Westernized objectivity leaves an inherently problematic assumption that we can all agree on what is 'right' and 'wrong' and that such narratives as, 'treating everybody the same' or promoting 'social justice for all' by upholding equal opportunity and colour blindness is the 'right thing' to do. Treating everyone the same can be an ideal of our society that we should all aspire to achieve. How ever, we know this to be impossible and that history and context complicate matters for us all.
The privilege of history places us in different positions and locations, implying that we should look carefully at existing historic inequities and target responses to those most disadvantaged to level playing fields. I have always insisted on a need to acknowledge the severity of issues for certain bodies in our communities, and that history and context matter in everything. Furthermore, there are always competing claims to know, having access to power and privilege, and our every social interaction and practice reveal relations of domination and subordination.
A discussion of structural racism necessarily entails working with the underpinnings of race. It is racism that makes race real. In recent years, globally, we are all conscious of race and racism. This is relevant and good even if we ask why now? Resistance to the denial of race and racism has always been liminal, a space in which we have been silenced, but also, expected to speak out. Recent events, particularly, the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020, and the oppressive policing practices of communities, including shootings of unarmed Black men and women have been a rallying cry for action.
Black lives should matter to everyone. To us, as Black and African peoples, we have to continually insist on the very decent idea that 'Black lives matter' [BLM] no more, no less! Why do we have to? It is a humane or moral thing to do and appreciate and therefore, we should not have to protest that our lives matter.
So, to those who insist on the anti-Black statement, 'all lives matter', let us get it straight. Of course, the truth is all lives matter. But not all lives have really mattered, and Black lives have not been understood to fall under "all lives". So, until Black lives matter, we cannot in good faith and con science be crying 'all lives matter'. When we juxta pose 'all lives matter' with 'Black lives matter' it is a denial that speaks to anti-Black racism. For Black lives to matter, we as Black and African peoples in our daily conversations and practices must conjoin structural racism, anti-racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Blackness, and anti-African racism from our diverse perspectives.
We recognize the Land on which we protest, speak our pain, and suffering acknowledging our ancestors and Elders who have fought this battle before us. As it is said in Mozambique, Angola, and Zimbabwe - every classroom is a space where people [our ancestors] had to fight to liberate. We must always fight to liberate our spaces from violence, hatred, injustice, and suppression. We must not forget the role of Black and African activists in history, advocating for good education, health, environmental justice, economic justice, and working in solidarity with Indigenous communities for Indigenous sovereignty and other oppressed peoples for human dignity.
Today, BLM has made us more aware of the global fights for Black life, the treatment of Blackness in global communities, erasures and slippages in Black experiences, racial criminalization of Black bodies, and the bio-politics of Blackness that release a repulsion, undesirability of Black citizens and bodies in our communities, as well as the disciplining and social control of Black bodies and perceived Black transgressions.
