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Racism is not just a static thing or a vestigial component of a previous time. Racism (as Ruha Benjamin would say) is a technology that actively and constantly constructs new institutions and structures to maintain a social caste system (1/9)
This is what you are seen today with the murder of George Floyd. State-sanctioned violence which is used to maintain and perpetuate this violent system. (2/9)
Now the question we have to ask ourselves as allies of black people, who are a huge part of the survivors of this violence, is what can we do to help? First, as a Latino man who is light skin, I know that entering a space that is ruled by racism is hard (because of my name) (3/9)
Once I am inside of it, I am treated (for the most part) as my white counterparts. This can lead to complacency in my part to not see the wrong done to others. What a lot of us, Latinxs, need to know is: First, not being racist is not enough, we have to be anti-racist (4/9)
This means, we have to actively participate in the dismantling of the systems and institutions which maintain this violence. Second, we need to look at our own responsibility at maintaining this violence through normalization: "Just follow the rule and you will be fine", (5/9)
active participation in the violence, through supporting the "Tough on Crime" agenda, compliancy to not talk to our family about our own internalized racism, and countless other examples (6/9)
And finally: we have to amplify voices and solutions from the Black community, which are literally and figuratively asking society to: Stop stepping on their necks. Only through solidarity and true allyship, we will all be able to move forward to dismantle white supremacy (7/9)
To finish, as an anecdote. My first full memory of a riot was during the Baguazo in Peru in 2009, where local indigenous communities opposed the oil development in the Peruvian Amazon, and were met with a military response and a suspension of civil liberties. (8/9)
I remember thinking at first that the rioting was uncalled for and destructive, and then my uncle reminded me, as MLK would say that: a riot is the language of the unheard and that material loss will never be on the same scale as structural violence towards people. (9/9)
Finally I want thank people as @prisonculture @ruha9 @MsKellyMHayes and countless others who’s work help me to think harder and feel more. And to always look at the boundless space of what is possible.
