The protest is working.
I know you may be thinking that I still don’t see the other police officers charged. I don’t see a lot of action from Trump to de-escalate the issue. I still don’t see police reform. Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of work to do, but what I do see is the biggest eruption of awareness and support for equality for our African American brothers and sister than ever before. It’s frustrating that we need something like the death of Ahamud Arbery, Breanna Taylor, and George Floyd to happen to make a change, but I’m hopeful that this will spark more love and change for our fellow African Americans.
Over the last week, we’ve seen an enormous uptick on search data on Google Trend for George Floyd. The data shows that the number of searches is even higher than searching for Donald Trump.
We’ve seen an outpouring of support on social media from Twitter to Instagram for raising awareness especially the number of #blackouttuesday posts for those stand in solidarity.
We are also seeing Gofundme pages for George Floyd go above and beyond what was initially asked for. At the time of this posting, they raised over $12M, which is well over the $1.5M that was originally asked for.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
The movement has also gone global with massive gatherings in Paris
And London
What we don’t see online or on social media is the dialogue that is happening at the dining tables, over text, and on work conference calls. Or that little kid that is distraught and is looking for answers from their parents or making the stand themselves. It’s very difficult for parents to shield their kids from everything and this is no different. However, this is an amazing opportunity to have that dialogue with your young child and the rest of your family to share the importance of equality and respect. I’m not sure how much young kids will remember these moments but maybe these events cause a slight shift in their psyche where they recognize that #blacklivesmatter.
Who knows but I hope this moment could have an everlasting impact on the younger generation and generations to come.
I’m hopeful knowing that there are multitudes of mind shifts occurring on racism and police brutality from young children to older generations around the globe. I hope these shifts help breed a new wave of love, compassion, respect, and unity that inspires great change for the future of our world.
There’s still a lot of work to do. There is a multitude of political reforms and actions that are required. Campaign Zero has put together an awesome campaign and research called 8can’twait that shares the exact eight police reforms required to bring down police violence down by over 72%! Please check out the website below if you for more info.
I know that we’re still protesting and still fighting for this change. I hope that when we look back at 2020 that we smile knowing that it was one of the toughest years and that we came out the other side stronger, inspired, and united.
I know it’s hard to see the positives right now, but I’m optimistic that this movement and protest have accelerated momentum to make changes. As Barack Obama briefly mentioned in this recent interview, “This country was founded on protest, It is called the American Revolution.” This protest matters and will breed a new America.
Hard times can either break you apart or bring you closer together. I’m hopeful that the 2020 protests bring all of us closer together.
#blacklivesmatter