Do We Really Want Change? A Protest is For Life
Words Sarah Adama
We’ve seen the countless protests and petitions. We are not seeing anything that we haven’t seen before. We all want change but the question is, who is willing to bring the change? Freedom isn’t free, freedom has a price. The question is, are we willing to pay the price of freedom? When will the black community become shareholders in society, rather than just the face? What are the ingredients of change?
It’s true that committed citizens can change the world. As Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.” A commitment is an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action. In other words, a burden or responsibility. When individuals accept that there is a burden on our shoulder to change the narrative and break barriers for the next generation, we can begin to talk about long term-change. Every action we take in this current climate will determine the trajectory of the next few years. Emotions are high but it’s important to take a step back, step away from the social media uproar and think. Just think. If we can see beyond what is happening today, we will see that the journey will be long and hard, but not impossible. It’s one thing to carry a burden, it’s another thing to have the power to do something about it. One thing about commitment is to understand that protests do not start and end on social media and at marches. This means lifestyle changes, sacrifice and compassion. Once we, as commitment citizens can realise that we don’t live for ourselves and there is a cause bigger than one’s self we will push through the issues of life in the hopes of creating a better future.
Nothing great was ever accomplished without making sacrifices. Commitment and sacrifice go hand in hand. Commitment is a mind matter and sacrifice is a heart matter. Sacrifice is for the long-term greater benefit. To obtain greater freedom and prosperity, we will need to sacrifice things short term. This may mean putting aside your desires to have money to invest in a good venture or sacrificing your time to volunteer and support social enterprises.For the many companies that have publicly announced their support for the black community, it means to commit. From this moment on, every decision should respect your words, leadership structures and procedures. Corporate social responsibility begins at home. Let’s take a look at perspective as humans and citizens, we need to have conversations to understand each other more. I’m not saying racism can be solved by cultural awareness but it sure would avoid a lot of problems. We can become more culturally informed once we begin to ask questions and learn from one another.
Ignorance is deeply rooted and makes communication ineffective. People may speak about the micro-aggressions at work or stereotypes, why? This is a result of limited thinking. There are limitations to our cultural knowledge and committed citizens must begin to think outside our own box. In other words, asides from institutional problems, we have a problem of perception. Building cultural awareness will ensure that society moves from a colour-blind approach to one that recognises all. This invisibility is the reason we are experiencing a lack of representation across all industries, from beauty products to top finance firms. In case you’re all wondering where culture comes into all of this, let’s take a look at the health care institution. Culture not only influences health care practices but also influences how the healthcare provider and patient perceive illness to be. You may have heard a few stories of the experiences of pregnant black women giving birth as opposed to their white counterparts, such stories make you wonder why these people are being treated differently despite being in the same condition. Statistics show that black women have a higher birth mortality rate than their white counterparts. These observations range across different sectors and areas of human endeavour. The question we must begin to ask is why? We understand that an institution can be ‘intentionally racist’ but why is it that people, who are supposed to be serving the public, carry on these same behaviours?
Once we begin to have these conversations, we can penetrate the systems and have the thinking that rules. What’s the old saying, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Are you willing to dedicate yourself to a cause bigger than yourself? The path to change isn’t smooth, if we want change enough and if BLM is not just a hashtag, we will have to do what is required to obtain the goal.
Sarah Adama - Politician