We were all created equal but never treated as such.
After slavery, we still face discrimination and racism that has been normalized. We're told our voices, our clothes, our dialects, our skin color, our ideas, our culture and hair isn't proper or fashionable or good until a non black person does it. We watch our people cry out only to be hurt more. After internment camps and the Native American holocaust and slavery, there's still xenophobia and racism about who belongs in the usa.
We watch people of color being told to leave if they aren't happy instead of fighting for the change of a system benefiting from racism. We watch monuments being built of racist, rapist, slave owners, thieves and liars while children don't know real history and great leaders. We watch chaos unfold over whether a person is really what they say because "black people can't possibly do that" (ex: karens thinking Black people cant live in an expensive place or that a Mexicans can't live in America.)
Somehow we're all free but we can't use our voice to fight for change without being hurt.
Somehow we're free but if our skin color is too dark, we have a chance of longer jail time and refusal of jobs based on skin tone or name alone.
We're all free but we have to watch criminals walk free while people with minor charges stay in jail and others go to jail or die only because of racism (ex: Emmett till).
Somehow we're free but if we speak our Native language be it Creole or Chinese and not the language forced upon our ancestors, we're looked down upon, shamed, and refused the respect we deserve.
Our ancestors made songs and taught themselves to read and what's going on in the world. They fought for their freedom and their rights.
Lots of people like to say that black people or people of color are playing victim and that we are all free/ holding ourselves back.
Are we holding ourselves back when we speak up about the discrimination we face in schools and workplaces?
Are we holding ourselves back when we fight for our rights in honor of our ancestors struggles only to be met with rubber bullets and tear gas and hoses?
short answer: no. We are victims to a system meant to tear us down. when we rise up in success we are breaking chains, when we fight for equality, we are breaking through, when we encourage each other, we are breaking through. When we educate ourselves we are breaking through.
Success doesn't mean fame. success means reaching your goals. When we live freely, not caring what society says, we are breaking away.
Some people say that black people are being "racist" when we separate ourselves and make stuff like "black authors club". This is a lie and let me explain. When you grow up a minority and see nothing like yourself, it's because of a lack of representation. Lots of medias want to show people of color as stereotypes and tokens only, so people of color, namely black people in this case, made their own media. How long did it take for the first black princess to be shown on Disney? How long did it take for the first black model to be shown? How long did it take for black people to be on tv as things other than gangsters, sexualized characters, slaves and servants? We have to put matters into our own hands to help the children and adults growing up. When a little black girl sees a magazine with a black woman engineer, she can feel a sense of connection that goes through and beyond both gender and race. She can realize, if no one told her, that you can be anything regardless of race and gender.
Doesn't it feel good to see barbie be whatever she wants to be? To see women athletes go against those that said women aren't strong enough? For men of any sexuality to be ballerinas or cheerleaders in a world that's scared of sexualities that aren't their own? So why can't we do the same with black people? We face so many struggles because of our skin color but showing that we can make it regardless of such is a blessing and a badge of encouragement for generations to come.
We have the possibility to be whatever we want and history shows this. The first Black- the first Native - the first woman- the first gay-.
