Black Lives Matter Brooklyn Protest Over the Weekend

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen or even participated in the Black Lives Matter protests going on across the country. Fortunately, and maybe, unfortunately, I live in Brooklyn. New York seems to be the center of everything. Protests began, I believe, in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. Then, the next day, they spread throughout the borough and the city.

The one in Flatbush was closest. I found out about it through Twitter.

This protest was peaceful but I’m neither going to condemn or praise the people resorting to violence or destruction.

I understand why they’re doing it.

What George Floyd suffered through was kind of an average day for many black men in this country. We don’t see it because they don’t die or it’s not recorded. They swallow it and move on because if they retaliate, then they become the bad guy. Don’t assume they were doing anything wrong.  I know black men who were doing absolutely nothing when police stopped them.

Trevor Noah talked about this far better. There really is no right or wrong way to protest.

(1/2) Trevor on George Floyd, the Minneapolis protests, Ahmaud Arbery & Amy Cooper:

“While everyone is facing the battle against coronavirus, black people in America are still facing the battle against racism… and coronavirus.” pic.twitter.com/eaVUdq6NzJ

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 30, 2020

Before you condemn these people just try, really try, to see where they’re coming from. To say they’re angry is a gross understatement.

I was bullied from 6th through 12th grade. I, fortunately, didn’t grow up with social media but even then, it felt unending. In movies, you see bullied people have that one friend or that one place they could go to for relief. I didn’t have that. My parents tried. But, when you have a few people telling you one thing and the world telling you another, you’d listen to the world. After a while, I just stopped talking about it. I tried Girls Scouts and I was shunned. I went to summer camp and was shunned. I didn’t have friends at school. I had people I hung out with so I wouldn’t be alone.

Then, one day at school, someone said something to me. Don’t remember exactly what it was. It wasn’t the worst thing someone said to me but I just snapped. I cursed out the person and started throwing things at them. I remained angry, at everyone, for years after that.

So, I understand.

People always quote Dr. King about peaceful protests. They seem to forget there was a man named Malcolm X who’s motto was “by any means necessary.”

Quite a few people during the Civil Rights Movement didn’t believe peaceful protests worked. I, personally, don’t plan on rioting but I’m not going to judge people who do.

Also, as I scroll through Twitter, I see that a lot of the looting and destruction isn’t being done by protesters. Social media has it’s problems, it seriously does, but that’s also one of the reasons why I sometimes prefer it. News often shapes stories in a way that’s not entirely accurate.

Fortunately, I haven’t seen any misinformation about the Flatbush protests. The most we did was disrupt traffic and drivers seemed fine with it. Cars and buses honked their support.

Flatbush made me proud.