Being Pro-Black does not make you Anti-White

'In a racist society it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.’

On May 25th Derek M. Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, murdered George Floyd.

A supermarket worker thought a check he had written was bad and so called the police, Chauvin restrained Floyd by kneeling on his neck for around 9 minutes even though Floyd was begging "Please, I can't breathe...don't kill me.” An ambulance was later called however it was too late and Floyd passed away.

- In 2005, Chauvin and another officer were chasing a car causing the death of three people.

- In 2008, Chauvin shot Ira Latrell Toles, an unarmed black 21 year old man who had his hands up.

- Chauvin was one of the officers who murdered Wayne Reyes, a latino man with 16 bullets forced into him.

- In 2011, Chauvin was put on leave for an inappropriate police shooting of Alaskan Native American, Leroy Martinez.

There are 12 police brutality complaints against Chauvin in the Minneapolis Office of Police Conduct complaint database - yet he kept his job throughout, serving no jail time.

After prosecutors announced on Thursday that they had not decided whether to charge Chauvin, that rage turned to chaos - and rightly so. Outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct station house, crowds surged, with some people tossing fireworks and other items at officers, while the police fired projectiles back. The standoff soon spiraled out of control, with officers retreating from the police station in vehicles just after 10 p.m. Thursday local time as protesters stormed the building — smashing equipment, lighting fires and setting off fireworks; according to videos posted from the scene.

During the looting a CNN team who were reporting on the situation were arrested for doing their jobs, despite identifying themselves, which is a clear violation of their first Amendment rights. Jimenez ( Black and Latino) Kirkos (White) Mendez (Hispanic) were treated differently than CNN's Josh Campbell, who also was in the area but not standing with the on-air crew, who was approached by police, but was allowed to remain. Was this because out of the three men, two were ethnic minorities?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has since apologised for the arrest and says they will be released - “It was totally unacceptable.”

As well as this, there was a video taken of a 14 year old girl who was being arrested for protesting which was then deleted to protect her identity.

President Trump has also caused outrage this morning as he tweeted his reaction to the protests; twitter have since added a message covering the tweet, stating it violates twitter rules of glorifying violence, but determined it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible, and so you are still able to uncover the tweet. In two messages he called the protestors ‘Thugs’ for looting and rioting, then exclaiming ‘When the looting starts, the shooting starts’ insinuating violence against the protestors - threatening to kill his own citizens. However, these are not Trump's own words, this phrase was reportedly said by a Miami police chief in 1967 who said his department did not mind being accused of police brutality. On May 1st Trump tweeted about white people protesting that they cant get their hair and nails done, he referred to them as ‘very good people’ who are angry and to see and talk to them. A significant switch of adjectives to the word ‘Thugs’ used to describe black people protesting police brutality and insinuating that they were to be shot and killed. Trump is racist - although this is nothing new.

As a result of these riots Chauvin has been reported just now at 19:19pm BST to have been arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter but no further details have ben released yet. After days of protests, looting and arson the man responsible has been arrested. But this took too long, he should have been arrested at the scene for excessive use of force, if not then, then as soon as Floyd was pronounced dead. his use of restraint is not one that is taught in training. The police force - especially in America are corrupt, Chauvin was not immediately arrested because he was a white male authority figure and i think he was only arrested because of the destruction caused by the protestors, if not for them i believe Chauvin would get his job back and walk a free man, just as many police officers do in these situations.

While the US is more openly racist and oppressive to people of colour (POC), this does not make the UK innocent, being less racist is still racist and being black should not be treated as a crime.

You are 28 times more likely to be stopped and searched in London if you don't have white skin, because the UK is still racist. Here are 3 of hundreds if not thousands of cases where POC have died for no reason in the UK.

- Stephen Lawrence, an 18 year old boy who was stabbed multiple times in an unprovoked racist attack in 1993, his friend called for help but only police showed up and made no attempt to save his life.

- Leon Patterson, a 31 year old man was beaten up and left for dead in a Stockport police cell in 1992, naked and foaming at the mouth. His family were asked to believe that he got rid of his clothing and beat himself up so badly he died of convulsions, he did this (supposedly) so quietly that no one heard him.

- Mark Duggan, a 29 year old man, was shot and killed by police in Tottenham, North London on 4 August 2011. He was an unarmed civilian.

As a white person you automatically have privilege and it is extremely important to acknowledge this. You do not have to worry about being arrested unless you have committed a serious crime, you are able to go shopping without people being suspicious of you, you don't have to worry that your race will make people around you uncomfortable and you do not really think about your race or ethnicity and you probably don't even notice it.

These are only a few of a very long list of privileges you have as a white person.

Kaitlin Bennett has also spoke on this via twitter, ‘White privilege isn't real and minorities aren’t oppressed in this country’ She wore an ar-10 rifle to her graduation and wasn't arrested or killed; Tamir Price, a 12 year old boy, played with a toy gun and was fatally shot in the chest, his murderer walks free. Ahmaud Arbury an unarmed 25 year old was fatally shot by a white father and son - Gregory and Travis McMichael, while jogging. Sandra Bland was a 28-year-old African American woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015, three days after being arrested during a pre-textual traffic stop. Her death was ruled a suicide. Naming every individual who has fallen victim to racism would be never ending and we do not even have knowledge of every person who has - to say that white privilege isn't real is ignorant, POC are being murdered for no other reason than because they are not white and their murderers suffer little to no consequences.

Obviously all lives matter, but Black lives are deemed as less important in the unfortunate society we live in, and so the attention and activism should be placed here. When people say ‘poor people need food’ this does not take away from everyone else, it does not mean that everyone else should starve, it only focuses attention to poor people who are in need. Saying Black lives matter does not take away from White lives, it only focuses on what needs to be fixed, and that is making sure that POC are seen as equals to White people.

White women were pictured (twitter @1911_1913_BakUp) using themselves as a barrier between the black protestors and the police - standing with the protestors, a great physical representation of how people who benefit from being white can stand with those who are oppressed but also not face consequences for similar actions. This is white privilege, to be able to do something that POC would be persecuted for, this is how safe they feel, that they can stand in the middle acting as a shield, knowing that the police wont do anything to them. The system is broken and POC deserve the same amount of rights as everyone else.

Here are just a few ways you can help to support and understand the #BlackLivesMatter movement:

But there are so many more, do your research and find charities and organisations you want to support, not everything involves money, while donations help - if this isn't possible, spread the word, repost articles and sign petitions. There are plenty of ways to get involved and be part of the change that needs to happen - even if it shouldn't have to happen at all. This is the World we are living in.

• Engage in the movement. It is important to acknowledge it and embrace black culture not only through art and music but also the dark side as well, share and read articles, talk to your black friends about their experiences so you can learn and understand life from their perspective. Do not stay silent.

• A tweet has been circulating by - @cheeyennemariee, who asks her non black followers some questions to think about consistently not just when another POC is murdered. These included; Have you researched organisations giving direct aid to affected communities? Is your outrage only fuelled by violent acts of racism? And have you considered ways of standing up against this violence that doesn't involve further harm to the black people around you? Think about your answers to these questions and how you can be proactive in supporting the movement.

• https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate

• https://vinemo.com/393348113