This is not a post about environmental justice but it is about social justice.
I am an Australian of mixed heritage: Kenyan and English. The reality my black brothers and sisters are living angers me every time I think about it. I have lived racism, thankfully not often. I have seen my father live racism. I do not want to bring my children up in a world where this is real life. I don’t want other children to grow up in a world where this is real, where they may experience racism, hear it, see it, or heaven forbid take part in it.
This can no longer be ignored, something must be done, by you, by me, structurally.
Leaders must confront the uncomfortable truth head on and change must happen. Now! I like to believe that in 2020 racism exists in a minority, but that is not good enough. We have 400 years of the most disgusting hatred. It must stop now. Here. With us.
That people can be killed, humiliated, subordinated because of the colour of their skin, but also because of their religion or culture is beyond not being ok. It is a despicable act of hatred that must be addressed at both the highest and lowest levels. On the street. In parliaments. In the White House…in the White House!
What has happened to George Floyd is a pandemic of another kind. It kills. It hurts. It leaves scars. This should not be happening, and yet it is. At the hands of so called law enforcers, in a seriously ill criminal justice system.
There needs to be structural change, systemic change, societal change if we are to overcome this illness.
I stand in solidarity.
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