What Has “BLM” in the States Got to Do with Africa?
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What Has “BLM” in the States Got to Do with Africa? |
Well, to answer the question—it has just about everything to do with it! Stay tuned to learn how the “mother continent” is the historical bearer of all things that dutifully inform Black Lives Matter with its newly gained momentum. Uncover the facts that paint Africa as a long-endured warrior whose influences have colorfully shaped the Western world, but yet a nation whose debt hasn’t necessarily been repaid. “Debt? Well, how do you mean? Who didn’t get their money?” I will shortly explain—but that’s not the only metaphor you will be getting from me today. Venture forth…
How Did Black Lives Matter Begin?
(Ah, another question…but a greatly important one, so please stick with me: The headings ought to get juicer as you read on). First originating as the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and then becoming a full-fledged organization (thanks to its three co-founders Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors), the Black Lives Matter had sprouted in reaction to the unjust murder of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old from Florida, who wouldn’t have (and shouldn’t have) thought that one day in the month of July would prove to be his last in 2013. The verdict from George Zimmerman’s trial, Martin’s killer, would have Zimmerman’s acquittal, and yield the maturity of a seed that was the Black Lives Matter movement.
#BlackLivesMatter inherently carries interwoven sentiments that trace all the way back to the 1960s, an era brimming with an unfading desire for social justice, as it related to African-Americans and their civil rights; to the 1980s, in which black feminism prevailed in the United States in unison with South Africa’s anti-apartheid; and to, fairly recently, the pickup of the Pride movement for LGBTQIA+ individuals. Altogether, these diverse desires have bundled up under the one hashtag (and mind you, for positive effect, not for convenience or efficiency) for not only inspiring racial justice and exposing police brutality, but also disarming the attitudes in which oppression lurks and extends its silent hand for yet another time to hinder the marginalized.
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Who Do We Remember?
Well, we remember (and certainly should) those who have come before, who had been earlier engaged in the fight for liberation, as Martin Luther King Jr. was, and helped mobilize time-changing philosophies, as James Baldwin had done through his famous essays.
We surely remember the lost souls to which the various chants of “I can’t breathe” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” and tags, such as #SayHerName and #BlackOutTuesday, allude. Should you choose right now for reflection, we remember George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, and the countless other names of those gone too soon.
Also, with respect to current champions of activism, we commemorate the recently passed Congressman John R. Lewis, who dedicated both his heart and soul to the advancement of civil rights for all peoples from all walks of life. The living—we cheer on and thank for their drives to soldier on in pursuit of equality to last many generations.
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The African Diaspora Couldn’t Be More Close-Knit
Pay no additional mind to the paradoxical, yet juicy (oh, yes! I remembered!), heading, but avail yourself of the truth it contains. With the widely ensuing calls for corrective action in the BLM movement stationed in the USA, these calls not only have caught on but have also intensified internationally among those residing on the mother continent known as Africa.
More explicitly put, Africans and African-Americans have taken to operation with a certain synergy that is an essential action toward dismantling the systems in place that have lent to their inequalities and vulnerabilities during this global pandemic. (One could even consider this a prime time for this extensive uplift in racial awareness).
One key example is the recent demand for justice during strict lockdown rules in countries such as Kenya that had been breeding grounds for misconduct by those meant—not to offend—to originally serve and protect civilians. International black alliances have formed in an effort to protect against the forces of globalization from which wealthier nations such as Europe and the United States have benefited—but to which Africa owes its current disenfranchisement.
This debt, not repaid (that may have come in as taken and utilized African art or had first begun to accrue from the slave trade), that, from the outset, has bathed in misfortune, and has been subject to exploitation of its vulnerabilities, presents a rather accurate mirror to the injustices currently suffered by black Americans today in the United States.
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Something to Note However
Though distastefulness tends to exist for the cruelties accompanying a shared history, we should note the importance of a chance at solidarity that past entanglement allows for; Unity tends to hold the key for advancement—and I wholeheartedly mean “advancement” that entails looking the past in the eye, shaking hands with the present, and holding your head high toward a brighter, better future. If whether your set of translating gestures are fist-bumping, hi-fiving, or even dapping your neighbor; swaying your body back and forth or holding your hands way up high in the presence of the Lord; or simply exercising a respectful nod toward friends, all mean solidarity to YOU—then keep at it.
Love one another. Support each other (because God knows the world surely needs all the senses of community it can get). And finally, stay proud.
It only gets better from here.
*sources: www.adl.org; nmaahc.si.edu; nmaahc.si.edu; www.google.com
Black Lives Matter: The Growth of a New Social Justice Movement
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