I'm not sure why you would choose that choice of words, or what this post is meant to achieve, given that the phrase "all lives matter" is strongly associated with people undermining that black lives matter (and are in fact just like other lives in that respect).
Adding onto Bri's brilliant and impactful message, it's also not wise or necessary to joke or undermine certain prejudices and treatments that many Indigenous and African communities have experienced such as lynching, decades of racism and slavery, or the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as it's extremely inappropriate and disrespectful to the many generations of people who are victims to these prejudices. It is also not appropriate to "reenact" the treatment and brutality that many Indigenous and African American generations have faced throughout their lifetimes. An obvious example of this would be the sickening TikTok "challenge" of recreating George Floyd's death as a "joke", for "a laugh" or for the sake of popularity. I have seen so many disheartening and insensitive TikToks and Snapchat messages about the Black Lives Matter Movement and even just thinking about it makes me feel sick.
If you haven't heard about it already there are two instances of the insensitivity and belittlement of the Black Lives Matter Movement:
- The first being the ridiculous Tik Tok "trend" and "challenge" of recreating George Floyd's death, which I discussed how insensitive and inappropriate it is, above.
- As well as the incident involving students from St Joseph's College (Gregory Terrace - Brisbane) where a few students "recreated" his death with the caption of "RIP George Floyd ❤️" to mock and joke about his death.
Both of these incidents are disgusting to even comprehend. As the next generation, it should be OUR responsibility to condemn and criticise the representations and treatment of Indigenous and African American communities throughout history and even in today's society. It should be up to us to evoke change and development in our home, our society, our community and our world. It should be up to us to recognise and not erase the past but learn from it to innovate and change as people and as a society. What I'm trying to say is that if you recognise racism in any shape or form whether it may be a "casual" joke, threats, insults, colourism, institutionalised racism or insensitivity to the movement, then please, don't be a bystander, be a participant. Use your voice; speak up.
As of now, more than ever, we need to stand together as a community to protect and stand up for each other. As the next generation of human beings, it should be us who recognises the prejudices of the past to learn and grow as a society. As Bri emphasised, it's important that we, as a community, should abide by the concept of respect to all, not just ourselves - whether it may be in online forums or in reality. If you aren't aware of the rules of the ATAR Notes forums, I will emphasise one of the most important rules below.
As ATAR Notes forum administrator Joseph41 also highlighted:
This is the number one rule of the community - have respect for others. On a basic level, this obviously precludes religious slander, racism (no matter how veiled), sexism, disparaging LGBTQIA+ groups, or otherwise acting like an insufferable fool.
Please keep this in mind whether you are "surfing" the internet, on social media or in real life, as your respect is ultimately what evolves into change.
Stay safe and kind regards,
Darcy Dillon.
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