I usually don't get political on social media, because I hate when people only insult others' opinions instead of trying to understand them. However, I'm not writing this to complain about people who aggressively voice their opinions on social media. I need to talk about a much bigger issue.
Today, I saw a friend post a picture of a white man holding a sign that said, "you don't have to be black to be outraged." You know what it's referring to.
As a "white" person (pacific islander) living in the United States, I will never know what it feels like to get pulled over for having a break light out (it is very probable that I have one out right now since my car is so old) and never coming home to my family. I will never know what it is like to get beaten on the ground and shot when it is discovered that I am carrying a gun (even if that's not the truth about what happened, it will probably never happen to me, anyways). I will never know what it is like to fear the cars with blue lights.
However, I will always fear that I will lose a friend. I will fear for my friends who might lose their better half. I will fear for my friends' parents, brothers, and sisters. One day, when they are old enough to go out on their own, I might even fear for my cousins, if this is still going on. These tragedies are not only affecting black citizens. They are affecting their white friends, too.
I start to think to myself, "what if it's my friend next?" We are young adults, but my friends are too young to be put in the ground. They all have bright, promising futures ahead of them, because they have potential to do great things for the world. I can't understand how someone could ever see them as criminals. Why should I even have to think about attending a funeral for one of my friends and seeing his or her mother crying, or his or her father losing it over a broken heart?
I also saw a post of a black woman crying with the words "how many more?" and it got me thinking. How many more times do we have to keep hearing the same story, over and over again, just with a different name and a different face, but the same outcome? When will these stop being commonplace tragedies and start being honorable memories of people who unfortunately died before things could change for the better? Believe me when I say that I am so grateful for all the police men and women in our country, and I know there are plenty of good officers out there, but why does this keep happening? What about my friends makes them more of a danger to others than me?
Granted, I don't know how to stop this violence. I can sit here and say that love will overcome the hate, that we can change the world easily. It's not that simple. I know that just posting this on social media will not protect my friends. We, as white people, need to stand together with our black friends. This is our problem, too. Those are our friends, our loves ones, and our families that are getting killed. We need to support them, show them that they are not alone. They have the power to change our country, but things will change faster if we stand together with our friends. We need to remind them what love and compassion looks like. America is only divided if we make it that way. What side are you on: the media's, or your heart's?
