The novel “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” written by Mildred D. Taylor talks about an African-American girl, Cassie Logan, experiencing discrimination, racism, and injustice in her community. The Logan family lived in Mississippi where African American received unfair treatments from the whites. As Cassie grew up, she witnessed many events of racial discrimination, such as the white mistreated the black in her community, the unkind segregation by the white, her family struggled to keep their own land, or her father’s leg was broken when the white attacked her family. Cassie’s father taught her the importance of self-respect, dignity, and peacefully fighting the inequality. Even though the Logan family faced several humiliating situations and difficult challenges, they remained strong and committed to fighting for justice. The more I read this novel, the more I feel so much unfair or prejudicial treatment toward people or groups based on their color of skin or race. All human beings, no matter what color of the skin is or what groups they are from, are born free and equal in rights and dignity. It is so not fair to treat colored people with discrimination or racism. Honestly, all lives matter!
The idea of all lives matter gets people’s attention first toward African American to recognize the systematic racism and dangerous situations they are facing in the society and their existence value should not be ignored. BLM is a social movement concerning police’s brutality and racial violence against black people. BLM seeks to stop racism, discrimination, and racial inequality that black people have experienced. In the novel, the Simmis brothers, two white males, have T.J. and an African American boy and a friend of the Logan children, take the blame for killing Mr. Barnetts. The Simmis brothers were wearing dark stocking masks and T.J. was not to mislead others in claiming that the thieves were black. The sheriff falsely believed that T.J. was the murder just because his skin color was black. Such incidents still exist nowadays. In 2012 a teenager Trayvon Martin was shot by the neighborhood watch coordinator, George Zimmerman, and in 2014 another teenager Michael Brown was killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Both were mistakenly accused and died for something they did not do. It seems that many crimes pin helpless blacks take the blame while they have no ways to prove themselves innocent. Black Lives Matter (BLM) wakes people's attention that there is a group of people who for years have been undervalued and exploited and it's time we stop.
All people around the world are human beings, no matter black people or other people with different skin color, should be treated like human beings. Black Lives Matters does not mean just only the life of black people should be valued more and other lives are valued less. In fact, all lives matter to the greatest! All Lives Matters, the following social movement in response to the Black Lives Matter, argues that all groups of people should be cared about rather than just one color because we are all human beings. Not only Black receive unfair treatment, Mixicans, Asians, Indians, other minority groups or colored groups are harassed or even being killed by policemen every day. On September 14, 2015, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for creating a homemade digital clock to show his engineering teacher, but the teacher and the police wrongfully accused him of creating a bomb-like device at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. The police discriminated against him and “see” him based on his skin color rather than who he truly was, a smart young American. All Life Matters! The appearance or the skin color does not matter. What matters is the inside heart, the personality, the ability to contribute to the society.
It is essential for individuals, communities, and institutions to show their support, take empathetic actions, and make commitment to equality and justice toward black people or minority groups. Being aware of the systemic racism and injustices, stopping the segregations, advocating policy reforms, or supporting black-owned or minority-owned businesses and organizations could be some possible resolutions. First of all, everyone should self-educate himself the history of racism and systemic injustice as well as listen to the experiences and perspectives of black or minority individuals and groups. Let their voices be heard! In addition, it is important to stand against any kind of segregation based on the color of the skin. The unfair treatment toward black people or minority groups, such as separating schools, hotels, bars, hospitals, toilets, even books between black people or white people, would not be tolerable and should be stopped from now on. Moreover, citizens should support the policy or advocate policy reform that addresses equality in education, housing, healthcare, and employment for black or minority communities, including making sure equitable funding in public schools, ending practicing any discriminatory policy, or reforming some regulations for criminal justices. Furthermore, citizens could show their support for black or minority communities by making businesses with them or joining their organizations. This would provide opportunity and strengthen their communities, which in turn let other people see the true value of them.
Black Lives Matters (BLM) or All Lives Matters (ALM) all center on the issue of racism. BLM was created to highlight racial discrimination and inequality experienced by black people, against police’s brutality and injustice. But racial discrimination and inequality does not just happen to black people only. Mixicans, Asians, Indians, other minority groups or colored groups also experience unfair treatment. Martin Luther King once said “Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.” Everyone should be seen his true value through his inside heart, personality, or ability, rather than his skin color or his appearance. Suggestions or resolutions could be, but not limited to: first, gain more understanding about the history of racism and systemic injustice. Second, actively listen to the experiences and views from black or minority groups. Third, stop any form of segregation toward them. Fourth, support policy reform for equality. And fifth, make businesses with black or minority groups to enlarge their economic power. Everyone should be anti-racist. Everyone should show their empathetic action and commitment to equality and justice for all.
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