Black Lives Matter To Black Lives Better: A Journey To Equality

The world is churning. The debate is on again, as the Equality and Rights for certain groups of people based on race, disability, sex has again experienced discrimination.  As we all are struggling with the Covid19 global pandemic crisis, The killing of unarmed black citizen, George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2020 has ignited the spark across the world against police brutality, systematic racism, discrimination, and injustice based on color. The civil rights group spearheaded the international human rights movement titled “Black Lives Matter” Protests have taken place in over 60 countries and on every continent except Antarctica, which clearly indicates that it is the time to stop and reevaluate, reflect and empower our communities with equality. Each one of us has to play our part and fight to overcome this mental and social block of “being racist” based on color, caste, or creed. As Franz Boas Said,

“If we were to select the most intelligent, imaginative, energetic, and emotionally stable third of mankind, all races would be present.”

Background 

The agitations and protests recently restarted across the world after 29th May 2020, when George Floyd, an African American man from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA was pitilessly murdered by a police officer who kneeled on his neck for eight minutes with three others while George cried out saying, “I can’t breathe.” After days of strong protests across America, all four officers were finally arrested. But this is just one case and the fight is not yet over and the people are speaking out and demanding justice against the evil.

The outdated and racially targeted system need to be pushed to fix as it applies to many and almost every walk of life, be it schooling systems, job opportunities, healthcare, housing and the most talked about today – police and custody.

What is the “Black Lives Matter” Movement?

The civil rights group in America came about in 2013 in response to severe police brutality against shooting dead of the three African-American men and titled the movement” Black Lives Matter”. It regularly campaigns against institutional racism and violence towards black people and speaks out against police brutality and racial inequality. 

Organizers say the movement's mission is to "eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities”. The movement has gained more and more traction since its origin in 2013 and recently Thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters set to take to the streets in response to the shocking death of George Floyd.

This is simply not a case about one or two countries, we have been witnessing this menace of racism based on caste, color or creed in every part of the world and plainly in many different systems, especially within law enforcement and criminal sentences. There are so many cases similar to this where a Black person is condemned for minor crimes and must serve years and years in jail, while white culprits get off almost freely for even dreadful crimes, that truly showcase the privilege to white.

 This inequality refers to black and white in European and other African countries but the systemic racism is alive well today everywhere in the world in different forms, be it a rich or poor gap, favoritism, caste-ism, nepotism, and many such evils. The publication of the first Human Development Report, in 1990 says the world has made astounding progresses in reducing poverty and improving health, education, and living conditions of hundreds of millions of people. But yet as impressive as these gains may be, they are still not been distributed equally and disparity remains. Even after so much of social independence and intense globalization, “when we will learn to survive in peace with love and dignity”?  “When the world will become a beautiful place to live with equality”?

The Magical Equality Effect

• The equality effect will surely be magical. Equality does not mean all people doing very similar work, or living in parallel types of families, or similar houses.  It means moving towards a society where
  
  
•  All people being respected and fairly rewarded for the work they do, the contributions they make, and the needs they have.
  
  
•  Equality means affording the same rights, freedom and dignity as other people enjoy.
  
  
•  When Equality prevails, human beings will be happier and healthier;
  
  
• There will be a fewer crime, a high degree of creativity, enhanced productivity, more real educational attainment and – overall a beautiful life everywhere.

 

Our Role To “Make Lives Better” 

• We must support every life in the fight for freedom and equality in every form.
  
  
• We must create a world free of anti-Blackness and racism where every person has equal social, economic, and political power.
  
  
• Economy and Democracies need to be revived for civil rights and racial justice
  
  
• We should elect those people into power who make genuine efforts to make sure everybody has equal treatment and opportunities within all areas. 
  
  
• Employers must ensure a compatible workplace for all their employees irrespective of their color and caste.
  
  
• Stand with the people of color within your communities, intensify their voices, and take action
  
  
• World leaders to pledge to work together to create sustainable goals of one society, so that every individual can live life to the fullest.

• Educating people about the social and moral injustice, spreading awareness and creating a psychologically safe environment.
  

Only the joint efforts can lead us to a world of a dream in which there is no discrimination, no poverty, zero hunger, quality education, equal opportunities and good health and wellbeing!!.