America in 2020 - How the Black Lives Matter movement raised our collective consciousness

“Anger is better. There is a sense of being in anger. A reality and presence. An awareness of worth. It is a lovely surging.”

― Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

It is the end of May, in the virus plagued, abnormal and terrifying, 2020. We are getting used to the concept of American citizens dying in the hundreds every day, doctors and nurses pleading for us to stay home, media showing footage of overwhelmed hospitals and devastated families, and a failed leadership unable to provide any direction as the pandemic is raging wild.

While we are already lost, there comes another breaking news, and this one, takes the country by storm. George Floyd becomes a household name, and the three words he said in his last moments become the pulse of the young and the old, and the nation unites in an unprecedented way! In my 22 years in the US, I have never seen a movement so strong, passions so high, and the march for justice so relentless.

We watch the news, and as brown immigrants, relate somewhat to the unfolding story and nod in silent agreement. But we do not really comprehend. We, with our stable tech jobs and suburban houses and SUVs, are sympathetic, but don't connect from our cores.

Most of us have come to this country with an advantage of education and the privilege of being recognized as intelligent and hard working, and consider ourselves ahead of the curve.

So, we feel appalled by the atrocity and brutality, and nervous, but still, at the back of our minds, think ´Black Lives Matter´ is somebody elseś problem. And, buoyed by our ignorance and irrational thinking, do not make the effort to realize that this is also our problem.

But my complacence is finally broken by my mid-twenties, very passionate about left wing politics, son. He keeps messaging us on what he is watching, reading or doing and tries to drive the message home. This message from him while watching the documentary 13th is the one that finally made me realize that I need to make a conscientious effort to teach myself the background of the movement, what is it that is making the country burn:
¨The documentary is tough to watch... but it is almost a necessary watch at this point. My ask is that both of you tonight watch it. Take a break from whatever you are doing this evening and try to understand why there is so much outrage and what real American history is.
Also a friendly reminder that the reason WE are in this country today is because of black people and civil rights movement - so we owe them at least some form of self education.¨

Impassioned, I started doing some research and got some recommendations based on which made a short list of what I wanted to listen or read (I am not a big fan of watching things for learning).

I realized I had the iconic book Toni Morrison´s ´The Bluest Eye' sitting in my bookshelf, unread, and picked it up with trepidation.  I spent a few intense days going through this book that was  searingly honest to the point it made me uncomfortable and almost want to escape reading the book.  It is steeped in sadness and the realities of living a life where racism and misogyny are part of growing up in a segregated Ohio town in the 1940s. The timeless lines below not only echo the plight of impoverished black women in that era but  subjugated women all over the world:

¨Everybody in the world was in a position to give them orders. White women said, “Do this.” White children said, “Give me that.” White men said, “Come here.” Black men said, “Lay down.” The only people they need not take orders from were black children and each other.¨

I was simultaneously listening to the podcast 1619 which has mixed reviews on the internet. But to me, the uninitiated listener, it was a complete revelation. The narrator Nicole Hanna Jones captivates the listener from the first episode which is a chilling account of how the Africans were brought to the shores of America huddled and chained like animals in the ship, and some unable to bear this destiny, ´heaved themselves over the walls of wooden ships to swim one last time with their ancestors. Others refused to eat, mouths clamped shut until their hearts gave out.´.

And then in the next episode, the narrative moves to the history of cotton plantation, and how an entire economy flourished on cotton on the banks of Mississippi, fed by the blood, sweat and tears of the black laborers. ¨This river, the Mississippi River, brought so much life and so much death. It created the fertile land that made cotton king and lavish riches on the white people who owned almost all of it. But it also led to the pain and suffering for the black people who had to work almost all of it.¨

The episode that tugged hardest at my heartstrings and gave me a new level of consciousness was the one about the inhuman and incredible level of discrimination in the health care system based on color of skin. The episode is titled ´Bad Blood´, based on the notion that Blacks were more likely to die from treatable diseases such as high blood pressure or infections simply because they genetically had ´Bad Blood. The root of healthcare disparities based on race had been sown centuries back in America, and continues to be a gap till this day & age. There are uncanny similarities between todayś Covid crisis and the public health care crisis that unfolded in America after the end of the Civil War, when the suddenly emancipated slaves had nowhere to go, no education to find jobs, or no resources to turn to. The theory that started to float was appalling and deeply rooted in stigmatization - ¨So black people aren’t dying for want of basic necessities, they’re actually dying because they’re biologically inferior to whites and ill-suited for freedom. ¨

But before I got to 1619, while searching, I chanced upon this very balanced, very educated podcast by Jacke Wilson:

https://podcasts.nu/…/the…/special-episode-america-in-crisis

Here are some excerpts from it, some in the podcasterś words, some in my words summarizing his thoughts:

Why are instant pots better than the 70s pressure cooker ? Because they are safer, their release valves stop the pressure from building to the point of explosion.
American society has pressure valves built into it, a system of checks and balances. Wilson cites the example of ordinary people being called for jury duties, so that the judges are not the sole authority figures in the justice system, and the community has a place in the jury system.
Pressure without a valve is when society is governed by power only, with a lopsided community representation. Representation of the majority.

The question now is :
¨Pressure leads to conflict. Are we headed for an explosion? Or will there be a release?¨

And the most important takeaway:
¨Where does power come from? Power comes from elections. Power and authority derive from the consent of the governed.