I have been thinking about what I wanted to say to y’all in this blog post. I have been asking God to give me the words He wants me to say and I know this is such a sensitive topic to talk about, but we need to talk about it.
To People of Color: I’m sorry for the way you have been getting treated just because of your skin color, it’s not right. I’m learning to educate myself about what your community goes through on a daily basis, so I will have so much empathy when I teach children of all diverse backgrounds because I am attending college to become an Elementary teacher. The more I know, the better because knowledge is power! I’m also listening – my ears are open to what all of you have to say and it makes me think about other perspectives. Keep using your voice because each voice has potential to change the world for the better and I know all of you want to finally be heard. I’m White and I know I will never understand what the Black community goes through, but I’m trying my best to learn about it and educate others around me. I will fight for you.
Racism is wrong.
Before I begin, I want to point out that we are making History as we speak and it’s so mind blowing to me because all of this is going to be in History books – my future children and the children today will be learning about everything we are currently going through. Isn’t that mind blowing to you?
Anyways, I already know that this is going to be a long blog post and I hope each of you reading this sticks with me to the very end of the post!
Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor
**Not my image**
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud was simply going for a jog outside and as he was running, he was shot because a White person thought he looked like someone else who has been robbing different buildings. From my understanding, Ahmaud did nothing wrong.
Here is a petition for you to sign for Ahmaud Arbery and I encourage you to sign it if you haven’t already.
**Not my image**
George Floyd was the most recent. On May 25, 2020, George was killed by a policeman. Articles stated that he forged a $20 bill and an employee at the gas station called the cops because George looked like he was drunk. The cops came. George was lying on his stomach and one of the cops had their knee on the back of George’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. George kept crying out that he couldn’t breathe. **I want to point out that not all cops are bad and that there are cops out there who really do care about people. There are cops out there who try the best to protect us from danger.**
Here is the petition for George Floyd and I encourage you to sign it if you haven’t already.
**Not my image**
On March 13, 2020 at night, policemen who weren’t dressed in their uniform nor did they say they were policemen, entered Breonna’s apartment and started shooting. The policemen thought Breonna was someone else that they were looking for. They thought that Breonna had drugs, but she didn’t and the person the policemen were looking for was already arrested on that same day. The policemen entered the wrong neighbor hood, home, and killed a person who didn’t have a part in anything. At this moment, no charges have been made and there has not been any arrests. **Recently, The FBI announced how they are going to look more into Breonna’s case because of all of the people who brought attention to what happened to Breonna, so please keep signing the petition, so justice will be served soon!**
Here is the petition for Breonna Taylor and I encourage you to sign it if you haven’t already.
They were innocent people
What do these three people have in common? They were all innocent people. Ahmaud, George, and Breonna should still be here today. They didn’t do anything wrong. This needs to change.
Ever since George’s death, there have been peaceful protests and rioting.
At first, I thought that people destroying things wasn’t ok and it’s still not ok, but I read something that made sense to me. I will be teaching children and I understand that when someone is currently going through trauma or dealing with it from their past, they start acting out because they want to be noticed; they are urning to be loved by those around them. Maybe they haven’t felt what it’s like to be loved and they are trying to find that love. People of Color might have felt that no one has listened to them and George’s death was the tip of the iceberg that made them push for something to be done. They want to be heard and they want us to listen to them. People of Color also deserve to be treated equally just as people who are White. Every ethnicity should be treated that way.
White Privilege does exist
If you are White, have you ever gotten stopped by a cop because they felt like you were doing something wrong, but you weren’t?
Have you ever had someone think that you were a bad person because of the color of your skin?
Have you ever been picked apart just because of the color of your skin when you were in school?
If you have children, have you ever had to teach them about exactly what they needed to say if they got stopped by the police just so they wouldn’t get shot?
If you have children, have you ever had to tell them that some people weren’t going to like them because of the color of their skin?
Have you ever had someone accuse you for doing something you didn’t even do?
Have you felt like someone was afraid of you as they were standing in an elevator with you?
If you said no to these scenarios, that is what White Privilege is. You and I haven’t experienced being in these situations and People of Color experience it daily.
I remember having to take a college class at my University that was about appreciating diversity and we learned about White Privilege. Back then, I didn’t understand it until I realized what White Privilege actually meant.
People of Color got pushed back in this race called life
Let’s go back to the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Civil War happened because of the disagreement between free states and slave states. People who were slaves in the South didn’t have any rights or even freedom. No one counted slaves as actual people. The South wanted them to be included with the population when it came to voting and the Government said how the South didn’t think of slaves as people. That is where the 3/5 Compromise comes in and the slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person to the population.
Segregation also happened where Black people had to go to certain restaurants, schools, neighborhoods, church, and so many other public places. The White people couldn’t associate with them and the White people also had their own public places they were only allowed to go to; Black people weren’t allowed because they could only go to the places that they were only allowed to go to.
I truly believe that segregation played a role in the reason why racism even exists today. Even as this was happening back then, people were categorized by the color of their skin and that probably has a role as to why People of Color get treated differently today.
People of Color had to go to schools that weren’t the best at educating them because of the lack of money the schools were getting, they lived in neighborhoods that were poor, and most of their parents didn’t have a job that paid them well. Of course, this was back then and some still do live in poor neighborhoods or are unable to afford to have their children get a better education. My point is that most people who were White didn’t have this problem back then and that led them to have an advantage.
What I have mentioned above is called, Systemic Racism. At the end of this blog post, I will link a video I found that explained this, so you will have a better understanding of what I’m talking about!
The Civil War ended in 1865, but that didn’t mean that all slaves were free; they still didn’t have freedom.
The Civil Rights Movement started in 1954 and ended in 1968. It lasted for that long!
Why did a child get so much hate just because of the color of her skin?
Starting in 1954, segregation ended in public schools. This leads me to talk about such a brave child who didn’t fight back when people said mean things about her and prayed to God that He will forgive the people because they didn’t know what they were doing. This child I’m describing is Ruby Bridges! I have talked about her story on this blog before and I encourage you to read this blog post about it.
On November 14, 1960, Ruby was only six years old and she was the first African American to attend an All-White school.
I honestly first discovered the story of Ruby Bridges this year because I didn’t know who she was until I learned about her in one of my Education classes. I didn’t even know that she was the first African American child to desegregate schools. I remember asking myself, “Why didn’t I learn about this when I was in Elementary or in High School?” I also couldn’t understand why people hated Ruby Bridges just because of the color of her skin. She couldn’t help that her skin was black, that was out of her control.
God didn’t create us to be the exact same copy of someone else, He created us to be unique and that is why we have so many different skin colors; we should not see that as a bad thing. We are also called to love one another just as God has loved us (John 15:12).
Stand up for those who are wanting to be heard
We need to start using our voices in a positive way. Start standing up for those who deserve to be treated better. Stand up for those who are innocent. Ahmaud, George, and Breonna all deserve justice. You see, this happens all the time where People of Color get killed for doing absolutely nothing wrong and we are only getting a glimpse of it because it’s on camera and because of social media. Think of so many other people we don’t know about who have lost their lives and ended up being innocent. This happens every day.
For those of you who are Catholic and you are reading this, I encourage you to please read this article that discuss why us Catholics need to start speaking up about racism: https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2020/all-catholics-must-speak-out-for-equality-against-racism-say-leaders.cfm. I am Catholic and I am a Cradle Catholic, which means I was raised into the Catholic faith when I was Baptized as a baby. As Catholics, we need to start speaking up and discuss why racism is wrong. We must start speaking up about this instead of staying silent by sweeping it underneath the rug and forgetting about it.
What are you going to do?
I know that racism is uncomfortable to talk about, especially to your friends and family, but start having those uncomfortable conversations because when you do this, you will be educating others about how racism isn’t right at all and why it’s wrong.
Y’all, we can’t stay silent about this. If we want to end racism, we need to do something about it and educating yourself about it is a start. We should not be treating people differently because of the color of their skin. We should treat ALL people with respect and be kind to everyone no matter what their skin color is.
We have to start somewhere.
Start learning about what people of color go through and listening about how they feel on a daily basis.
All I have seen on social media (I’m speaking for myself) is People of Color telling us how they feel, their experiences growing up, and what they go through on the daily basis. I also watched a video proving how we aren’t born with racism and it’s something we are taught – I will be linking that video and so many others I have watched on Instagram, so y’all can watch them too.
We need change.
We need to do something.
We must take action if we want to end racism.
When we do something about it, we are slowly changing the world for the better and for generations to come after us
I truly believe that my generation is going to be the one who puts an end to racism.
We will make sure that children today will not be living in this dark world we are currently in when they are all grown up; we are going to be the change in this world. I truly do believe that and it makes me so proud when I see people my age speaking up and using their voice for the better good about this entire situation!
Sometimes I wonder why racism is still even a thing today. Honestly, 2020 is definitely the year for change and I know that something so much better is going to come out of everything we all have been through this year. All of the pain is going to help strengthen us.
Why I choose to stand up for those who are wanting to be heard
I honestly refuse to stay silent because staying silent is not doing anything at all to help put an end to racism and it’s all not going to make this situation instantly go away. We must talk about it and we must keep talking about it.
I believe that it is my duty to stand up for those who have been mistreated because of the color of their skin and another reason why I refuse to stay silent is because I am attending college to become an Elementary teacher. I will be teaching children soon of all different backgrounds and I will have students who have different colors of skin because again, we were all created differently by God. I cannot just stay silent because if I did, it’s like not caring about my future students, especially the different cultures they celebrate.
I will make sure that each of my students see themselves in children’s books – I am going to have characters that aren’t just White. I will read different books to my class about the different cultures other people around the world celebrate and the characters in books will have different skin colors, so each of my students will be able to see themselves in books we have read. Then, the other children who can’t relate, they will soon have a new perspective of other people.
I will teach my students how to treat other people and to treat them the same way they want to be treated no matter what their skin color is. I want each of my students to know that their skin is beautiful no matter what and I want them to truly believe that.
When I’m a teacher, I pray that I will be making a difference in each of my students’ lives and that I will have an impact on their lives, so they will become better human beings and will know how to treat other people in this world.
One day my future students will make a gigantic mark on this world and I cannot wait to witness it!
All Lives Should Matter and All People of Color Lives Matter Too
I have been seeing things about how black lives aren’t the only one that matters and how it’s All Lives Matter. Yes, all lives should matter, but I understand why People of Color are saying that black lives matter. From what I have listened to, it’s because their lives keep on being ignored and it seems like other people don’t care what is happening to the People of Color, especially when they keep on getting killed for being innocent and that is a problem. Their lives should matter, just as equally as our lives matter. The thing is that People of Color feel like nothing has been done every single time someone of their color is shot for being innocent. That is why their lives need to matter too, even when all lives should matter; I believe every life is precious and even the unborn babies need to matter too. We need to speak up for everyone who doesn’t have a voice in this world. If you have found your voice, use it and don’t let anyone mute you. Your voice matters and it is powerful. We need to speak up for what is right no matter what the individual’s skin color is – that shouldn’t even matter. We need equity. We need to fight for justice for all.
We are all human. We all bleed red. We all belong to God.
What I have seen on Instagram and I hope you gain insight from them
This video was eye-opening to me because I don’t think I was taught exactly what I needed to say to the police so I wouldn’t end up getting shot.
This is the video I was talking about when I discussed how People of Color got a late start.
This video shows how we aren’t born being racist and how it is taught – I encourage you to watch this video!
This helps to visually explain what White Privilege looks like.
This video explains some of the questions that people who are White might have.
Think about this quote that has been going around:
“Don’t be afraid to be the person who calls [racism] out. Not saying a word is why this is still going on. You have a voice. We got to get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
When you witness something that you know isn’t right, speak up. It’s better to speak up than to be silent and act like it never happened.
This is another example of White Privilege and privilege in general. The door attendant automatically assumed that the person of color was the one who made the alarm go off, but it wasn’t him! You see, we have to say something and start speaking up when we see this happening – we need to ask why and stand up for those who are getting treated differently.
This picture says it all.
I know all of these pictures and videos are a lot and my point I’m trying to make is that not all People of Color are bad. In my eyes, I have been seeing people of all ethnicities coming together to fight for justice for People of Color and together, we will make a difference in the world. We are being the change we wish to see in the world!! I pray you realize that not all People of Color are destroying cities and harming others – a lot of what I have seen is so inspiring and it gives me hope for the future.
Please listen to song, “Together” by for KING & COUNTRY, Kirk Franklin, and Tori Kelly. This song was written in respect of the coronavirus, so concentrate more on the lyrics of the song than the signs people are holding up in the video because in my opinion, I think this song relates to what the world is going through right now with fighting for justice and to put an end to racism. When we come together, we are stronger together.
“This is for the busted heart
This is for the question marks
This is for the outcast soul
Lost control, no one knows
Sing it for the can’t-go-back
Sing it for the broken past
Sing it for the just found out
Life is now upside down
If you’re lookin’ for hope tonight, raise your hand
If you feelin’ alone and don’t understand
If you’re fightin’ in the fight of your life, then stand
We’re gonna make it through this hand-in-hand
And if we fall, we will fall together
Ha ha, I got you, my brother
I see you my sister
Oh, and when we rise, we will rise together
Together
Together we are dangerous
Together with our differences
Together we are bolder, braver, stronger”
If you’re still reading to the very end, thank you so much and I pray you have a different outlook on racism! I know this is such a long blog post, but the things I said, needed to be said. God placed all of this on my heart and I knew I had to say all of it. I honestly think this has been my most longest blog post I have ever written!
To those reading this who aren’t White, I am White and I see you. I stand with you. I will fight by your side and I will fight for you. There is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the color of your skin. You are so beautiful in God’s eyes and that is why He created you. Your life matters so much.
The Kylie’s Corner & More family has so many sweet people that read these blog posts all around the world. I will fight for the people in the Kylie’s Corner & More family. I personally have met so many other bloggers who are so sweet that don’t have the same color of skin as me and I will fight for them as well. I will fight for you.
I stand for you. I pray that my voice encourages other people to speak out against racism and even if your voice shakes, you are still making a difference in this world. Remember that.
God loves you no matter what color of skin you have. You are a Child of God.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. – Philippians 2:14-16
Kylie's Corner & More 
Kylie, I appreciate you, your sincere words, and your courage to speak up. Thank you!
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I truly appreciate your sweet comment, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that! You really don’t need to thank me! Thank you for taking the time to read it and for leaving a sweet comment.✨💗
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I have had the same arguments from people who say that white people (liberals) who joined George Floyd’s protesters were feeling the white guilt. REALLY???? I think everyone should probably be like them because they have chosen to recognize the injustices felt by their fellow Americans and are deciding to do something about it. I think everyone should take their example and things might get better. That is why your post was so much appreciated!
Stay safe!
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I haven’t felt that way and I know that we all need to start speaking up – it hurts me that this is such a controversial topic to discuss, it shouldn’t even matter what color of skin we have because all need to be treated with same amount of respect and kindness! I appreciate you telling me this and I know there are other people out there who are too afraid to speak up and I hope my post encourages them to have the courage to speak up! Thank you and stay safe too!
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Enjoy your weekend., and thank you!
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Enjoy your weekend too and you’re welcome!☺️
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Great post, Kylie. I love that you are bold to speak so openly and not sugarcoat it. I completely agree with you. I’ve been having some tough conversations, too (it’s so hard to talk to certain white people who won’t open their minds and hearts), and as tiring as it gets, I know I need to be an ally and keep having these conversations.
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Thank you so much, Lily! I truly appreciate your sweet compliment! It’s even uncomfortable for me too at times because I know that not everyone sees what I see and sometimes I stay quiet, but I know I need to stop doing that! We need to keep on speaking up though even when it’s uncomfortable! I’m so thankful for my Education classes I have taken to become an Elementary teacher because I see it all differently than how other people are seeing it. It will also help me when I’m in the classroom with my own students because I’m more aware of what children of color go through. We do need change and it starts with us by speaking up!✨☺️
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