No Justice, No Peace. My Piece.

I'm so tired.
Even in covid, racism still exists. This is the year of hell

WARNINGS: mentions of murder, death, police brutality, depression, and injustice

*From a recording I took in my garage

(let me just see if this door can be shut...I don't live in the south but I don't really want people hearing me {it was weird saying everything out loud even though I was in my garage and my neighbors who were having little kids run around in their backyard probably couldn't hear me})

Um...it's gonna be weird

So with the killings that have been going on and with George Floyd...

Black lives in America have always been threatened. We've always been in a position where we're gonna be killed. It's just not fair what's happening. It's just so much to even talk about.

I'm recording this and talking about it because I want to get my feelings out and I usually do it through art and music.

Enough is enough. We're literally in a pandemic and people are going outside everyday with masks on and doing all these things and we still have to protest black lives and injustice.

People still to this day want to say all lives matter. I don't understand how..I just don't have the energy. Even as I speak now I don't have the energy to even correct people anymore.

I'm just in a state of shock right now (This wave hit me where I just went blank and the only thing I could control was my speech. My face was very deadpan).

This country is...I've always had issues with it. I'll talk about my identity in another blog post. Basically this country has always tried to define me and these narrow minded people...(I'll save this energy for another post).

I just think that what's going on is not it at all. My school hasn't said anything about it on their Facebook page and same with these Kpop industries and idols on Instagram. It's not surprising it's just disappointing.

There should be no debate that a video of an officer kneeling on someone's neck is right or acceptable or ok. That stuff is traumatizing and blatantly murderous, but officer Chauvin was still charged with third-degree murder when we literally have a video of him on camera suffocating this man George Floyd. That's 3rd degree? Really?

Isn't it ironic that the officer's last name defines him.

Anyways, third-degree murder is "defined as killing someone unintentionally" (resource). UNINTENTIONALLY. What this means is that Chauvin's charge basically says, "No officer, there's no way you meant to kill George in that video. You were probably just playing around when you kneeled on his neck and took his life. You couldn't have really meant it."

You're kneeling on someone's freaking neck and they can't breathe, but it's third-degree.

It's super tiring and you can hear it in my voice.

Every time I go on Instagram I constantly see people taking action. Posting, donating money, helping out protesters here in Milwaukee, which I appreciate and think is cool because it does need to happen.

As said before, I also look and see that none of these Kpop accounts (besides the entire DPR crew, Jay Park, Jessi, and Mark from GOT7) are really speaking up or acknowledging it. It's just kinda like ok, you literally benefit off of black culture and fashion but...ok.

I know why these labels and idols can't and don't say anything about it but it's like dang ok (tiring).

Corona already had lots of people feeling hopeless and depressed and psychologically messed up and George Floyd was the final straw. There's been so many other killings of black men in America and it's sad that another black man's death had to happen to cause this change and uprising. I'm not happy that this happened, but I'm happy that people are finally starting to make a change.

I also don't think this should be a trend. I feel like a lot of people - maybe they don't realize it - are jumping on the black lives matter movement because it's what's in front of them and is what is "popular" right now.

White people and non-black people of color are finding out just now how messed up and corrupt stuff is - that's great, we've always known. Whenever I log onto Instagram I'm always seeing it - the videos of countless black men and women being abused by officers - and it's tiring. I'm always seeing it and it doesn't add anything.

I'll do what I can but not on Instagram. If I go onto Instagram I'll immediately go to my explore page to look at Avatar The Last Airbender memes. I've stopped looking at my friends' stories, not because I want to ignore, but because it's too much to look at.

I'm happy that these white celebrities - Ashton Irwin, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift - are using their platforms to bring light to the issue and fight for black equality. I'm slow to hype them up for it though because it's basic human decency and it's a basic expectation that they should support the movement and equality.

I talked to my friend after taking this recording about what's going on. Some people are fighting this injustice in their own way. Not everyone who's "silent" on Instagram is ignoring it.

You can do so much more than rely on Instagram for facts. Go beyond Instagram to make a change. Yes, posting is doing something, but it's not all you can do.

That's really it and that's all I have to say. Everyone please do what you can, not what you feel like you should be doing.

Today's also Black Out Tuesday, so here are a few websites to look at:

Info on BlackOutTuesday

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Snopes (for facts and reliable info)

Black Lives Matter

How to Help