And just when we had gotten used to the Corona routine, the protests started. After the virus laid bare how broken the U.S. health system is and how unequal. After the crisis has lead to an unemployment rate of about %20. It has also become obvious once more how unfairly and unjustly black people are still treated in the U.S. There have been protests in NYC since the end of last week. Most of them peaceful. Still, there is a giant number of police officers watching every protest. Helicopters are circling Manhattan. Tonight we have a curfew for the first time, starting at 11 p.m.
Being white and German, I still don’t understand enough. I might actually never grasp the whole issue. But I am trying to learn more. I attend some of the protests. When I am scared of all those police officeres in full riot gear around us, I start to get an idea what black people feel like much more often. The peaceful speeches have reminded me of the protests in Michigan a few weeks ago: White people there protested the Coronavirus stay-at-home order while being armed and eventually entering the state capitol with their weapons. The police didn’t arrest anyone. The president even supported those protests. He now calls for cracking down on the Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
Times have become even more uncertain and scary. I still hope that something good will come out of it. I feel hope is the one thing we can draw on this year.
|Watched| GNTM
|Read| Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media, The Preditorial Page, The Elite, Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying, Misquoted and Demoted, Headlines & Deadlines, Misprints & Mistakes, The New York Times, Time Magazine
|Listened to| A Drink with James, Bad on Paper Podcast, The Kelly Family
|Done| taught from home, had my daily walks/bike rides through the City, spent most of my Saturday with a friend in Central Park
|Eaten| Mexican food, bagels
|Drunk| water, coffee, a few cocktails
|Thought| WTF? Our fridge is broken?!
|Been happy| to spend so much time with my friend on Saturday because days like these seem so unusual this year
|Laughed| the week didn’t feel very much like laughing
|Desired| peacefulness
|Bought| food, drinks
|Clicked| a fun tutorial: Tea for Three: How to Make a Simple Composite (with video tutorial); I find all this information very helpful: A Resource Guide For Anti-Racism + Being An Educated Ally For BIPOC; learn much more about the movement on: http://blacklivesmatter.com/
© janavar