Time to Listen
By the time I graduated college in May of 2020, there was a new world. Racial disparity in police brutality cases was suddenly a point of international focus. People in quarantine had a lot of time to dwell on the police killings of Black people, especially the ones that were posted on the internet like the killing of George Floyd. At the bookstore where I work, we started receiving many orders for books like How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, which puts forth a new perspective on the theory of white sensitivity and triggers for behavior against Black individuals. These were books I had previously read in college, and it was interesting to see how many people were just now picking them up.
A few of the most popular books at the store are currently books that are geared towards educating people about the issues society is facing.
A lending library stands proudly in a yard with a drawn image of a Black fist raised on the door, a symbol of the BLM movement.
After a Zoom event the store held for ‘Color of Law’, many orders of the book were shipped out to customers. The book details redlining and other topics that have caused turmoil for the Black community.
When you are born Black, your life does not come with a trigger warning. There is no disclaimer about how you will be treated in American society or the realities you are subject to face as you grow up. Police brutality is something that affects the Black community at a disproportionate rate in the United States and it is being brought to the attention of people insulated in their homes with their thoughts as more incidents occur. Many news outlets broadcast the protests happening nationwide, which led more people to speak out on the issue, which I saw in group chats with my friends.
“The system has been racist, it only seems like more people talk about it because everyone is at home because of the pandemic,” wrote my friend Katie Mok. “People have the time to read and educate, to protest and such.”
I see a change in the dynamic of what my friends post on Instagram and Twitter feeds. Each one has become conscious of what is happening not only in the Black community, but even in some cases their own communities. We can no longer live in a bubble where police brutality does not exist or is not broadcasted daily, or else we would be choosing to ignore the disparities in our society.
A mural painted on the side of a building in Newark, NJ celebrates visual artist and poet Jerry Gant.
“People seem to get the wrong idea and are unhappy with whatever the media portrays nowadays,” wrote my friend Maggie Minas in our group chat. “When it was police violence and decades of frustration and racism finally being spoken about, no one wanted to hear it. It’s become a depressing world on both sides of the spectrum as we face two major difficulties, yet change has yet to be done.”
Today’s technology allows incidents of police brutality to be live streamed to the world. The media might not cover the event to the full extent, but people can easily find extensive information circulating on the internet. Flooded with notifications about protests or new incidents of police brutality, it is very difficult to turn a blind eye, which is something I have heard discussed among my friends. The changing posts on my Instagram feed demonstrate that many of my friends, family members, and favorite celebrities are becoming more aware of and vocal about systemic police brutality against Black people in America.