Tag Archives: How to be an Antiracist

George Floyd Matters

Yes, George Floyd mattered.

What happens to one person may happen to another and another and another, until those of us who do not fit into the perfect mold or preferred social class no longer exists. That is one reason why the death of George Floyd and others matter who died because of police brutality or other unjustified reasons/causes.

A fellow blogger who is incarcerated and others have written negatively about the media focus and social uprisings related to the death of George Floyd, a convicted felon, a person who was alleged to have been violating the law before his untimely and wrongful death.

A man with a colorful past wrote a poem that tells why people should be concerned about George Floyd’s death, and all of the other men and women who died at the hands of other people; whether by law enforcement officials, at the hands of racists, by gang violence, being on the wrong side of group protests, or by any other method that deprived someone of their right to live.

Pastor Martin Niemöller, a former part of Nazi Germany who changed his ways and beliefs, wrote the following poem. Interchange any of the labels with the others often given to dehumanize other people:

“They” may be any person belonging to a group or who has a belief system based on race, religion, sex, sexual preference, political affiliations, or any group whose favor one does not fall, whether based on skin tone, socio-economic status, or any other factor used to justify wrongful actions.

This is a poem that I first heard as No Else Around (apparently based on First They Came), which I will use to show why George Floyd and those who differ, or who otherwise come from a different socio-economic class, should matter to everyone who qualifies as a member of the human race.

First they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Christians, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Christian.

Then they came for the prisoners, and I did not speak out—because I was not a prisoner.

Then they came for the Blacks, and I did not speak out—because I was not Black.

Then when they came for me there was no one else around to speak for me.

******

We are all in this together, what happens to one may happen to another. All lives matter who belong to the human race.


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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves.

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

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White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

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From the Civil War to our combustible present, White Rage reframes our continuing conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America–now in paperback with a new afterword by the author, acclaimed historian Carol Anderson.

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