US protesters: The world needs to see things from the eyes of the resistance 

2020-06-24 10:22:58


	 

	ANKARA- While the US protesters, who have participated in the protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd across the country, all share the hope of a significant change, they shared the message, "They are trying to show protesters guilty, but we are protest because the real crime was committed against us; enough is enough.” 

	 

	Following the killing of George Floyd by the brutal kneeling of the police on his neck, anti-racist Americans, especially black American citizens, who demand justice are determined not to leave the streets all over the country. As the massive cry for justice keeps rising, we reached US protesters who have actively participated in “Black Lives Matter” protests across different states and cities, and listened to their feelings about the murder of George Floyd, their assessments of racism nationally and globally, their personal and political motivations that pushed them to streets despite all the risks and threats they have been facing as well as their own observations regarding the atmosphere of the protests they were involved.  While the protesters, who sincerely shared their feelings with all the anger, the fear and the hope they carry within, they uncovered the untold story of the resistance. 

	 

	‘BLACK PEOPLE HAD ENOUGH’

	 

	One of the Charlotte protesters who have supported the fight against racism and police brutality of the massive marches for over two weeks is Victorious Zion Allen. As a black man he feels overwhelmed by the police killings targeting people of co lor. “Us brown/black people had enough! They cannot kill us without repercussions any longer”, said Allen as he believes that these protests is a pushback for the police not to get away with murder anymore. As Allan described the attacks they have been facing during their protests he signaled that the Charlotte protests are not intimidated by oppression: “They’ve been tear gassing, pepper spraying and beating the people. But it does not matter, we will not leave.”  Some push for a police reform, which include banning the use of force such as chokeholds for the officers when confronted with a suspect, but Allen describes his action with respect to a rather historical context linking the past of their ancestors to a better future for his daughter and the next generation:  “If it wasn’t for our past leaders and protestors, who risk their lives for change we wouldn’t have 90% of the luxuries that we take for granted. We will not leave the streets until there is significant change!” 

	 

	‘AS A BLACK MAN I WANT TO MOURN AND PROTEST’

	 

	Minneapolis is one of the hottest spots in the protests since the beginning, because this is the city where the whole story began with the killing of George Floyd. Floyd's fellow citizen Canaan Mattson is a graphic designer and photographer and he has been taking to the streets with his camera every day since Floyd’s murder as he believes that these are the moments to spark a global resistance againt police violence. “In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, as a black man I want to protest, and mourn, and organize and be angry. I’d never seen a lot of the people who came to my neighborhood to protest at the police department,” said Mattson. “Waking up Thursday the 28th,” he noted for his observations on how their protests were depicted, “The narrative was already spun that black, peaceful protestors were burning and looting buildings that served their communities. It's no secret that all creeds took part in the protest, but the media's attention that was diverted to the structural damage taking place instead of the message being sent was notable. Especially when, white protestors were the demographic predominately setting things on fire.” Considering how biased the mainstream American media portrays things, Mattson feels responsibility to go out there and document the reality of the resistance first-hand. “So I grab my camera, put my emotions aside and shoot because that’s one of my roles in this fight. As a photographer it's my duty to document things as they happen, but I have to commend the countless people on the ground, peacefully protesting,” he noted and added, “The world needs to see things from the eyes of the resistance.”

	 

	‘CONFRONTING WITH MY COUNTRY’S PAST SINS’

	 

	Even though he tries to record the events objectively, Mattson noted that the protests are full of strange juxtaposition of mindsets. “At times I was silent moving in between protestors, or inching my way up to the front lines. In between that, I’d be screaming my lungs dry from chanting and talking with other protestors,” said Mattson and continued, “Emotions run high at the protests. People are fed up with police killings and you can feel the collective grief thick in the air. Within that collective grief there's a great sense of togetherness. When people unite for a common goal, and that goal happens to be righteous, it creates a bond on a deeper level.” 

	 

	There is a 400 years of history lying down the roots of the archaic violence that African-Americans have faced in the USA in which the police has a very negative track record while the police violence against the black citizens is a legacy of the "slave patrols" practices that were implemented back in 1704. “American racism as a socio-political construct has always been enforced through the police (originally dubbed the “slave patrol”) on black Americans. We've moved into a new era of citizen-led surveillance and with that the need to hold police accountable at large is more prevalent than ever,” said Mattson reminding the cursed legacy of racism. Supporting the idea that not the twisted notion of white-supremacy Trump has re-ignited, but everyone being accepted for their own background makes America great Mattson said, “I’m no stranger to the resistance of oppressive police states in countries all around the world, but I think America at large has never had to so blatantly and publicly confront my country's past sins. Even still, other countries have shown support for Black Lives Matter and that’s amazing to me. It also serves as a reminder that we can acknowledge and fight for others in the midst of our own struggle.” 

	 

	‘A SEMI-TRUCK DROVE THROUGH US, FOX NEWS FLIPPED THE ENTIRE STORY’

	 

	One of the most tragic events in the Minneapolis protests was when a fuel semi-truck drove into a demonstration of thousands of people on a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the protesters who was on the Interstate 35 West Bridge that day was Adrian Wilson. “I was on the bridge, just showing my emotions on the camera. Just being a part of that bridge and seeing us almost getting ran over gave me so much anger. Then I went home that night and I saw Fox News flipped the entire story saying, ‘Oh, the driver didn’t know that the highway was closed’ —it just made me even more angry. So I told myself, I am gonna have to be the person to show the real stories because apparently our government does not care about us. When I look at the news and everything that happens on the news they always try to hide it and make it seem like the protestors are the ones doing something wrong. And especially FOX News just switch everything up. I was tired of that,” said Wilson. 

	 

	‘I DON’T WANT THE PROTEST TO STOP’

	 

	Regarding his personal motivations to be a part of the protests and to act with his community feeling the exact pain that he is feeling, Wilson said, “I am an African-American male in the city, in this country and I do go through racism every single day — and I have a son. Being out there and seeing the anger and pain of people every single day — I have my own anger and pain as well, just pushed me every day to go out. I want this continuously to happen; I put it upon myself to be a part of that every day, so we can continue doing it every day.  I don’t want the protest to stop, because if it does people are gonna forget about what’s happening and then George Floyd will become another hashtag — Trayvon Martin is a hashtag, Breonna Taylor is a hashtag, I am tired of having another hashtag.”  

	 

	Laughs, smiles, being a part of the community, these are words that come up a lot when Wilson talks about the protests. “Being a part of the community, seeing every single person of all ages, sex, orientation, everyone is standing together — there is no drama at all, watching the community come together and cook for free, us all sticking together preserving the memorial of George Floyd, has been the best part to me.  Every single day folks are there from 5 am to 5 am round the clock securing there everything — the flowers, the murals, the art, the music. It’s like a state-fair that we have every single day with all the laughs and smiles. All different cultures would perform every day,” said Wilson portraying the positive energy on which the solidarity of the folks is brought into being every single day from 5 am to 5 am round the clock, as he finally noted, “It shows how strong our community is that we didn’t need the police; we can police ourselves, we can be there for ourselves. The government wants to separate us, but showing how together we can be, that’s how strong we can.” 

	 

	‘A COMMODITY, AN ENTERTAINMENT OR AN ANIMAL’

	 

	“My feelings toward the murder of George Floyd is exhaustion, there is disgust, there is fear, there is anger. Exhaustion because he is not the first to be publicly lynched and killed, this is something systemic and going on for hundreds of years. In terms of fear, that’s something that everyone feels being a black in America, being a black man in America, in particular. You are looked at as minority. You are tired of being looked at as a second class citizen,” said Aaron Lucas Graham Pineiro, a young psychologist living in New York, the city of the most moving protests scenes that witnessed more than 2,000 activists detained in one day. Speaking on the fear when the pattern of the violence targeting the people of color Pineiro expressed, “A lot of times you are just a commodity, an entertainment or an animal, you are feared, they treat you as if you are inhumane. So you fear that something like that can happen whenever you have dealings with the police. You don’t even feel comfortable contacting the police. The anger and the sadness are intertwined, you hate to see it happen to someone who looks like you. So you fear for your friends’ lives, your relatives’ life, you fear for your own life.”  

	 

	‘THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL’S BACK’

	 

	Recording that he has always supported the fight for justice and equality not just for black people, but also for other people of color such as brown people with the Hispanic background, Pineiro said, “I used to protest with my mother and brother with different anti-racist associations like NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and Black Lives Matter against racism. There has been countless victims, it has always driven me to fight for equal treatment. I think being a person of color in America, it’s your duty to protest.” Having been a marathon runner in the anti-racist struggle, he observes something unique in the current run: “I believe ultimately George Floyd is the straw that broke the camel's back, there have been plenty other innocent lives taken by law enforcement in America and no justice being served. I have been doing this prior, but with George Floyd and it being televised and him publicly been lynched by police officers, I think something that graphic is the reason why people are acting out now.”

	 

	‘WHAT’S REALLY ON FIRE IS NOT THE VEHICLE”

	 

	The photo he captured with the police auto on fire, in Pineiro’s opinion, embraces a meta-message, which represents more than what people see at first glance. “When the news reports some of the details in the protest, they report protestors as looters and rioters, as people who are violent and committing crimes, but the crimes have been committed against us. Protestors didn’t light that on fire, the police did; the actions of the police, racism within the system of policing led to that car on fire. So a lot of us don’t examine the cause, the root of the problem, but then when there is a problem it’s blamed on the resistance. The police lid that on fire.” Uniting the politics of resistance with a rather deep contemplation on reality he explained, “When you see the riots in Auckland, in Los Angeles, in Minneapolis, that is the failing of the justice system. That shows what that car is representing. That vehicle is on fire to the human eye, but what’s really on fire that no one seems to detect is America — America is on fire, the world is on fire. It’s been on fire through racism, through bigotry, through discrimination, through violence. It’s just a lot of us choose not to see. All we tend to see is the revolt. There would have been no revolt if we lived in a just system. This country is opposed to black lives and equality.” 

	 

	A MOTHER MARCHING WITH HER KID

	 

	As the NYC protests was continuing to take place on their third consecutive week, an unusual type of protestors took the streets with dozens of children marching the Herald Square. Candy is one of the mothers, who joined the Children’s March with her little girl, who was carrying a little colorful banner that reads “Black lives matter”, each letter painted in different colors. “Bringing my kids to the protest, I just think that it is very important for them to see activism and to now that no matter how small they are that they can still be active in making the change or being the change they want to see”, said Candy. 

	 

	‘I’M SO TIRED OF SEEING MY PEOPLE GETTING KILLED’

	 

	She explained how Floyd’s death at the hands of US police made her feel, saying, “I guess my only feeling that I can used to describe the killing of George Floyd is just that I’m tired of it. You know, I’m just so tired of seeing my people getting killed, the people who look like me being killed for nothing, just for simply what they look like.” Candy believes after all the black lives lost, a path for a real change has opened. “Although the video was very graphic to watch, I think that it did open up open up a lot of eyes finally for many more people, who are not of color, who didn’t really realize the extent to which racism is still very prevalent in this country.” Finally noting that she teaches the middle school, “I plan on integrating activism and social justice into the curriculum when the school year starts again, just because I feel like I’ve been doing my students a disservice,” Candy noted concerning her own program to contribute to the change she dreams of after the protests.  

	 

	‘PECAFEULLY YET LOUDLY’ ACROSS MANHATTAN AND BROOKLYN

	 

	“My husband and I went to 3 protests in New York City so far. It’s really emotional and empowering,” said Alessia Herrera Rockefeller, an entrepreneur based in Manhattan. Being a woman, a white American and a New York City socialite, Alessia is a vivid example of how protests in NYC are supported by many different segments of the US society. Mentioning the collective of activists “Warriors in the Garden” that she was protesting with, she said, “For the first time in a really long time, I actually believe there are more people who support the movement than those who don’t. These public protests has also been the most effective protests that we’ve ever witnessed because of these wonderful activists, who have been peacefully yet loudly protesting across Manhattan and Brooklyn.” 

	 

	THE FEAR OF THE WHITE MEN IN POWER

	 

	Amid the recent Black Lives Matter protests for over a month, another black American man was killed in Atlanta by the police. He was Rayshard Brooks, who received two gunshots from the police, as a third one hit a nearby vehicle. Already being the home of the civil rights movement where the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) is organized to combat systemic racism, Atlanta has become another epicenter of the debate of the police killing black men with the killing of Brooks. “For me, as a black man living in America, we have always been very apprehensive about the police. Because we recognize the history and it shows that we as black men have always been feared by any type of white man in power, “said Kyle Scott, a film-maker based in Atlanta. 

	 

	“It’s very fearful as a black man anywhere in America, whether you are in an urban city like Chicago or a rural state like North Dakota; when a police officer gets behind you, it is just a terrifying thing, because you never know what type of person you’re going to encounter. Nowadays, we have to train our young black men how to deal with police officers knowing that they can very well be killed based on a wrong movement or something being illegally being put on them by a rogue police officer. Most of the police killings have been on unarmed black men, which shows that there has been a very evil, yet consistent way of showing hatred towards us.”  Scott continued, “For an example, in June of 2015, a young white man Dylann Roof, went into a church in Charleston SC only to kill nine innocent church members during a love service, only because they were black.  Once arrested, the police stopped by Burher King to get a meal before taking him to jail.”  

	 

	‘A TONE OF INNOCENT BLACK MEN IN JAIL’

	 

	Scott’s had the chance to travel around the globe and witnessed the different faces of racism, but he thinks the 400 years of slavery flows into modern-day history very prevalently in the US.  “I’ve experienced racism in a couple of European countries, I’ve experienced a bit of racism over in South-East Asian countries, but nothing compares to the type of sheer racism that you feel and see in America,” said Scott, defining the difference in America that “A lot of racists know that they can get away with it because of how our system is set up; it is set up for blacks to continue to be oppressed.” 

	 

	“Racism is not new; it is just being filmed,” according to Scott, as he noted the unique thing about today’s life as a black man in America, surrounded by racism — some very secretive and some very outward —  is the technology that now captures it. “Before, the judicial system would strictly go with whatever was said. There are black men in jail that have been locked up innocent, because of the way our system is set up, whatever someone says against us, it has been the rule of law. So there has been a tone of black men in jail for different things they have never been guilty.”

	 

	‘WHAT WE SEE NOW IS A REVOLUTION’

	 

	Regarding his feelings for Floyd, Scott shared, “George Floyd’s death has changed the globe. I don’t know why this killing, in particular, upset so many people, but it was probably because the officer was just killing this man in broad daylight with his knee on his neck as if he didn’t care it all. But I feel that what has happened is people have just said: you know what, enough is enough.” Scott evaluates their protests, not as a national phenomenon limited to the US. Still, he instead noted, “The uprising that we see know is so powerful because it’s global and the difference between today and the time between the 1940s-1970s in America is that white folks, black folks, Asian people, every ethnicity  fed up and we’ve come together in solidarity to say let’s stop this and let’s change policies — what we see now is a revolution.”

	 

	On the so-called violence of the protestors, Scott commented, “You know, me as a business owner, I hate to see businesses burned down to the ground, but as a black man in America I can say that what has to be done has to be done to bring attention to the horrible circumstances that we deal with — every single day.” In closing, he added the last message: “There are not many African-Americans in this country that are supportive of President Trump. It is because they have seen the division that he causes and it is because they understand that Trump’s narrative is primarily for business for the big companies that are already rich, we recognize that and we hope that things will change in November when we have the presidential election.”

	 

	MA / Eylül Deniz Yaşar