agony.

This is undoing years of hard work in a single night.

Tell me how to make peace with this.

Well I tried to control it, and cover it up.

So I tried to forget it
That was all part of the show
Told myself I'd regret it
But what do I know?

   In a previous episode of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed Ava DuVernay, the film director of Selma while exploring the idea that America is a post-racial society. This March marked the 49^th anniversary of the Selma campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in which thousands of nonviolent demonstrators marched from Selma to Montgomery in campaign for voting rights and in response to the deaths of Reverend James Reeb and Jimmie Lee Jackson. When the activists refused to disband even when threatened with violence, they were beaten and tear gassed. Waiting officers chased those who managed to escape the crowd and continued the beating. Peaceful protestors were assaulted for daring to stand up for freedoms they deserved and speaking out against the murder of innocent men.  After the movement, which emerged from racial violence and disproportionate police brutality, Black communities celebrated and believed they had accomplished another step towards equality. However, 50 years later, the cases of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and numerous others tell the world otherwise.

            Due to the specific cases that drew attention to the perceptions of race, the popular hashtag #AllLivesMatter, has consumed social media. This particular hashtag has become a major theme discussed among all mass media, implying that the more progressive idea is to be colorblind to race. This is a problem because, although it appears to be a great concept, in reality it is masqueraded ignorance. To disregard race and its influence is to invalidate the cultural heritage and challenges people of color experience. Ideas cannot be understood unless it is examined thoroughly, thus dismissing race as an element of personal identity allows racism to thrive.

            There is nothing wrong with the affirmation that all lives matter, because all human beings inalienably and inherently encompass worth. Nevertheless, there is an insidious message beneath the proclamation: it assumes that all people in this country have been and are treated equally. Therein lies the misconception of this trend; historically, that has not been true. As a result of imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism, people of color have been left marginalized and with disadvantaged access to equal opportunity. It is not enough to declare #AllLivesMatter when this country was discovered on the ideology that all lives never matter as much as White European lives did. #BlackLivesMatter does not mean to prioritize a certain minority community over another, but to serve as a reminder that there are people in today's world that do not believe the statement. 

             It is not appropriate to post hashtags and avoid uncomfortable conversations about race and privilege. The problem of racial conflicts cannot be solved without proactive and honest dialogues about race. We must acknowledge America’s ugly history that still precipitates startling ramifications for people of color today and embrace multiculturalism. Multiculturalism recognizes and respects the differences we have. We must use our voice to speak up, but not speak over marginalized groups. Although I tend to have a more introverted personality, I want to start being more intentional with speaking up about any oppression that is witnessed and to encourage society to apologize for oppressive or offensive behaviors when they are being pointed out. Simultaneously, we must hold in tension the ways each of us has privileges that perpetuate patterns of oppression in other human beings. Through mutual accountability and education, we must strive towards intersectionality. Let's subvert the misguided assumption that race does not affect human experiences; it is the intersections and differences that make us who we are.