Post BLM Life as a Black American

The BLM movement of 2020 was the first time a lot of Americans had heard the acronym, learned about the cruelty of police officers towards black people, and gotten upset about it. However, to the majority of Black Americans, this was nothing new. Many of our parents and grandparents lived through Rodney King, Emmett Till, and countless other family members and friends who’d be subject to the cruelty of the system. Growing up as a Black Woman in America I was given the ‘talk’ at a young age. Some of you may not know what this is but for most minorities, we get the talk from our parents around age 7 or 8 but never later than 13 or 14. The talk is when we learn that the world isn’t fair and that we will be judged for the color of our skin even if we’re not doing anything wrong. We will get followed around the store, stopped by the police, and given dirty looks in certain scenarios. We learn that we have to be twice as good to be taken seriously, we have to show up early, do extra work, dress extra professionally, have extra qualifications, and be extra prepared just to be on a level playing field with our white counterparts.

The first time I learned about race was when my classmate said I couldn’t come to her birthday party at her house because her mom ‘“didn’t like black people”, I was in 2nd grade. I’ve always known life was unfair for me and those that looked like me but could never quite articulate this unfairness to anyone outside my race until the Trayvon Martin trial in 2012. That was the first time I’d seen someone go on trial for something that I’d known to be true all my life. People were afraid of Black Americans simply for existing. We could be walking, laughing, shopping, eating, and minding our business and there would still be fear. There was validation in the mere fact of the trial (despite the outcome) because for the first time the world was able to see how we’d been treated all these years and finally got a glimpse into life as a Black American.

 Fast forward to 2020, everyone is stuck in the house and it happens. Again and again and again. George Floyd, Breona Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, and many more who didn’t make the news. White America was shocked and appalled and many Black Americans were unfazed. Why? Because to us, this was nothing new, Black people being killed for no reason is a part of our life, it’s a part of the experience. To be treated as if your life is disposable is not a new concept or something that we ever protested, it was something that we’d adjusted and lived with. However, this time was different, it wasn’t just white America that was upset, but all of America.

People of all races, religions, ages, and cultures were protesting, donating money, creating organizations, D&I councils, and talking. Finally talking about race in a way that had never happened before. For many of us, it was a relief, we finally felt like we could present our full and true selves to some of our colleagues of other races, and we could freely speak about our trauma or our experiences growing up without meeting blank stares. Our intersecting identities came together as one and it was a breath of fresh air. As 2020 turned to 2021 to 2022 we’re now nearing the end of another year and BLM is out of the news. No more will you turn on the news and see another news story about another Black man or woman who was unfairly gunned down. Did the murders stop? No. They are as present as ever; however, like most things in the news stories come and go. Monkeypox, the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, and “What’s hot for Fall”, started taking over the news and the confidence that Black Americans once had in America to change has gone back to a sizzle. So where does this leave us? We still feel the same pain, sadness, and rage that everyone felt in 2020 but as always we keep it under wraps. We share it with our black friends or close allies. Have things changed? Absolutely, friends will text on the rare occasion they hear about an incident happening, a lot more workplaces have D&I clubs, committees or entire positions dedicated to diversity and inclusion and Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. But life as we know it is back to normal, while the landscape has changed, we will never have another 2020 and that’s probably for the better. 

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- Lindsey Washington, Advanced Clinical Fellow and MSW Candidate