The Quarantine Diaries: BLACK LIVES MATTER.

I was in the middle of writing a post about my experience with virtual learning for the past three months, but now, with the much more urgent and important work being done in our country, writing about the annoyances of online meetings seems completely trivial. I want to start this piece with three simple words: BLACK LIVES MATTER. The fact that these are the most controversial words in our country right now is devastating and incomprehensible. Ending systemic racism should not ever be a politicized issue, but alas, it has become the political issue. But, why? Why is it so controversial to acknowledge the racism in this nation?

The easy answer to this question is that there are racist, ignorant, and uneducated people in America who have no interest in acknowledging their privilege. But the answer is not that simple, because it is not just the loud cries of “ALL LIVES MATTER” and “BLUE LIVES MATTER” that are contributing to the issue. There is a much deeper problem with white people being uncomfortable with their privilege and having conversations about race.

Being white myself, I have also been guilty of being oblivious of how wide the racial gap is in our country. Racial inequality exists in every sector of our society, and that is something I believe a lot of white people, myself included, have ignored, even if they did not mean to. However, I think what this moment in time is showing is a new divide among white people: those who want to educate themselves and become active allies for the black community, and those who continue to not want to address their privilege.

Conversations about race are uncomfortable, and for some people, too much to bear. However, these conversations are long overdue and necessary for our society to progress. It is up to individuals to educate themselves, by reading books such as Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk about Race and How to Do It by Shelly Tochluk, or watching movies like Ava DuVernay’s Netflix documentary 13th.

But it is also the responsibility of schools to better educate students. There is not enough taught about race relations in our schools, and that must change; in order to improve our world, we need to be reminded of our history and our present. In English class, the conversations when reading Huckleberry Finn need to be more about the racial undertones and why this novel was so acclaimed at its time. In history, large periods of black history are glossed over in favor of championing the incredible feats of white men throughout history; black history is largely diminished to slavery and the civil right movement. More black stories need to be told.

This is a period of growth and realization for myself and many others. Right now, the most important thing to do is ensure that BLM is not a “trend” but a long lasting movement that enacts societal change and overdue justice for the black community.