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I have heard many angry Black voices in the United States over the last couple of years. The first time I felt it was over two years ago when Bernie Sanders was first campaigning for the presidency. During his crowd-pleasing speech, two Black women aggressively stormed the stage and tried to overtake the podium. A blanket of fear suffocated everyone watching. This was my first encounter with Black Lives Matter.
Bernie knew what these women wanted sooner than the crowd did. As the leader of this event, he had a choice to make. His choice surprised me. He surrendered the microphone, took a seat before them, and listened. He was now a member of the audience. The stage was theirs.
The standpoint of these two women immediately shifted from aggressive to assertive. They were not here to incite violence. They wanted to be heard. These women brought to people’s attention that Black men are being murdered by white police officers at alarming rates. Unfortunately, most of the audience surrendered to their feelings of fear following the aggressive act and closed their open hearts and minds. I wouldn’t be surprised if many people met the women’s anger with the same.
Two years later and racism is all around us. Racism has always been here, but it was shamefully concealed. Now it is pompous, outspoken, and explosive. This our national response to Black Lives Matter. We even have a President who refuses to denounce white supremacist groups. This is the polar opposite of Bernie’s decision I saw two years ago to surrender the microphone and let the angry voices be heard.
However, this is not a political discussion. This is an attempt to have you, the reader, recognize where we are coming from as a nation and where we are going. Do you remember when you first heard the angry voices of Black Lives Matter? Now take a good look at where we presently stand as a nation years later. Has anything changed? Yes. The hatred, division, and violence have grown.
The voices of those who cry out for their murdered husbands, sons, and fathers have grown. Concurrently, I see many more people taking a stance against racism in America. I see NFL athletes taking a knee. I see outstanding documentaries that explain why black Americans are so angry, and how it affects us as a nation. I see people protesting the Oscars, demanding more recognition for people of color.
I believe what we are seeing is no longer a movement. This is becoming a revolution. I want to take you back a couple of decades to look at a similar revolution that gave our nation decades of positive results.
Do you remember the struggles gay men faced in the 80s and 90s? Not many of us do because if you were not a gay male or a person suffering from HIV back then, you were probably not involved. Gay men had to fight just to have our government simply acknowledge the AIDS epidemic. Their plight took more than a decade and cost hundreds of thousands of lives…but their voices were eventually heard. The LGBTQ community has found representation in the 21st century because of the rebellious and focused fight of gay men who stood up against an iron-willed government and fright-filled communities.
An iron-willed government? Fright-filled communities? Isn’t this what we are seeing with the plight of Black Americans today? We are in the midst of a revolution. This is awesome! This is huge! This is the rebellion against the Death Star! This is the Magnificent Seven against an army of Bandidos! There is a revolution at hand. Where do you want to be in the middle of all of this?
“I hear you, angry Black Americans!”
That’s what I have to say. Until recently, I had never felt racism was my fight, so I never took action. I have not encountered racism in my personal life but that is no reason to be hesitant to take a stance. As citizens of this broken nation, we all play a part in this revolution, even if it is a small part.
The racism I experience comes to me through the national and local news. It’s wide-scale. Let’s call it a macro point of view. Where I believe we can all make a difference in this revolution is on the micro level. The micro level is within your neighborhood, schools, family, community.
I am a micro-activist. I will take a knee, even if it is only in my living room. Laugh if you will, but I know that some very important people will see. My children will see and ask, “Daddy, why are you doing that?” I will carefully explain to them the injustices I see in the United States against blacks. And they will follow my lead. I believe that might just prove to be much more powerful than taking over a podium.
Micro is too small, huh? Just watch. The great storms come and big trees fall. The grass survives it all. Will you take a knee at your kid’s football game? Will you raise a fist at your local sports bar? We are in the midst of a revolution. Rise up.
I encourage you to watch the Oscar-nominated documentary How to Survive a Plague about the fight for helping those with HIV. Not only is this a great documentary, it might just be a template from which we can fight racism in the United States.
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