When I saw thousands of people protesting stay at home orders in Michigan, there were countless people online that were in complete support of them. They felt their freedoms were being violated by being told to stay home by the government. And even the police officers present at these protests did not retaliate against the protestors, despite many of them having assault rifles on them in the Michigan Capitol building. These protestors were seen as law-abiding citizens despite putting the lives of everyone in the building at risk because of their guns. Since they were mostly white, both the police and the general public did not feel threatened by them. They assumed that what the protestors were fighting for should be listened to because white people have been labeled as stand-up members of our society since the beginning of time. Their demands did not even make sense because the stay at home orders they were protesting against were put in place to keep them safe and healthy.
The black protestors in Minnesota were not seen in the same positive light as the white protestors in Michigan. They did not carry assault rifles with them, or any form of weapon, yet the police treated them like a threat to their lives. How could a group of protestors carrying signs be more threatening than a group of protestors carrying assault rifles? It is because the group with the guns were white, and systemic racism has made the police believe that white people are always the victim and never the aggressor.
Unlike the stay at home order protests, the Black Lives Matter protestors are fighting against an actual issue. Their actual rights are being violated by police officers murdering them in the street. The injustices the black community has faced at the hands of the police is completely different from a group of people claiming they have lost their freedom by being told to stay inside so they do not spread COVID-19.
Staying inside is for your benefit. It is not meant to cause you any harm, which is why it does not make sense to support people protesting the quarantine and then vilify black people for protesting the murders their community has faced at the hands of the police. The entire black community is being harmed by police officers and their pain, anger, frustration, and disappointment are valid. The anger of stay at home order protestors is not.
The public has been acting as if the Black Lives Matter protestors do not have the right to assemble and demand justice for the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Regis Korchinski-Paquet and countless other black people. You are racist if you think protesting to be able to get a haircut is valid but protesting the murders of black people by the police is not. You are racist if you think the police not retaliating against white people carrying assault rifles in a capital building is fine but police shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at black people peacefully protesting is warranted.
I urge all of you that are disgusted by these murders to take action. I am linking a website where there are petitions, organizations to donate to, resources to educate yourself on systemic racism, and more. Share this link with as many people as possible. Also, make sure to continue to support the Black Lives Matter movement even after it stops being a "trending topic."
