Black Lives Matter

I do not know what to say today but since there is no middle ground (never was) I want to speak up and I will be…honest. I am tired of reading the same stories of hurt (“it’s always the same people” as my friend once said) but so I should be – we caused this, we need to do the work – if you haven’t done so already (it’s 2021!). I am in incredible pain a year on because I see so many people who suddenly care about some forms of discrimination but not others and so it makes no sense to me. I am stuck in between so many identities that don’t serve me (Polish living in post-Brexit U.K., woman, “opinionated”) and those that do but harm others by default (White, able, relatively OK financially, business owner, educated, multi-cultural). Next week I will become a British citizen and carry the additional privileges and responsibilities. I will be employable, have a good credit score, another passport, and the right to protest too, also a right to voice my opinion. I am aware of the pain that comes with discrimination and silence, my own blindness, and I am determined to do my best to keep all people safe. So yeah. I see today so many deepen the divide when…this pain is not new. Maybe, just maybe, we should all focus on critically reviewing where we are with this, instead of pointing fingers. Sit down, listen, learn and do better. If you think you’ve got this – that means you don’t. I am doing better and I promise that I will do even more, but I see there is still so much work to do. And when I feel like giving up, I remember the truth: without hope and a dream of a better future for all of us, what is left? This is a painful reality. People die because of our ignorance. We are too slow, too blind, too comfortable. We all have a lot of work to do. I am glad to see that more and more of us, White people, do. If we haven’t already, we are waking up.