Seattle Protests

Last week I went to one of the many daily protest in Seattle Washington for #Blakelivesmatter and justice of George Floyd.

I think movement’s like this one are critical to creating change. Has change ever came with people doing nothing? Sadly sometimes things have to get violet for there to be change and for the media to be interested. What’s scary is that it’s usually not the protesters being violet, it’s the police suppose to be there to protect the people. I went to 3 different protests on 2 different days are all I saw was peace from protesters. The protests were happening in my neighborhood. Me and my friend George walked and one day we had walked over 8 miles.

I’ve been to other protests before: the woman’s march two years ago, and Seattles annual LGBTQ+ parades, which were they were both fun and high energy. But nothing, nothing can compare to the protest I was at last week. For a start there was a big difference when people are protesting for a cause verses celebrating each other. You could really fell the empowerment and need for change. Even though I tried my best to be 6 feet apart at all times and was one of the sideline supporters- it was just something I’ve never experience before. You could almost feel the wrong that had been done for centuries and the need for change that everybody their desires.

In between my first and second protest, I got some food and was eating it at Cal Anderson with my friend who had come along. We ended up having a sweet conversation with a mother while her children were playing on the field. She told us she had approached us as at the protest because being both white, and being there showed her kids that others care about their Black lives and that they mattered to us. At first when I going to protest, I felt like I might not be wanted because I am white, I have white privilege and I just didn’t know how to support the black community. But I soon learned that being there, signing petitions, reading articles, reading books, listening to podcasts, going to protest, etc., are just enhancing my understanding of African American lives and the trauma snd suffering endured for centuries. They have never really got any recognition for it. Most are still treated like second class citizens and racism is still a huge part of are American society. Let's get educated, change, and move forwarded. In my next blog post I’ll have some recommendation for educating yourself.