RACISM; The racism that killed George Floyd was built in Britain

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/03/racism-george-floyd-britain-america-uk-black-people

The above article has hit the nail on the head for me, as I know now that I’ve come full circle on something that I’ve been running away from all my life.. RACISM.

Have circled straight back into the heartlands of systematic and institutionalised racism, the heart of Colonialism that Australia -my country of birth- was built on. Born right here in Great Britain.

Growing up Bi-racial in Sydney to an Egyptian mother and German father I never really fit in; always thought the rejection I felt from the white girls at school was down to my dysfunctional family. However there was always an undercurrent of something more pervasive and sinister, something I never had the vocab for; the micro-aggressions, overt + covert racism (my grade. 4 teacher casually referred to me as ‘Mongrel’ for almost a year, until my father clarified what that meant when our neighbour brought home a mixed breed dog) the white-is-rightness that I could never explain away even with my sharp inquisitive mind.

I left Sydney 14 years ago seeking something else than what I’d grown up with, leaving behind all the grief and trauma that I felt was caused by and confined to my family unit.

London was a liberal, creative mashup of cultures where I finally felt like I fit in, with a myriad of brilliant bi-racial, black and brown friends. I felt like I’d finally come home..

Though those undercurrents of uncomfortable feelings have returned amplified in the last 3 years since Brexit and properly exploded in the last week as I feel n hear the collective trauma of my black and brown friends who truly can’t breathe. Enough is Enough. The Personal is Political.

400 years of this Oppression in the US have culminated to this tipping point.Right now in this moment in time with all other crisis' that have their roots in Colonialism, which started right herein the UK. The time is Now not to de-escalate but to DISMANTLE those structures and systems that have oppressed for way too long.

It needs to be examined across all areas of society that uphold white privilege. Time to do your own research and commit to the deep, uncomfortable and oftentimes ugly work of dismantling your own unconscious beliefs and biases. Without loading your already exhausted, traumatised black friends by asking for directions.

Please please do the inner work, the external world will be a much better place for it..