Hello reader,

I’ve dithered about writing my initial post because I was hoping for a better and brighter day to start rambling.

I waited out March, April and May hoping that the COVID-19 pandemic would abate somewhat and boy was I wrong.

Here in Australia we started the year battling the worst bushfires we have seen this side of the century. Christmas, New Years and summer were effectively dedicated to fundraising efforts and doing all we could to support the affected communities.

Just as we saw some semblance of hope, COVID-19 blew up around the world and continues to dominate headlines…

…until May 25th, 2020 when a decorated Minnesota policeman with a string of suppressed complaints to his record murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes in an arrest attempt, ignoring both bystander please and George’s that he could not breathe. Nine minutes of agony where George called for his mother and begged for his life. Nine minutes where his neck and back were compressed by the weight of four human bodies on him. Nine long, agonising minutes that would change the course of civil rights in America this century and largest people power movement and Black Lives Matter marches globally.

In all of this, it’s easy to point the finger. It is easy to highlight the systemic racism that courses through the veins of American society. It’s too easy to label their commander-in-chief the ‘racist-in-chief’ and ‘king of the swamp’. And it is definitely too easy to ignore what is happening in our backyard in Australia with the treatment of Aboriginal Australians in police custody.

In our desire to distract ourselves from the reality of the situation, we focus on inflammatory content greater then what we can control, whether it is outrage at Twitter for censoring Trump’s posts or conversely at Facebook for not doing so, or we change lanes and get behind hating Ellen. Alternatively we hide behind our keyboards and our phones and attack on social media for the fun of it.

I get it. I totally do. Reality can really suck balls sometimes. And because of the interconnectedness we have nowadays due to the internet, social media and developing technologies, it is not wrong to feel like what is happening in America is on our doorstep; that it is right here, right now. To a point, it is.

I can not and will not ever profess to understanding what it is like to endure systemic racism to the level that is demonstrated in America. To understand that as a parent of colour not only has to raise there child in accordance to their beliefs, but to also teach their children how to behave when they encounter law enforcement; to appear less then they are in lifts and enclosed public spaces; to announce that they are reaching for their licence when pulled over and to move slowly; and in some cases, to witness a friend; a relative or a neighbour’s life ended unnecessarily as a product of this ingrained discrimination. They are taught to move on, to accept it, that this is how it is.

What I have observed over the past week challenges that norm. People all around the world have risen up in protest. Protesting that Black Lives Matter. That George Floyd’s death and reason for such treatment in custody was not only excessive, but erred devastatingly close to, if it did not already, a breach of human rights.

Just like how COVID-19 brought out the best in some and the absolute worse in others, George Floyd’s death is not in vain. We would prefer it otherwise, but his nine minutes of suffering and agony have supercharged people and empowered their voices to rise up. To rise up against the warlike manoeuvres of a childish, despotic government; to challenge the system and to unite everyone under one cause.

We’re all fighting for the same cause. To be seen, heard and treated as equals. To be respected and to be free. To live, love and exist in peace. We are not there at the moment, but we are certainly moving in the right direction.

Vale George Floyd. Vale Ahmaud Arbery. Vale Breonna Taylor. Vale to all those who have had their lives cut short because of this illness in the fabric of American society. And to those closer to home who have seen needless tragedy occur in custody, these marches, these protests, these voices are for you too.