Tag: Minneapolis Police Department

Juneteenth 2020 is something else

We’re living in the foreshadowing of what really happened during the time of our ancestors. For two years, Texan slaves didn’t know they were actually freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. Today in 2020, we have the president of the United States taking credit for making the holiday famous in the midst of rescheduling his first 2020 presidential campaign in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Though there could be some truth to that statement for many Americans, Trump is not the reason why I know about Juneteenth and also many other people who are fortunate to be educated on the true history of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Did you know this artist was offered a job after sharing his 2019 Google Juneteenth Illustration?

Juneteeth 2020 was more proactive because of the current social climate of our country. Since the death of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department on Memorial day, daily protest bringing attention to police brutality and excessive force has remarkably surged throughout the nation. People are making it their duty to protest in support of their stances against systemic racism and support or police reform. Every day there are new updates around the country changing legislation and proposed laws. It’s liberating to see.

But it was a first for me to see black people telling others how to celebrate Juneteenth. Entertainment site xoNecole shared a series of infographics encouraging how people could celebrate their Juneteenth. While I am a black woman, I have never had a tradition for this day. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that there are many black people who honor it.

I felt like I needed to do something to bring more awareness of my history, especially currently with what’s happening. Until June 19th, I’ve remained in my home social-distanced, and my only knowledge of what’s occurring in the outside world is met through the Internet. I needed to get out of my selfmade COVID-19 dungeon. So Juneteenth, I thought of doing something safe that could give me an escape and purpose. 

After George Floyd, my boyfriend and I talked about our feelings about our current social climate in America. Both of us expressed a desire for wanting to do more with our brands in support of the Black community. I don’t know what it was, at that moment we felt like we weren’t doing enough. It’s like a kick of activism sparks in your spirit when something you know that isn’t right eludes in fairness. So boom I had an idea. Taking pictures of BLM signs, morals, businesses in support of #BlackLivesMatter while driving around Baltimore could give us that oomph we were missing. We can still do this and remained social-distanced.

Defund the Police. Need I say more?

I don’t think it’s necessary. We haven’t kept quiet since Floyd. I think people are fed up and won’t keep quiet.

CtrlMyCamera takes the credit for all these photos. That’s why I want to bring attention to supporting this talented black artist.

It’s always fun to catch an artist at work. It’s even more fun when you can get a class from it. Haha. Akeel is the most skilled photographers that I personally know in Baltimore city. So if it came down to finding the perfect person to coach me during a photo walk, no doubt it would be Ctrlmycamera.

A nice night hanging by the fire with friends in our blackness 12 am on Juneteeth.

Akeel Shabazz is the owner of the photography brand CtrlMyCamera. CtrlMyCamera specializes in portrait, event, wedding, landscape, and nature photography. Check out more from Akeel found on his Instagram @ctrlmycamera.

When did you first hear about Juneteenth? Leave your comments below.

Is this the Revolution I talked about not being Televised? My #BlackOutTuesday Protest Against Racism in the Wake of the 2020 Minneapolis Riots

I started writing this blog last week. I revised and deleted it a few times. I’m still weird about publishing this now. But to tell you the truth, I feel the same feeling of word vomit eroding my mouth today as I did 5 years ago when I wrote “#OpinionEssay: The “Real” Revolution Will Not Be Televised. #ILoveBaltimore” during the unrest in Baltimore resulting in the Baltimore Uprising. I don’t care how the blog comes off because it is another protest about what is happening around me. I just asked God to use me as he did before.

On Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black American man was executed on video by Officer Derek Chavin of the Minneapolis Police Department. The video went viral like a plethora of other police brutality videos that surface online. But this one…this one might just be the video that dropped a major bomb into white people’s reality. Do we actually have white people on alert as to what happens to Black people in America? Because a week later after this horrific image was shared countless times on our feeds, America also has seen protests and riots in cities across the country calling for justice for Floyd. 

Credit:Nick Oxford/Reuters

When I wrote my Opinion Essay about how a revolution and revolt would not be televised, it was to send a message to Black people to come together and educate their families on the realities of being black. I wanted people to talk to their children about Black history. I needed black parents to take the time to teach their kids about a culture and a reality that has led their children to face a different lifestyle than those of other backgrounds. I wanted black people to heal in their black pride by sharing themselves with each other. It wasn’t my intention to tell black people to seek help or compassion from anyone who is white. When black people feel betrayed, that is the last thing they’re thinking of doing. I really believe many black people, like myself, took the time to immerse themselves in their blackness and grew in their pride because I saw so much uplifting and positivity living in the midst of the 2015 Baltimore Uprising. But the revolution was not going to be televised and all the positivity Black Baltimoreans experienced was short-lived. 

Source: Vice ID

Today I feel different about this revolution for Black America. I mean, the revolution is definitely on TV lol. There are so many black people who are already strong, having pride for themselves and culture. Black people live in their blackness daily. We don’t need to keep being reminded of why we go through these harsh realities. We’ve even gotten accustomed to healing each other whenever we’re knocked down with each release of a new video or news story. Though so many people yell #AllLivesMatter or Black on Black crime -blah, blah, blah- that is absolutely irrelevant to what attention we want. Black People are faced with injustices that people are deliberately ignoring. The revolution we’re watching for sure needs to be televised but this part of it is not for our spectatorship, it’s for our voice.

This revolution needs our labor at this moment to be a voice in our pure authentic blackness. This revolution needs for us to share our black stories, our black experiences, our black pain, and our black hopes. We need to share these things with our white friends so they can empathize with them. We need them to find some way to feel how we feel so that it can provoke them to fight for their allies because when white people care, they fight. It’s liberating to see more of my white friends, co-workers, and acquaintances speaking up after seeing this video. It’s amazing seeing white people taking the initiative to do the things that I asked of from Black people.

June 2, 2020, is a unique day in history particularly because #BlackOutTuesday will mark a day when industries and companies around the world chose to stop what they were doing to stand in solidarity against systemic racism. It’s the day America is literally acknowledging the bullshit. It might not be the whole country because there are still many doubters. But America today looks like it wants to listen to what we have to say. Black people have been screaming for such acknowledgment since forever ago. I’m a little overwhelmed with America lending an ear to Black folks, but goddammit about time. It’s the first time in all my life that I’m seeing white guilt on such a huge magnitude. I watched a video on Baltimore Fox 45 Facebook Live of hundreds of white people kneeling in solidarity on Northern Parkway and Roland Ave. We’re nowhere near the endpoint of racism but at least I’m seeing white people just as outraged as we are.

Several hundred protestors are kneeling for 9 mins on Northern Pkwy and Roland Ave.
Eddie Kadhim WMAR is on scene (Source: Facebook WBAR-2)

It’s not over. We still need our white allies. But we need this issue to be in their faces constantly. That’s the just reality of it. Once George Floyd’s investigation dies down in the media, will white people stop trying to learn what’s really affecting people of color? When I think of the answer to this question in general, it’s no because it’s a really uncomfortable subject. People do not like facing being uncomfortable. A huge part of me believes that once we stop talking about it, we’ll fall back into this being black people’s reality, and I’m not being a narcissist when I think this because this is my reality. I’m black and there are a lot of wow factors about my daily escapades of being a black woman I often gaze over as just another thing I’m used to.

This is the new challenge that I would like white allies to face now that we’ve got a lot of their attention. I challenge them to continually diversify their mind while learning black culture because many of us have concerns about what’s genuine. All these awesome stances are being made, but will they make an effort to continue to learn about systemic racism and seek ways to help fight it? Will they deliberately seek moments that may make them uncomfortable with the intentions of it helping them grow? The country needs unity and in order to get there, we need collaboration and understanding that will not expire once the next headline takes the lead, I’m just saying.

Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

I’m tired. So are a lot of other black people. Are white people truly tired?

Have you read What You Missed at the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March… (Four Main Points Minister Farrakhan Shouted at Us)?