I looked out my window to see a group of protestors on the bridge across from our house today. I felt a little sad when I realized that the protesters weren’t out there for Black Lives Matter (they were protesting abortion). I don’t want to discuss their protest, that isn’t the point here. I believe if you have an opinion, feel free to say it, but the fact that the people protesting are in the poorest zip code in Wisconsin seems like a missed opportunity. Originally, as I looked out my window to see them, I thought how cool it was to see a group of white people in an all Black neighborhood showing real change. The thing was, they had this Black Lives Matter sign but didn’t put it up next to the other signs because they didn’t have enough people to hold it up. After talking to them for a bit, they ended up giving us the sign and Alex strapped it to his truck. It feels like it wasn’t as important to them as the other signs they had and I feel that the urgency they had with their signs need to line up with the Black Lives Matter sign too. I believe if we don’t give priority to the Black Lives Matter movement, we will loose more Black lives.
One of the biggest things I have learned living in the inner city is that little Black boys are told by the world they don’t matter and because of that, they make decisions knowing they probably won’t live past the age of 20. When I realized that, it made sense why Black teens steal cars or deal drugs or don’t care about school.
I am not sure this sign outside our house (or where ever will go near our house) will change anyones mind, but I think if white people aren’t expressing loudly that Black Lives Matter, the movement will die and so will more Black lives.
We talk more about our interactions with the protest group on our podcast. Feel free to check it out and let us know what we got right and what we got wrong.