Strength in Solidarity

A March by Taiwan Black Lives Matter Global Solidarity Initiative

“May you live in interesting times!” No one is sure whether this statement is a blessing or a curse. For the person who first uttered this sentence, in whatever language, I wonder about their response to our modern era. We are living in a time of unrest, fear, disease, violence and political chaos. These situations is nearly ubiquitous, throughout the globe.

The entity that has left an indelible imprint on the entire world is the movement called Black Lives Matter. Its name and its trajectory are eerily similar to another organization called Black Life Matters. To date, this reporter is not sure which organization came into being first.

I can be sure, however, that the two have a similar platform. At least on the surface, these movements advocate for an end to police brutality. They advocate solidarity among different communities. I am myself, a native of New York City. Although I have only been stopped and searched by the police in NYC 1 time, I am sure that the stop was solely because of skin color. Police departments throughout the United States are trained to target African-American men for arrest and mass incarceration. Ultimately, these actions bring more money into the system and the revenue is totally based on exploitation.

I also count myself as lucky. Being a black man in America, there is always the knowledge that any interaction with police could go fatally wrong. That is to say, if an altercation had ensued, which it rarely does, I could have been killed. My other options, would have been to fight back and be on the run for the rest of my life. That’s a lot to digest for a nineteen-year-old.

Most recently, a black man named George Floyd was killed in Minnesota. He had allegedly gone into a supermarket and paid with a counterfeit twenty dollar bill. He was murdered by a police officer and the entire incident was caught on video. The blantant disregard for the life of a human being and they way they flaunted their corruption from a position of power had sparked outrage, protests, riots across America and all over the world.

Black Lives Matter, has been at the vanguard of the movement across the globe to get just for George Floyd and dozens of other, unarmed black people, who were citizens of the United States. I believe that these people were killed because of open racism and a criminal justice system that is operated by criminals who practice moral decadence.

The name of the movement itself has come under fire. Some critics, regardless of color, think the movement should be called Black Lives Matter Too, or something to that affect. I’m fairly certain that the police in America actually shoot more white people each year than other racial groups. There is a major difference in that for killing white victims the police are usually prosecuted and for killing black victims, they usually aren’t.

So, what does Black Lives Matter want? What is their ultimate goal? No matter what the name is, the movement seeks to end the use of force and violence by police officers, throughout America. It requires them to be trained in de-escalation tactics and switch from punitive measures to preventative measures. This is going to take a long time because our justice system, in my opinion, is so backwards but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Asia is no exception to the sentiment of genuine solidarity that are now sweeping the globe. After George Floyd was publicly executed, the collective conscience of the human race was pricked. There is the feeling that people, from whatever background, need to be more involved with ensuring the well-being of other people. The rally in Taiwan, shown above, was organized by Black Lives Matter Global Solidarity Initiative. They are not an official chapter of BLM. They seek to raise awareness about issues regarding race, especially the way they might play out in Taiwan.