Tags

, ,

The current protests in the USA are due to the decades old and still ongoing police brutality subjected on the African-American population. Its not a new phenomenon. The brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white cop in Minneapolis lit the fuse for the current bout of protests. This is the clear stimulus to what we are seeing right now. We have seen an outpouring by non-blacks who are joining these protests. This is progress, this is a welcome change from the past. However, it also has its drawbacks. Too often the non-blacks hijack the narrative and project it using their view of the world. Too often non-blacks dole out wisdom on how to fight the fight. Let it be clear, this is not their fight, they are (much needed) allies in these fight but have no dog in this particular fight. So it behooves us (the non-blacks) to stand by the black population and listen to them – really LISTEN to them. We do not have their lived experiences, and we will never have their lived experiences. So next time we decide to join this fight, lets just shut up and listen to them, and follow their lead. Their voice is what matters, we cannot appropriate it, and least of all make it into a performative outrage. We must spread their voice without making it our own, we must reach out and support those who are falling down in this fight, we must give a hand to those who are already fallen, but we must never ever tell them how they should fall or rise, or how they should go about this fight.

One classic example of performative outrage is the absolutely asinine #blackouttuesday movement on social media. This is actually counter productive to the actual posts that show and spread the information of what is happening on the ground. Just go to Instagram or Twitter and search for the #blacklivesmatter tag and the feed is flooded with just pictures of black squares, burying the feeds of the actual black activists who are posting using the same hashtag. What good does this do? What is the point? Did any non black person think once before jumping on this bandwagon of posting black squares? The collective stupidity of this is mind-numbing. So the next time we think we are doing something for the cause by using our own voice, stop and think, shut up and listen to the ones who are the victims here.

Another stream of performative outrage, we see is in the non-white, but also non-black populations (south asians, asians, etc.) who are bringing the stories of their own discrimination into this narrative. While their stories maybe valid, but this is not the moment. Do not borrow their hurt or pain and channel it with our pain and hurt. Our pain has its rightful place, but standing on the shoulders of their pain and shooting from it is selfish, narcissistic, and disingenuous. Let’s be allies, without trying to dilute their voice.