#Blackouttuesday

“There is nothing, I can do!”

Is nothing, anyone who successfully helped drive change ever said. But I am sure, it has been on their mind and weighing on their hearts. And then, then they felt that the weight of doing nothing was so much heavier. And in order to be able to breathe, they had to do something. There was a calling and they answered it.

Is that what’s happening to me? I don’t know. What I do know is, that I am extremely sad and equally outraged about what happened.

How symbolic to think, people might feel like they can’t breathe with everything going on. There is a pandemic of a disease, that makes people lose their ability to take a deep breathe. And at the same time, not being able to breathe or have a blood flow to his brain is likely, what took the latest victim of racism’s life. His name is George Floyd. And he should NOT be dead.

Seeing the pictures or even watching the video (which is really tough) is super painful for me. And while I am condemning looting and violent riots, I feel a lot more sympathy with the peaceful protesters. And naturally, I am assuming this must be, how everyone else feels as well. No. That is not the case. I have seen a lot of comments online criticizing police offers that are kneeling with peaceful protesters in order to show their support and sympathy. White people like me, who are feeling the entitlement to judge the protests and these police officers.

I personally had conversations with people, who commented to me, that “yes, that is crazy and sad and all, but the riots are completely out of place”. Are they though? Again, answering violence with violence is nothing I agree with. But if there are no protests, how will there be change? The problem is, the “wrong” people are protesting. The ones that should be protesting, are we privileged white people. We should stand up and say it’s enough. It has to stop. And not just talk but act.

And if lack of education is part of the problem, education might be just the right thing, to kick off the change process. The change of ourselves that is. You are not a racist? No, of course not. However, are you really free of bias? I am not.

Are you surprised? Yes, I grew up in Germany and if there is a place where you can learn a thing or two about racism, it’s there. Or it should be. There was racism in my family and in the small village I grew up in. And I always stood up and said something. I got myself in trouble more then once because of it.

And still, I do have biases myself. I might be a little more aware of them than others and I might be able to prevent myself from acting on them. But they are there. And I can only better myself by continuously educating myself. And reminding myself of my own biases.

So educating is what I am going to do. Myself and you, if you are interested in joining me on this journey to help drive change. If we want to speak up and help with the change, we need to know more. First and foremost about ourselves.

If you are interested to learn more about your own biases, you can test yourself. There is several topics you can choose from. I have done all of them. This is a Harvard project.

https://rise.articulate.com/share/2h1PinShWrmKUAJmFWbIOWtjKzIfe-V6#/

And when you learn your truth, embrace it and do not judge or even beat yourself up for it. The influence on us while growing up is playing a huge part in our biases. The good thing is, knowledge is the first step in the right direction. Try to understand your own biases and then do, what I am always recommending. Fact check them.

Is it maybe rather prejudice stemming from your upbringing, stories you have been told or one-sided media reports, or is it based on your own experience? And if you made a bad experience, is what happened really because of that persons skin color, race, culture, religion, gender etc.? Or is all of that a co-incidence and it was just a bad person?

Generalization is not our friend. A lot of evil (entire wars) happened, because of generalization. And due to a false sense of entitlement or superiority.

Our Commander in Chief decided to, via twitter, fuel the fire, the anguish and the pain instead of showing compassion. And then went into hiding in his bunker. He also decided to let police and other forces “clear” the streets violently, so he could walk over to a church (after a priest was forcefully removed from the compound) to hold up a bible in a photo op.

If the Leader of the Free World is not a leader and the Free World is not free, it’s time for change. Let’s start with education and fact checking. A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.

Will you join my journey? This post marks the start of a series of posts with the goal of educating ourselves. About biases, racism in our day to day lives and how we can make a difference.

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