Have you ever attended a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally? I finally got the chance to experience a rally on Saturday and it was interesting!
As the car was moving fast and turns were getting sharper, I could feel the anticipation in my stomach. We searched for rally members on the streets, and at last, the cops’ cars hinted us to the right direction. We found a parking spot and rushed out of the car to catch up. My calf muscles burned as I speed-walked through the middle of the street, already out of breath. When we caught up to the big crowd of BLM rally members, my mouth instantly began to shout, "No justice, no peace!"
As I looked around at the courageous shouters, I noticed something interesting. Most of the people, who were in this crowd fighting the injustices against black people, were white people. The leaders of the rally were black, and there was a good amount of black people, but I would have to say there were either more white than black or an equal amount of black and white people. I was surprised to see them out there marching, and not only shouting in the streets but prepared with signs and shirts!
Then another interesting thing happened for me, everyone started shouting "Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter!" When the words first came out of my mouth it was almost like "OMG" did I just say that in the middle of a crowd of white people. Then I noticed they were shouting it too! And as I continued to let the words come out of my mouth, I started to feel more comfortable with myself. I shouted with more confidence and excitement! I was excited to see that it was not just "Us" out there rallying for justice, but different races and faces who believed in the message and not afraid of what bystanders thought of them. It was a proud moment and the best explanation of "All Lives Matter". However, on that day and in that time, we are focusing on the black lives who’d been gunned down. Shot, many times unarmed, left on the street for hours, racially profiled and completely misunderstood!
Have you ever tried shouting in the middle of the street these words “Black Lives Matter!", "No Justice! No Peace! No Racist Police!!,", "Whose Streets, Our Streets!", "What Do We Want? Justice! When Do We Want It? Now!"? You should give it a try! Go on Facebook and find a BLM group so you can stay abreast with what's going on in your own community. And even though I loved seeing the different races out there Saturday, I challenge my black people to get on board! We are fighting for You!