What Will It Take For Us To Unite?
Protesters set fire to a U.S. flag. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
If you’re angered by the riots, think about this....
What is our priority as a people..as citizens of the United States? The wellness of storefronts or the justice for the many black lives taken by the same system that has sworn to protect us…?
The other day I came across a quote by Tamika Mallory, American activist and one of the leading organizers of the 2017 Women's March -
“America has luted black people. America looted the Native Americans...looting is what you do. We learned it from you. We learned violence from you...If you want us to do better, then dammit, you do better..” - Tamika Mallory
Society’s contract with its African American citizens has been broken. The way to fix it starts with justice. Until then, we cannot expect people who feel betrayed by society not upholding its side of the contract, to uphold their side of the contract.
By allowing murders to walk among our police force, you have lost the trust and obedience of many angry citizens. Until our police force has washed racism from its midst, expect opposition. Expect digital and physical anarchy. Expect this democracy to be challenged.
Personally, I am also tired of there being no consequences for the murdering of our people. And although I understand why people would want to tear apart the streets (because I wanted to as well), I also understand that non-peaceful protesting may not be the best solution. I recall the stories of the march on Selma and why Martin Luther King demanded all of the protesters be non-violent to avoid misrepresentation by the media.
Yet, I also can’t help but think that anarchy is also the consequence of the government not taking action after so many of our black brothers and sisters have been wrongfully killed by police officers in our communities, for so many years.
Maybe a part of me supports rioting when it is necessary just as much as I support peaceful protest. With our backs up against the walls, what are we supposed to do? What are we to do when so many of our tactics over centuries have either worked temporarily or not worked at all?
What are we supposed to do when we live in fear daily? And it also seems that our African American community can’t simply re-write our own narrative without opposition. With recent evidence, many of us are also starting to wonder if many of the initiators of the looting and rioting were actually police officers and White Nationalists.
We will address the challenges we face to keep our own narrative intact later on in the article, along with the motivation behind those strings being pulled.
My heart goes out to those small business owners and their families who didn’t have insurance to cover the damage to their stores. Hopefully funds will be available by our government to assist you in times like these. Times where the government has failed its citizens.
Some would say store owners are suffering because of the looting. I however say they are suffering because of our nation’s failure to address the continuous murders of our young African American brothers and sisters. I would say it is because of the continuous disregard to the atrocities and injustice committed by the very same people that were sworn to protect us.
Although I did not personally participate in the looting and was just a positive protestor, I can understand the perspective of the angry citizens of America. They are enraged at a system that does not work in their favor and that does not protect them. I too share their anger. I feel like some of the people who were rioting were doing so because that’s their way of expressing their anger.
Maybe it’s not the best way, but who is there to educate them and not condemn them? Who is leading us? Some see these stores as a way to get the attention of those they feel wronged by, while others like the White Nationalists see this as an opportunity to exploit the protests and paint the #blacklivesmatter protesters as rioters. I know because I was there in person and was able to speak to others on the scene.
I walked by a broken window, as a protester runs out screaming “fuck the corporate control.” I understand his perspective because I too feel chocked by this modern day corporate and governmental slavery that restricts our freedom, while feeding us illusions. So I will not, as MLK said, condemn riots because I think it is wrong.
It is not my duty. My duty is to figure out the next steps. And that is exactly my purpose of this article - to bring awareness to those who were not there in person. I wanted to shed light on important ’perspectives’ that you will NOT hear anywhere other than Tastemaker Collective Media.
Let’s however change our focus to the White Nationalists groups who seem to be initiating some of the fires and looting. Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said they are contact-tracing the arrested and added that an investigation is underway about white nationalist groups posting online to encourage their members to use the protests as a cover to create chaos. He said some of the 40 arrests made in the Twin Cities Friday night were of people linked to white supremacist groups and organized crime.
Let’s ask ourselves, why would they be doing this? The answer is simple to some of us - to fool the media and ultimately the American citizens that these protests are a bad thing and should stop immediately. The media tells the citizens not to worry..that the police are there to restore order, when they are actually the ones who caused the chaos in the beginning. It is an age-old tactic used by the government and the KKK alike, to alter the perceptions of the American people.
If the people started to stand behind the police and the crooked law system more than that of the actual problem, the average American would become a pawn of the same ones who hurt and kill their fellow Americans. This is why Martin Luther King stood so firmly behind non-violent protest. He knew that he had to become politically conscious to create change. He knew if he showed the average white Americans that African Americas were being peaceful and educated, all while police were beating and killing them, the people would empathize with the maltreatment.
My heart goes out to the injuries and losses of the protesters, store owners, police officers who want to see racism eradicated and innocent bystanders. However, I was one of many in the crowds on May 30, 2020. I watched the protest and riots unfold. I watched multiple stores being broken into by youth and many other types of people simultaneously.
I saw what appeared to be an undercover officer, with ‘my own eyes’, who was causing conflict. There were also multiple reports of White Nationalist members infiltrating the protests around the US.
@balleralert on Twitter released a few insightful videos taken by protesters over the last few days. One of which shows a car with what appears to be three white passengers handing out bricks to protesters in the attempt to initiate rioting and looting.
People were riding around handing bricks out. This mother calls them out. https://t.co/iidYzHh7K7
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) June 1, 2020
Another video leaks of police officers caught removing bricks from their trunk.
A video was also posted by Omar Ajani (@ow_omar) on Instagram clearly showing individuals who appear to be dressed like protesters continuously attempting to fuel a fire during a peaceful protest. T.I., an American musician and activist, reposted Omar’s post on his account on Sunday evening May 31st.
I commend those of us who are using their influence to reveal the truth, promote change and demand justice. So we now know that many of the peaceful protests were infiltrated by outside forces. Collusion and cronyism have existed within the US political system for far too long. We know about the hidden government within the legitimately elected government and we will no longer stand for injustice and corruption.
Although I don’t believe that rioting is necessarily the solution for peace whether it is coming from outside forces attempting to alter the narrative or by protesters who feel betrayed by our law system, it is the product of a broken system. Rage and Anarchy are products of injustice, regardless of who is starting it.
It happens worldwide every year. Sometimes the anger evolves into unity..Sometimes the people are tricked by the media to think protest is only violent. It is up to us to write the narrative as a community. Maybe our anger can evolve into unity with the right leadership.
Controlling the minds of the masses is an art that this government and media has seemed to master. They can start whatever they want, but it’ll be recorded.
Social Media is becoming the people’s most powerful weapon in this digital era. Just make sure if you are posting, you are fact checking your sources.
We want to deliver the people the raw, uncensored truth. It’s not hard to see the truth if you are not afraid to look. They can try to infiltrate our protests, but in the bigger scheme of things, if we become organized, it won’t work.
If we use this energy to organize legitimate action and protection for our communities, then it is not all in vain. My partners and I run this media platform in hopes to deliver many perspectives on this issue, because I believe all perspectives deserve to be heard.
Hopefully after this anger subsides, solutions will be made. But that is up to us all as citizens. We have depended on the government for far too long without resolve. We must work to understand each other's perspectives if we are ever to become united. Once we are unified, the possibility of change becomes real.
For those of you who think this protest is ignorant, it’s not. Whether it gets out of hand or remains peaceful, it is energy that is being dispersed for reasons that we must seek to understand. It is perspectives. Whether it’s the perspective of the government, White Nationalists, upset protesters or peaceful protestors, they are perspectives that we must all understand.
That is if we are to unite as a country and truly understand what it is to make change. Because, only through logical, peaceful debates between opposing perspectives, will there be any hope for real, lasting change. As I’m sure there are many police officers who are not racist, there are many activists who are not looters. We must work together to fight injustice and abolish racism and tyrannical control from our society.
My personal course of action towards a solution would be for us to organize the change in our communities, businesses and groups of friends. Again, I believe the only way to bring change is as a unit. I also think it is safe to say, some real checks and balances need to be made within our law enforcement from the inside out. If we let acts of abused power go unchecked, then how will we ever resolve these issues. Crooked officers need to be brought to justice and prosecuted as any other person would.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” - United States Declaration of Independence
So I implore you to try to understand perspectives that you’re not used to understanding. I challenge you to look at the bigger picture. I challenge you to put yourselves in someone else’s shoes. Feel the pain we are all going through to learn how to connect with one another. Unity may be our greatest power as people.
Would love to hear your personal solution in the comments?