaffer on Unsplash
The brutalisation of Black bodies and their identities is just one product of the ugly disease of racism, which should not be normalised. However, the combination of video and social media means that this element of racial injustice against Black people is more visible than ever before. Education about racism is a central part of the anti-racist action that is needed to support the advancement of the Black Lives Matter movement; more people outside of Black communities must recognise this.
For white people and non-Black people of colour, the song “I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel)” by Lauryn Hill provides an alternative insight into the emotional and mental space that many Black people have historically been in as a result of police brutality and racial violence against Black people. “You think our lives are cheap / And easy to be wasted / As history repeats / So foul you can taste it [...] And while the people sleep / Too comfortable to face it / His life's so incomplete / And nothing can replace it,” Hill states. The song’s metaphorical descriptions equate inactivity to a lack of anti-racist allyship and complicity in racial injustice against Black people, and it is crucial that white people and non-Black people of colour acknowledge this as fact.
The inspiration to write “I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel)” came from the 1999 case of Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant who was shot 41 times by police on his doorstep in New York as he reached for his wallet. It is sad to see that police brutality against Black people and racism in general are still problems within the society more than two decades after the death of Amadou Diallo and the protests that followed. However, given that more people seem to want to listen to Black voices right now, maybe exposure to music like that of Lauryn Hill and knowledge of its origins will contribute to further progression of the Black Lives Matter movement; it could help more white people and non-Black people of colour to understand the importance of anti-racism.
The complexity of Black experiences is difficult to articulate because history makes descriptions of pain, anger, and tiredness caused by racism, as well as explanations of why change is a necessity feel almost redundant at this point. Nonetheless, Hill’s song provides a different approach to the communication of this complexity while also highlighting the importance of activism and the fact that anti-racist allyship from outside of Black communities plays a major role in ending racial discrimination against Black people. Therefore, in addition to resources like books and documentaries, music may be another way to educate white people and non-Black people of colour about racism against Black people.
Photo by Thomas de LUZE on Unsplash
Capitalising on Black people and consuming Black culture while being complicit in racial injustice is a senseless juxtaposition that seems to form part of a toxic cycle in history. The continuous mental and physical trauma of racism translates into all facets of life for Black people because of its various forms (e.g. institutional, casual, conscious and unconscious), with examples not only including violence and the use of racial slurs, but also things such as adultification bias, health inequalities, and microaggressions towards afro hair in schools and the workplace. So for many Black people, it is as if they have to disconnect and desensitise themselves from the trauma at times in order to function in societies built against them, while still having to fight against the very existence of what causes them that trauma.
For that to change, the anti-racist support and action of white people and non-Black people of colour is imperative, and it cannot be represented by a single image. If you are a white person or non-Black person of colour, anti-racist allyship means that you educate yourself and the people in your environment about racism against Black people, call out racism whether or not a Black person is in the room, amplify Black voices, avoid performative activism and more (here’s the link to anti-racism resources collated by Pi Media). This would contribute to necessary growth within society and make this a pivotal moment for the Black Lives Matter movement.
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