Isn’t This What You, White People, Been Asking for?
Photography of the Commitment March in Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2020
On 28 Aug 2020, the Commitment March (#MOW2020) occurred at the Lincoln Memorial. Needless to say, this photojournalist was there.
The event was amazing and therapeutic for me. Being that I know a family who was speaking that day, I feel the damage of this racism even more with a friend being involved with police racial terror. I needed to be here for this. Looking at the photography, I think I did a good job in documenting the moment.
In looking at the hundreds, maybe thousands of faces and protest signs, absorbing the thousands of emotions at the event, my mind began to wander. This is, or should be considered, a very epic moment in time. This event should be considered, at least, kinda legendary. Numerous speeches were given, ranging from professional activists like Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King’s son to survivor families of American racial terrorism, such has the mother of Trayvon Martin and Jacob Blake’s dad and sister. My mind continued to wander as I post-processed hundreds of photos. How can you NOT support this movement? Isn’t this what you, white America, been asking for?
In America there’s a litany of empty words and phrases and honestly I don’t think there’s enough critical evaluation of them. We say a lot of empty nothings to be polite. Other things we say we say them because it’s the expected thing to do, and there’s social currency in appearing as the “nice” person. The concept of support finds itself among the Parlance Pantheon of American Nothings, and the phrase “I support peaceful protests” is among the notorious, right alongside of “I support the troops.”
Many who tend to keep a passive-aggressively racist relationship towards Black people like to say they “support peaceful protests”. Has anyone ever thought to ask them how?
How exactly are they “supporting” these categorically peaceful protests? By funding them? Donating money to their cause? Volunteer work? Giving them heat/cold casualty training seminars? Showing up to provide water and first aid like the street medics I see out there? Providing free legal support? Defending them from white supremacist terror threat with your owned privately owned guns? What exactly does your support look like?
What is this support? And how?
One of the things we can cleanly notice is what your actual support of things genuinely look like. Actual support of things you care about are often measurable if not tangible. In white people — whiteness rangers to be vehemently explicit in support of some persons, things and ideas are in fact unwavering, regardless of the violence and/or destruction said person or ideas facilitate.
Donald Trump either by intent or neglect, has facilitated nearly 200,000 Americans DEAD (COVID19 a.k.a. “Trump Virus”), engineered warfare surrenders on multiple fronts (Syria, Afghanistan) which explicitly got hundreds of Kurds killed, bounced from self-inflicted controversy to self-inflicted controversy, and flamed racial tensions in America since he began. Add the fact that Don Trump enjoyed cult-like, unwavering support even though he openly endorsed fighting and attacking people at his rallies… The “peaceful” argument just doesn’t seem like a genuinely honest claim.
The Black Experience is to have America persistently bully you
I say this because I’m not sure how this is supposed to work. You have a whole speech given by many people on the 57th Anniversary of the March on Washington and “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King. In fact two members of the King family name spoke that day. White people, isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for? Each time you mention Martin Luther King? You know, speeches like these? Moments like these? You have a whole ass Civil Rights movement staring you in the face right now. Have you been lying this whole time?
White people infinitely demanding “peacefulness” while endorsing violence from totalitarian powers (and even participating as willful lynching-mob combatants) is tantamount to how a a bully expects one not to defend themselves with the same language the bully speaks.
The white demand of “peace” in the face of tyranny is actually a demand for harmlessness while being murdered by their state-sanctioned will. There’s far too many “peaceful” protests, and too many “peaceful” intelligent Black speakers on this issue who diligently articulate the problem at hand, many including various solutions.
There’s even white people who struggle to explain this Civil Rights era to white people.
There’s no excuses. All else is willful ignorance.
I am far from the best writer or speaker. I hope these photos of this event move you. If they did not, please look at them again. Look into the eyes of the people at this event. In viewing the humanity of others in these times of crisis, perhaps you can unlock your own.
