Becoming Less Ignorant

Digital media - social media in particular - definitely has its pros and cons, but I think one great thing about living in this world of media is that there is no excuse to be ignorant. I remember a few years ago I did not really have a good grasp about what the Black Lives Matter movement was about because my privileged life in a mostly white town in Wisconsin did not give me a lot of experience with it. The last few years, however, with the rise of the movement over social media, I have seen second hand that racism is still very prevalent in America. I've seen videos on twitter of white male cops violently arresting black women who did nothing, white people telling Latino-Americans to go "back to Mexico," and other forms of blatant racism and oppression.

With increasing access to technology and news around the world, it has become harder to ignore these issues.  The racism is a problem, but the record and evidence of it is the start to a solution. The supreme court cannot ignore this evidence, even though our high and mighty president might. The videos below both show instances of police injustice against black citizens, but racism is present in all forms of life.

There are people from my home town that actively used the n-word in their vocabulary, with or without being aware of why it is truly not acceptable to say. I believe these boys knew it's origins and consequences, but chose not to care because their white privilege allows them not to.


Here are some of the videos I was referencing:

https://twitter.com/cj251_/status/988087772069101568?s=12
https://twitter.com/wokevideo/status/988511942443548672?s=12

****As a disclaimer, I am aware there are good police officers in America, but people need to be aware that there are bad police officers right in our backyard.