I will never understand, but with you I stand - S2E11

Self-Titled Club

This week, we take a very teeny, tiny step into trying to educate ourselves on the Black Lives Matter movement, racism and violence against people of colour, and the systems in place that perpetuate these ideals and issues in our society. As two white 20-somethings, we’ve benefited from this system, whether that was through active participation or not. As we’ve come to terms with recently, silence is the language of the oppressed, and we’ve both been speaking that language for a long time. Too long, in fact.

We know that our words are small and uneducated, but we needed to try something. We know not everyone can go to protests, not everyone can donate, and there’s a lot of other craziness going on in the world. Please take the time to listen to this episode, to click on the links below, and make an effort. Educating yourself and the people around you is a step you can take as well.

Below is our episode, but also some pictures and recordings from the Justice for Black Lives march in Niagara Falls on June 6th. During this march, we all kneeled peacefully for eight minutes, the same amount of time that the Officer in North Carolina knelt on George Floyd, and I challenge you to listen to you. I challenge you to hear the pain in the woman singing, to close your eyes and hear the birds like you were there with us, to hear us sing the National Anthem as a group, and to let it move you to action. More importantly, take those eight minutes to really sit with yourself, and think about how you may have benefitted from this system we were born in to and allow to continue, and the people in your life, and how this may change their lives as well.

And then you can check out the links below, and get informed. Don’t speak the language of the oppressed. Speak freely, and openly, and loudly, and with love for your fellow man in your hearts.