Six months
into 2020 who would have believed that there would be an opportunity to unpack and
address the elephant in the room “Black Lives Matter.” As great as that is it’s
thwart with so many challenges simply because of the years of negative representation
of black people along with institutional racism.
Now allow me
to address one of the many obstacles preventing this conversation moving forward
that common retort “All lives matter.” Why is this a problem well let me use an
analogy to break it down? Right now, we're all impacted by the coronavirus and
a lot of time, effort and resources are being utilised to address it. Why? It’s
taking lives globally at an alarming rate.
That’s not
to say that cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure don’t matter
but it’s fair to say when compared to the coronavirus right now they’re not on
the same page. So, when we look at what has been happening to black people and
what is still happening to black people globally the focus must remain on
dismantling this virus known as racism.
How do we
move the conversation forward? By taking the time to seriously look at the
other side of the coin. An example for you Phillip Lawrence was stabbed to
death at a London school in 1995. He was a white headmaster and a father of
four. A year after the stabbing the murderer was convicted at the Old Bailey.
In contrast Steven
Lawrence a black teenager from south London was stabbed to death by racist at a
bus stop in April 1993. A day after that murder the police were given the
suspect names. Four years after the murder a national newspaper named the people,
they believed killed Steven. Five years after the murder the police apologised to
the family for failures in the investigation.
Six years
after the murder, the Met police were accused of institutionalised racism in a
government report. They were also accused of incompetence. Nineteen years after
the stabbing of Steven Lawrence two of the men on the original list of suspects
given to the police the day after the murder were found guilty of murder and
sentenced to life.
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Great piece 👌🏾
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