Is this the final wave before racism is finally solved?
Throughout this week, my timeline has been filled with #BlackLivesMatter, my Instagram stories with neverending reposts of username tags, my Instagram feed with black images, and my For You page with African Americans sharing their first-hand stories of racism.
This all started with a single death, one that would’ve been covered up if it wasn’t for eyewitnesses using the tool we take for granted everyday… the internet.
The tragic murder of George Floyd is a story you’ve surely heard about, but you may not have heard about the massive domino effect causing this nationwide cultural reset. The video of a police officer named Derek Chauvin violently pressing his knee to Floyd’s throat set the internet in flames. Within hours the video was all over Facebook and Twitter with “George Floyd” trending. The story gained nationwide coverage and more notably, outrage especially from millennials and Gen Zs.
“That’s the hate they’re giving us, baby, a system designed against us.” — Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
Journalists and shocked viewers alike started to dig deeper to uncover more painful stories, and there were plenty. I’d like to share a few of them on this blog.
Breonna Taylor — Shot March 13th, 2020 at age 26 while sleeping in her home.
Sean Reed — Shot May 8th, 2020 age 21 for a speeding ticket.
Ahmaud Arbery — Shot February 23, 2020 age 25 for taking a jog.
Every one of these young African Americans was shot by men in blue. The force that’s supposed to protect us as opposed to shooting or killing innocent civilians for their skin tone. The most terrifying part? Their stories were hidden and none of these policemen were arrested or even tried.
Why do I care? Why should you care?
Well, the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights protects officers from investigation and prosecution EVEN FROM MISCONDUCT. This law allows police officers to walk away from cases where they’ve injured or killed civilians scott free.
Could you imagine that in ANY other line of work? Imagine a doctor walking up to his manager saying “Yeah, we lost another one, just missed the kidney again. But it’s cool, right boss?”. That doctor would be sued for malpractice and would face permanent suspension of his medical license.
There’s nothing stopping police officers from breaking the law when this legislation backs them every time. It terrifies me that we all have grown so accustomed to this gross imbalance of power, that these victims couldn’t even get a chance at justice.
But this has been happening for decades. Enough is enough. How many more Martin Luther Kings and Rosa Parks will it take for African Americans to finally be respected in the “Land of the Free”?
The answer is roughly 72 million.
Pain, but I won’t let it turn into hate… You can’t take our youth away. — Shawn Mendes
You see, I went to my local peaceful protest today and had the experience of a lifetime. The boldest realization being that over half of the crowd was my friends. Generation Z made up half of this crowd, we took ourselves off the internet and on the streets and shouted against the injustice we saw all over our timeline. We marched to the City Hall and we took a vow of silence as a memorial for the lives lost, but those will never be forgotten. Their stories were saved on archives and in our hearts.
We may be young, but we have a moral compass like no other and voices that are begging to be heard.
The future is coming, and it’s going to be beautiful. Because we’re the ones changing the world forever. We’re the ones reposting, calling the hotlines, donating to charities with our allowances, and using our immunity from the pandemic to fight for human rights.
We’re Generation Z, the last hope.
