'It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can endure the most who will conquer.' Terence MacSwiney
While I didn't necessarily agree with the film's portrayal of Bobby Sands and the obvious propaganda injected into the documentary, the fascinating parts of Bobby Sands: 66 Days was the juxtaposition of violence and non-violent protest happening simultaneously, as a means to an end. While the hunger strikes last days and the killing lasted four decades, one wonders which were truly more effective. The glamorous belief is the deaths of Sands, and others were far more effective than the bombings and killings. There's no doubt his election furthers this viewpoint. I'm fascinated by his story, as much for the man whose memory reached mythic proportions, but also for the concept of non-violence as the centerpiece for a violent struggle.
I obviously watched this with present-day happenings firmly entrenched in my mind, wondering constantly, could George Floyd's death ever be as impactful as Sands, when our media only concentrates on a handful of people who have turned to violence? Or, is the violence what will make George Floyd the martyr we so desperately need? History tells us that America does not believe in martyrs. Dr. King was assassinated and while he is viewed as a pillar of non-violent activism, one must truly question. nearly 60 years later, just how effective he was. Malcolm X, his more violent counterpart, is barely discussed among White America as anything more than a well-organized troublemaker. Since then, every time a black man dies at the hands of law enforcement, people take to the streets and what starts as a noble cause is usually transformed into chaos, normally by one or two people (let's leave the conspiracy theories to the media), and this chaos multiplies, inevitably destroying the credibility of the cause.
One of the things that always sticks out during a peaceful rebellion is the idea that those with privilege are needed to join in support. This is rarely the case. Take yesterday or the day before, take any civil rights protest in our history, What have White people added? Has the Vision of their support aided in any way? Think about every photo of these marches. Not the hand-holding, the sign-waving, and the unified chants, but when these protests are met by force. Think of every single one involving a privileged person standing there in support. Every single time, it is a photo of a black man or woman, cuffed, pepper-sprayed, beaten, and a while person standing by screaming to stop. These images, videos, sounds, only further the divide. While I am in no way saying we, as privileged Americans should sit by idly, I do think we need to use our power. Our money, our voice via calls, letters, emails, and most of all votes. Our demands should be at times of peace. We should not take away from others' messages by thinking we're helping. We should stand around them, protect them, lift them up, and demand justice and equality, not after the death of a young man or woman, but before.
Every time a black man or woman has their life taken, we demand social justice. Then time goes by and we wait for the next one. Rinse and repeat. It's been half a century since the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and white people have done very little in terms of support since. We, myself included, post photos pf MLK and quote his brilliance, but it ends there. We go about our lives, occasionally feeling guilty enough about our privilege to stand with our brothers and sisters and all we achieve is to show the glaring contrast in our treatment. Then we go home, feeling better about ourselves, while the struggle continues, in ways we can only pretend to understand.
It's time for all of us to stop pretending we're helping and help
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