Introduction
Racism and Intersectionality work together in different ways, often it is showing the deep-seated roots of racism against certain groups of people. The best example of this that I found was the State, Federal Government, and media portrayal of the Black Lives Matter Protests over the last few years in the United States. How is it possible to skew the public opinion and message about a group literally fighting for their lives? That is something I have struggled with while researching this topic because it did not make sense to me, where did people perceive that the BLM organization went wrong? They were targeted for using their freedom of speech, right to assemble, and taking action to keep alive Black individuals who are brutalized and wrongfully killed by police every year. I thought of almost no better topic to pick to cover systemic racism and intersectionality.
Black Lives Matter Protests
While it is easy to jump to conclusions based on your respective views on each topic, we need to look at why each protest happened. Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests because of systemic injustices against Black Americans for the last few hundred years which include insane amounts of police brutality, and in 2020 the spark that lit the fire larger than ever before was the death of George Floyd. This is not the only time an African American has been wrongfully killed by a police officer by use of excessive force and the BLM protests ensued soon after Mr. Floyd’s death. While originally founded in 2013 after the murder of Trayvon Martin, the BLM organization has been constantly expanding, and on the organization’s website they showcase their mission statement which is “Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”. The mission statement of BLM deconstructs their core values and goal for which their organization makes actions to achieve, a common argument against the BLM protests was people saying “they are not protests, they are riots filled with looting and destruction” which I have personally heard an extreme number of times over the last two years. Research proves this assumption wrong, but the media still took the easy route to cause a single story of the BLM protests, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute displayed this in an article they released by bringing the Department of Homeland Security into the spotlight when saying, “When the Department of Homeland Security released its Homeland Threat Assessment earlier this month, it emphasized that self-proclaimed white supremacist groups are the most dangerous threat to U.S. security. But the report misleadingly added that there had been “over 100 days of violence and destruction in our cities,” referring to the anti-racism uprisings of this past summer.”. Harvard brings to light on top of this that the protests were more non-destructive than destructive, which much of the media and government tried to go against, they say “Here is what we have found based on the 7,305 events we’ve collected. The overall levels of violence and property destruction were low, and most of the violence that did take place was, in fact, directed against the BLM protesters.”. This means that if there was violence or destruction, most of the time it was not the protestors that were at fault, but other forces while they were protesting which could have been police, counter-protesters, or random citizens looking to cause chaos. This all goes against the single story that the media and government made to try and squash the BLM protests, they attempted to generalize an entire movement to make the public believe they were violent and destructive when it was the police beating them and using teargas against them because they were pushing for equality.
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Clear Racism and Intersectionality
A recent event that nearly everyone has heard of which sets a dangerous precedent for people showing up armed to protests is the Kyle Rittenhouse case. He was recently found not guilty for the murder of two and injury of another when he discharged his AR-15 at a protest for police violence last year. If an African American man or woman did this at a right-wing protest, would they have been deemed guilty and out in jail on a life sentence, so how exactly does a 17-year-old in possession of an AR-15 who kills multiple people get off without a mark on his record? White privilege. Another case of this racism and intersectionality is the right-wing protests which led people to storm the US capitol building over what the protestors believed to be a “stolen election” when there was zero evidence of malfeasance. The inequality of these two situations is difficult to comprehend, according to Forbes only 52 people were arrested while storming the US Capitol building, while 427 people were arrested at Black Lives Matter protests in Washington D.C. Representative Marcia Fudge went on record to say “no question… (that) there is a double standard” when talking about how each group of protestors is treated.
How do we fix this disparity?
The most difficult question is how do we remove this systemic racism in our country? This is especially difficult considering that when people protest, they are arrested, beaten, tear-gassed, and more. I would lean towards education on who and what you’re voting for, all politicians take money from someone, and it is best to research them to see if the people who give them money align with your personal views. An example would be if you are against the NRA, research if the politician up for election is being lobbied by the NRA, if so and you disagree with their purpose, look around at other candidates. In terms of removing systemic injustices, everyone has a voice that cannot be ignored if we speak up together, the more people who act, the stronger the message is sent to state and federal governments. Systemic injustices are not fixed overnight in this country, while they should be, it is a long and strenuous process where the government relies on people to give up their pursuit for justice. Much like in March about John Lewis, the fight is still going on today, and his strategies and messages can still be used today, civil disobedience has proven to work, and likely still will if we are persistent. Also using the power of the internet to fight single stories as we have learned about this semester, the media wants to portray the protests as violent and destructive, when in reality the violence comes from the police, and the destruction comes from people, not part of the protest most of the time.
Works Cited
“Black Lives Matter.” Back Lives Matter Organization, https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=UvRafS2aJv3.ZUqAjqQE4bDCtg1zXE1XJqeIDLPQ92M-1636927208-0-gaNycGzNCNE.
Chenoweth, Erica, and Jeremy Pressman. “Black Lives Matter Protesters Were Overwhelmingly Peaceful, Our Research Finds.” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Harvard University, 20 Oct. 2020, https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news-and-ideas/black-lives-matter-protesters-were-overwhelmingly-peaceful-our-research-finds.
Hart, Robert. “Figures Show Stark Difference between Arrests at D.C. Black Lives Matter Protest and Arrests at Capitol Hill.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 8 Jan. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/01/07/figures-show-stark-difference-between-arrests-at-dc-black-lives-matter-protest-and-arrests-at-capitol-hill/?sh=1d2cb07a5706.
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “Transcript of ‘The Danger of a Single Story.’” TED, https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_ a_single_story/transcript?language=en.
Lewis, John, et al. March. Top Shelf Productions, 2016.