Another Rarely Reported Story Of #BlackLivesMatter Action
JAKARTA - A story will be better if seen from two sides. Likewise with the news about the demonstration without a holiday that took place in the United States during this week. Violence is often the face of an action, even though there is a sweet story behind it that is actually worth sharing.
The issue of equality for African Americans living in America peaked with the passing of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in three consecutive months. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter is busy on social media. It is said that all 50 states in the United States were already filled with demonstrators taking to the streets. Not only that, residents in other parts of the world such as the Netherlands, Australia, France, Japan and Argentina also enliven the streets of their country. This is a way to show support and hope that their voices are heard so that there are no cases like this in the future.
Action in cyberspace also continues. Support in the form of #BlackoutTuesday comes from the world music industry. This idea was put forward by two black women, namely Jamila Thomas, Executive from Atlantic Records and Brianna Agyemang who used to be employees of the same label. They asked that the music industry be silent for a day as a form of support for the issue of racial equality. There are no new releases, that day is used for self-reflection. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music and several major music labels announced their participation in this movement. Unfortunately the #BlackoutTuesday action also caused negative things.
Not a few international artists took to the streets in support of this action. For example, Halsey, Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande, and Cole Sprouse, who shared on her personal Instagram account that she was also detained by the police.
View this post on InstagramIt's become very clear to me that some of you need to see what I've seen. Please swipe through this. These pictures and videos don't even scratch the surface. It's easy from the comfort of your home to watch looting and rioting on television and condone the violent measures being taken by forces. But what you don't see is innocent peaceful protestors being shot at and tear gassed and physically assaulted relentlessly. You think it's not happening, it's only the "thugs" and the "riots", right? The police are keeping you safe right? You're wrong. This is happening everywhere. And innocent people exercising their rights to speech and assembly are facing violence and abuse of power. With all of our medical professionals being CONSUMED and EXHAUSTED with Covid, there is little to no medical attention available. I have first hand treated men women and children who have been shot in the chest, the face, the back. Some will lose vision some have lost fingers. I have been covered in innocent blood. My father is a black man. My mother is an EMT. This week I had to put those two associations together in ways that have horrified me. This is NOT a virtue signaling post. But I HAVE to show you what I am witnessing with my own eyes. With Trump's decision today to enforce the mobilization of armed forces on our own citizens, this has escalated beyond your privilege and comfort to not care. Please care. We are begging you to care. This is war on Americans. This is everyone's problem. Everyone's. #BLACKLIVESMATTER
Behind all the violence that is displayed everywhere, there is actually a sweet story that is often overlooked. Several Twitter users shared the moment and asked the media to share it too. The media are often seen as rarely exaggerating good things and only focus on the bad things that happen. This stigma cannot continue. We agree that good moments are also worth sharing. Although it may be that these good things happened at a different time or on the other side of town, where bad things happened.
One example is a video uploaded by the Twitter account with the username @FrostyTheSkid.
Put this on the news. pic.twitter.com/YfXB2x6bcz
- Frosty (FrostyTheSkid) May 30, 2020This situation is inversely proportional to the news that says this action always ends up in chaos, causing looting. It is possible that only certain individuals take advantage of the opportunity so that the demonstrators who come with peaceful intentions in Brooklyn, New York work together to do what is recorded in a video belonging to the Twitter account @AndrewSolender.
Some protestors in Brooklyn calling to loot the Target, but organizers are rushing in front of the store to stop them, keep things non-violent #nycprotest pic.twitter.com/6x70cpcjep
- Andrew Solender (AndrewSolender) May 31, 2020We have also witnessed police spraying tear gas, shooting with rubber bullets and hitting demonstrators using cars or horses. However, one thing may have been forgotten. Not everyone is bad, and so are members of the police.
A video shared by the Twitter account @ NicComedy0 shows a policeman walking around offering mineral water to the public. This happened in Salt Lake City, Utah.
pic.twitter.com/52YOkdnaLV
- Nicolas Olsen (Niccomedy0) May 31, 2020This is still a long journey, but it is possible that many people have begun to introspect and change their minds because of the variety of voices conveyed. All stories must have a protagonist and antagonist, as well as current events. It's good that we don't just focus on one side and hope that a happy ending will be the ending of this story.
Siniar VOI this time will tell about some #BlackLivesMatter actions that are rarely reported. Hit the listen button and we'll tell the story for you.