As the USA and the World continues it’s fight for equality. I wanted to share what is it’s really like to be a minority in the USA. A lot of people who genuinely don’t understand the black lives matters movement. They think it’s about minorities against police. When black lives matter is way more than that! I’m sure you all know that Im latino of African descent. Meaning my ancestors were brought to the americas from slavery. As someone who actually knows the people who originally founded the black lives movement. I thought I might as well spread some light on this one. Before you jump into conclusions, please read this whole post. I would love to have an open and respectful conversation with all opinions.
When we say black lives matter, it’s not about starting a race war or we believe all cops are bad. It’s not like what some of the news is pushing out. What we mean when we say mean black lives matter is that our lives has value too. There is are a lot of hard working minorities that pay their taxes. The same taxes that funds the local police departments. The same police that harrass us or even worse. When people say defund the police, some mean it litterally. However, most hard working minorities mean if you are going to get money from our taxes, please don’t ruin or take our lives when we did nothing wrong. We matter as humans beings. Here are some stories of what is like to be a minority in the USA.
My childhood friend’s mom was someone who always had a smile on her face. She always knew how to make people smile and feel good. Her name was Maria. She was an afrolatino like me. One day, Maria saw that I was really down. She smiled at me and told me that no matter what you are going through, the sun always rises the next day. It will shine light to places you thought were only shadows. A week later she was killed by a stray bullet. Leaving my friend as an orphan. His dad was in jail and his mother now gone. My friend beat the odds and became a professional basketball player in Puerto Rico and Europe. Sadly until this day, her murder case remains unsolved. Sitting in a cold case file. They never attempted to find where the bullet came from. Out of respect for my friend, I won’t put the article’s link. If you want to see the story google novato woman killed by stray bullet.
My childhood friend’s brother went to college and got a degree. He was a clean person. One day at a party, someone called the cops for a noise complaint. The cops came and freaked out my childhood friend’s brother. He ran when he wasn’t supposed to. Thinking he committed a crime when he never did. He just knew he was guilty until proven innocent here, if you don’t have money and/or you are a minority. So he ran like he was guilty. Sadly, he was the only black kid in a party full of white and latinos. The police got him and were only able to charge him with resisting arrest. The time he spent in jail changed him. He got fired from his job because he wasn’t able to go to work. He spent 10 months behing bars. Jail mentally broke him. After spending time in jail or prison, you are never the same. Last thing I heard is that he became an addict. His life was ruined.
I can write more stories. Even a book about about my friends and I experiences. However, I hope you understand by now that the USA can be diffcult for minorities. We still smile even when the odds are highly against us. Hope you see that black lives matters is not only against police brutally. It is about a whole system being against us. We just want to be treated as a person first and not anything less. I love the usa because it’s where I grew up. However, there is always room for improvement. It’s truly amazing to see people of every color around the world caring about my struggles. It’s hard to put in words but I just want to say thank you for trying to understand!! It’s greatly appreciated 😁
Great post, definitely puts black lives matter into a clearer perspective when you read experiences like this that shouldn’t happen in a country founded on being a melting pot.
I feel it may be a slow process but hopefully we will get there for future generations.
I will definitely continue to do my part to listen and advocate.
Glad it was able to let you see it clearer. That’s all we hope for is for a better future
I am 64 this month and I grew up in Southern California and knew a lot of people who had these struggles. I lucked out and did get caught in societies stuff. Mine was in my own family of origin. I do remember being threatened by a group of Latino girls, I am not sure what I did wrong. Maybe it was because I was blonde. Maybe it was because I messed up my Latino foster sister’s date when her date saw our foster dad kiss me goodnight in a not so innocent way. She was pretty ticked off at me, even though I am pretty sure he kissed her the same way, but she never said a word about how our foster father was out of line (He was white, by the way.). Maybe these gals were defending her. I mentioned it to a teacher and I never did get attacked, just being threatened was traumatic. My black friend lost his mother who was a cop when she was shot as she stopped someone for a traffic violation while on duty. And I know knives were used to get kids lunch money at my high school. Most of us have a story of abuse somewhere and if it is not ours personally we know someone who does. When we see ourselves as separate we view everything differently than if we viewed ourselves as a Whole Creation before God.
I really do not believe that any of it is going to get corrected until we look at what Jesus is trying to teach us. We have to stop seeing others, and the world at large, as separate from ourselves. No one is an island. No one is not a part of creation. No one is not a part of Christ, the Son of God. Political manipulation of the teachings of Jesus have taken away our personal power to heal all Creation. At-One-Meant is the only solution. At-One-Meant is for NOW and for ALL. We can put turn away and not see things or we can blame it on anything but ourselves, but we have to acknowledge the Whole so that we are in alignment with God’s protection and abundance. The only hope is in people seeing other people as part of Christ which they are as well. 50,000 words may not be enough to get out what I am trying to say, but I am going to keep trying because I know it is the only resolution to the discrimination throughout the world of so many demographics. Laws will not do it, a change of heart and mind must be acknowledged by one and all, one at a time. And it will happen. I know this because I know that God believes in us. Blessings to one and ALL.
Hello debra
I could add a lot of stories like those! It is important that people understand, and I hope they will!
Yes, people need to understand. There would be alot less wars.
Reblogged this on Hettie's Reflections and commented:
Reblogging so that my friends from overseas who ask me “why” could read one of many real-life stories….
Thank you hettie 🙂
Thanks for sharing. The dark and the duality they created do everything they can to pit people against each other. Their agenda of lack, poverty, teaching lack instead of abundance and making sure everyone is in economic slavery creates us and them. Religion, education, the media, science …it is all designed to teach people to compete, see others as taking something that you want, as see…there is only so much to go around (a lie). It’s how they work and they are quite successful at it. Afro Latinos are seen as less than in Central America and South America, the entire continent of Africa has been raped and pillaged by various countries all along. I saw the mistreatment of migrant children in school as I was growing up. It is very sad. That is why I do my daily work to shut this system down, strip the power and institutions from those in charge and bring about the Truth and a new timeline of Oneness and Abundance. It is time for everyone to be free and violence, greed, lack, propaganda, separation, etc. to end.
I remember you telling me this. It’s really awesome what you are doing. I can’t never understand why people would treat others badly based on skin or enticity. Really happy to have followers like you katelon. The world needs more people like you!
Thanks ! I hope you are around when I make it to NY so you can show me around 🙂
In 5th grade there was a club against me because of my IQ. No one talked to me for the whole school year, except one little Latino girl. No one stopped it either. This competition and creating enemies is so pervasive. Time for it all to end. Thanks for what you do to build understanding.
definitely! i will try to be in nyc. if not I can send you the best place to go to in NY. I know you like nature! i can tell you the best parks here in nyc. also the best places to go to in upstate that kind of looks like Iowa 🙂
Thank you for your explanation. It’s hard for me to comprehend why you are treated this way but then I am not a person of colour and I can never truly appreciate what you go through. I truly wish it were otherwise. Your life matters just as much as mine wherever we live.
I feel the same way! I don’t understand why people would dislike someone so much just based on skin or background. I really appericate your kind words!
You’re welcome
Thank you for this. I’m listening and learning.
Thank you! That’s more than enough 🙂
Thank you !
Supporting your cause. Equality has been long delayed.
Thank you so much! Exactly it’s too long
Eloquently written and you add meaning to all the protests. Those who are able to think will understand what it is truly about. Something has to be done about the militarisation of the police force everywhere but especially in the USA they are going beyond the call of duty they are not in a war zone. Police work has disappeared to kill on sight without question.
This is a great post. It should be read by many.
thank you so much!
I really do not know what to say. Every lives matter. How could people just squeeze life out of somebody just because of their colour. This issue exists in my country too…but in a different way. Whatever, Lives matter…Black Lives Matter…I am so sorry…
yeah, it oppression. it has everywhere. Black lives matter was just used in the USA because it is us who the police love to target. kind of became a movement for oppression everywhere. just be careful when you say all lives matter because some racist over here use that to devalue the issue. I hope one day issues like these will stop
It’s never been about police brutality. That is only one tiny piece of the pie of injustice. It just isn’t that hard to see people as people and not by the color of their skin. I read today that a black man was pulled over and given a warning for 5 miles over the speed limit. Speed limit was 65 and he was going 70. That is wrong on so many levels! But, the media could just be twisting everything and they were pulling over white people in a speed trap too. Black Lives, Brown Lives, Gay Lives, ALL Lives matter! Maybe ALL LIVES MATTER would be a better marketing campaign instead of focusing on one color of skin, but with our current POTUS, change is getting beat to hell. 🙂 Jacksonville has removed a Confederate statue in the downtown area just 2 days ago and legislation will be put in to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School. Progress will be slow but I’m glad to see it happening!
This is an good post to continue the message. Sorry about Maria. That’s a tough story, the kind we grew up with too. Important to keep spreading the word. People who say All Lives Matter in response to something like this are being deliberately obtuse, missing the entire point because they’re privileged life feels slighted. Yeah everyone knows that all lives matter, but they’re not killing everyone on the street. Black people are getting choked to death for $20. I don’t remember any white collar criminals from the loan or banking scandal that robbed thousands of dollars getting thrown to the floor and choked to death. Or the college scandal? No one there had a knee in their neck. The racism is institutional built into the bricks of the courthouses. Right now at this moment we’re addressing the killing of black people by cops. Mostly white cops. So if people get offended by Black Lives Matter maybe they need to look in the mirror and see why this angers them so much. Acknowledging racism is the first step to change.
thank you, really it’s great that you even read this and ponder about the topic. yeah, it’s like they are valuing black lives less than 20 dollars. there are police brutality that has been done to every race. however, it’s clear how gets killed the most. ” So if people get offended by Black Lives Matter maybe they need to look in the mirror and see why this angers them so much. Acknowledging racism is the first step to change.” you explained it so well thank you!
I saw something on Reddit which I found summed things up quite nicely. It was a woman holding up a sign that said the following:
We said, “Black lives matter” never said, “only black lives matter”. We know all lives matter. We just need your help with #BlackLivesMatter for black lives are in danger. Here is the address to the image:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/gwg3z0/this_picture_is_taken_in_washington_dc_while_in_a/
interesting! thank you for this link! i have to copy this to a comment blow. i appreciate the input 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing! This is absolutely horrible. There is still a long way to go till such things stop happening, but hopefully change starts now.
yeah, hopefully in my future children’s’ lifetimes. I really appreciate you reading and taking your time to comment on this issue. change starts with small steps like this 🙂
Great post 👍Very insightful to understand what’s happening as an outsider
glad you got to understand a little. thank you so much for even reading this. it says a lot 🙂
Good to read the first hand version. Thank you for this post.
thank you for reading and taking your time 🙂
Great post. Provides insight. Thanks. Keep it up. Lets pray and work for a day when nobody has to beg to breath, when nobody has to beg for justice, when nobody has to beg for basic human dignity, when nobody is discriminated because of colour of skin, gender, religion or nationality.
yeah, i can’t wait until that day comes! we are humans before anything!
Great post. I think you did a great job in explaining the mission of the organization.
Thank you, this was a great post on an important topic.
Scary times