#blackvoicesheard

[kashmirichaiwithmehr]

this hurts me so much

[alec-ems]

[rainbowsandtornadoes]

If you haven't already, PLEASE sign the following petition:

You can also contact Minneapolis representative: County Attorney Michael Freeman by calling 612-348-5550 to demand further action against the officers involved with Floyd’s death.

Donate to Black Lives Matter if you are able:

Donate to the George Floyd Memorial Fund if you are able:

[graveyardollie]

So this is basically what the news in my country says about Black Lives Matter movement.

They are trying to make people believe the USA did nothing wrong

“The poor police is harassed by protesters even though they are trying to do their job, they are harmed even though they are on the protesters side”

“It was just one person who got killed”

“George Floyd officially was murdered but research shows that George had drugs in his blood and had other illnesses which could also be the cause of his death” (yeah because any other person is able to not breath for 9 minutes)

“People are using this whole situation to destroy and steal.”

“Trump is doing his best to calm the situation down.”

“The brother of George Floyd is against aggressive riots”

“It’s the fault of protesters that they are getting harmed and killed.”

Nothing about that this isn’t about just one person. Nothing about literal years of being faced with racism in the USA. Nothing about people gathering together and cleaning after the protest. Nothing that could explain to my white parents why this movement is so important because they are not listening. They are not listening to people that should be. They are not even listening to me trying to educate them.

[thejackxturner]

[wozardswear]

SAY THEIR NAMES. GEORGE FLOYD.

I don’t come on this account very often anymore, but I want to use this and any platform I can to spread this message. I am doing everything I can to recognize my white privilege in order to facilitate CHANGE. END RACISM. ACAB. How many more people need to die? He couldn’t breathe.

[https-lostcause]

I’m not black, but I see you

I’m not black, but I hear you

I’m not black, but I mourn with you

[txny-fairy]

This I not what I normally post about but I need to say something.

I am beyond disgusted to live in the society we're in. After seeing the video of George Floyd get murder as he begged for air and demanded his mom just makes me wanna disappear from the surface of the Earth. And that's just adding to the disgust I felt when I heard about Ahmaud Arbery, Regis Korchinski-Paquet and Breonna Taylor (just t name a few)

I don't think people fully realise how fucked up the world is. I get that we all have our own problems. But there is a difference between choosing your battle for the sake of your mental health and blatant blindness to the issue. Just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean you shouldn't say anything. If you choose to stay silent, you are siding with the oppressor

Do y'all realise how disgusting the human race actually is? And each and every one of you that condone racism should burn in hell.

I will never have to know what it's like to be afraid of wearing a black hoodie at night, or being afraid to go for a run in the neighbourhood before the sun's completely out. I will never have to be afraid of looking at a cop possibly the wrong way. I will never have to fear being denied a job bc of my skin color. I never had and will never have to worry about anything. But those are the daily worries of too many black people.

Racism is still present to this day. And if you choose to say it doesn't, then you're one of the reason why it still does.

Please sing those petition, please use your voice to spread awareness, please help get justice for those beautiful humans who died and for the community that lost so many amazing souls.

Do not stay silent

Do not forget their names

[abthepoet]

[eternallit]

“America Doused with Kerosene” - Mia Jones

my heart hurts deeply for the entire black community, as a mixed race women this has truly hit home for me. i cannot stay silent on this topic. this is not a political issue, it is a human rights issue and it is our duty as people in the world to speak up against the injustices we are seeing. i am a writer and have written a poem in support of the black lives matter movement and protests in general. i encourage everyone to speak up, protest, share on social media, and donate. thank you for taking the time to read. george floyd you will not be forgotten and we will change this world for the better in your name and the names of so many others.

[kashmirichaiwithmehr]

[alec-ems]

[xxbutterflykissesxx]

It is not my job to teach you how to be against racism.

If you are exhausted by Allyship... Imagine how we feel.

You can hide your support because a wall of white when convient. Yet we can't change the color of our skin.

You cry about how sad you are about this injustice, and how you feel so guilty shoving your white guilt and tears down our throats. Imagine how we feel...

Use YOUR privelage to speak out for us and not over us. Stop saying you are with us when you silence us.

Fuck your preformative activism. Our lives aren't just same trend

[whimsyblerd]

I have been absent from this app for a few months but I have not been idle. Mental health has been a difficult struggle through isolation and a lot of that was made worse by the events of the passed couple of months.  In my frustration and heartbroken anger I wrote some words to express how I was (am) feeling. Because I am an artist and while I often hesitate to call myself a “writer” of any kind, sometimes particularly in these moments of complete despair, I just have to write the words down lest they choke me.  I shared these words, this poem Echo with my theatre company, my friends. 

The response was not only supportive and it was as if a spring had been let go and there was a flurry of action. I have never written a song before, I have never attempted to freestyle, these are things that I never really felt were in my wheelhouse.  But here we are, immediately the gears started turning and Matthew and Cameron started pinging musical notes and soundscapes and such back and forth and I marveled at how quickly these skilled musicians composed music inspired by my words.  I am still in awe at this. This was a collaborative process unlike anything I have ever done before and I am so incredibly grateful for these people who are like family to me. 

I am grateful for the support network I have around me. For those who have held me up when I literally could not stand. Those who have encouraged and guided stood along side me every step of the way. This is my debut song in collaboration with Terra Mysterium and Hela’s Hand Productions. This project is so close to my heart. Please watch and listen with an open mind and an open heart. And please be kind, because as a great and wise woman once said “I am an artist, and I am sensitive about my shit!” 

[robuttsinyourthighs]

Hey guys! Recently there have been a lot of issues in my work life. Let's do a quick recap

1. The company I work for claimed it was essential and said it provided life saving equipment to hospitals and essential first responders. It's pretty much a front and they could have limited sales to JUST those things but they didn't and a branch got hit with a positive case and had to close for two weeks.

2. I'm the only person at work unable to work remotely even part time, but everyone else they rotate or have exclusively at home.

3. I feel my job was threatened because I spoke up about it and told people I wasn't comfortable with coming in as one of my roommates works with the public and we literally never know if I could be bringing something in. My manager asked that I be a team player, and that if I felt that uncomfortable "you can stay home, but once your PTO is gone we can't continue to pay you. You'd still have your job here" meaning they would not let me go on unemployment for my own safety.

4. Another roommate was Potentially exposed you a confirmed case and we all had to self quarantine for 14 days. My company tried to get me to cut it short.

NOW HERE'S THE PART WHERE MY JOB IS IN JEOPARDY 🙃

With TikTok there was a recent #Blackout movement where black creators, other POC and white allies flooded the tags with #blacklivesmatter and #blackvoicesheard in order to show how the app unfairly targets people of color and suppress their content because it isn't on brand with what tiktok feels is marketable and instead says it's to help prevent these people from "being bullied".

I brought this up to a coworker while talking about what a cool movement it was and it's success. She was very intrigued and thought it was great (as it is!) that people are listening to people of color and speaking out over something so wrong.

The topic of white privilege came up. She said it didn't exist.

I disagreed and while explaining to her what it was just by definition and examples she got upset and chose to go on a racist tangent. She said the following:

"The blacks get things we don't. They get scholarships for school, white people don't!"

"My daughter (white) was denied a scholarship for minorities even though she's a minority! The denial letter said it was because she isn't black!"

She refused to acknowledge that the term "minorities" is more commonly used to describe race and not just what someone arbitrarily decides it means to suit their current situation (like her claiming that being a FEMALE biker makes her a minority in general and not just a minority when referring to being a biker).

SHE USED THE N-WORD WITH A HARD R AND ASKED ME "WHY DO THE BLACKS GET TO SAY IT AND WE (whites) CAN'T IF IT'S SO BAD? THE WORD OFFENDS ME AND THEY SHOULDN'T SAY IT UNLESS EVERYONE CAN"

I was so taken aback by her tangent after I had been calm and respectful and stuck to facts and definitions and I told her what she said was racist. She blew up and said she wasn't racist because she "grew up and worked with blacks" and that they "respected her".

I told her that the way she talked about people of color and thinking the way she did about what white privilege meant was denying that there is still a problem with racism in this country and therefore a racist way of thinking. It's what having white privilege means: not having to experience things that people of color do and having the privelege to even debate it exists.

She again got mad and told me she didn't want to talk anymore. I had to get the last word in edgewise because at this point her opinion on racial issues is invalid to me, so I told her "okay. Enjoy being racist."

When I walked away to my desk she followed me and proceeded to point her finger at me and tell me I wasn't allowed to call her racist. She said it was only my opinion. I told her it was a fact and that she was actually racist regardless of my opinion on things.

She then told me there were "plenty of things" she could call me (meaning just insult me) so I called over to her as she marched away, "You can call me an asshole if you want but it won't make you any less racist!"

Immediately after this confrontation I emailed my supervisor and HR manager and let them know I didn't feel comfortable working with this person due to her antiquated beliefs and troubling racist opinions.

I know most companies wouldn't hesitate to snip snip someone like that from the payroll, but here's the problem.

I'm in Missouri. It's a yeeyee good ole boy state a lot of times. The office also has a very small pool of people and this lady has been with the company for YEARS and is close to many people there. I HIGHLY DOUBT they would do anything in any way to reprimand her or educate her on her inappropriate thoughts and ways of speaking because it didn't happen between her and a person of color.

Even if it did I'm sure that the company would tell them what this place tells me when people are openly disrespectful. "don't take it so personally".

They hardly ever hire anyone of color and it just seems fitting that they won't handle this the way I hope it would be.

So yeah. High stress and looking for a new job. We'll see what happens in Tuesday after this holiday. I'll try to keep my phone recording in case someone says something to me like she did on Friday.

[kenozwlrd]

This has to go viral. This has to be viewed. This message has to be heard. This is so powerful and it’s relevant today. This applies to George Floyd today!!!!! R.I.P King!