So the Arlong vs. Jimbei post was something that I had planned to write for a long time but it got pushed back due to procrastination. Then I wrote it and scheduled it to be published a week later. When I was writing it things in the world were going crazy and when it published shit had hit the fan.

It amazes me how relevant that post was for what’s happening in my community right now, the Black community.

However, sadly, that post has always been relevant to me. I read the Fishman Arc a long time ago and it was relevant then and it’s relevant now. When I watch X Men the parallels resonate with me again. In both instances it’s deliberate (the authors are deliberately alluding to racism and all the isms in X Men’s case) and in both instances those stories were written ages ago. X Men has been going on for a long time and the issues they face are still relevant!

One thing I don’t like about X Men is that things don’t get resolved. They never get peace and they’re always fighting. It saddened me but I always comforted myself by reminding myself that it’s because X Men is a comic book and comic books need conflict for their storylines to work especially when the comic book is about super heroes. If there was no conflict there would be no story.

Real life is different and things get resolved in real life. However the older I get the more I realise things are not getting resolved. We’re still fighting for equality and human rights.

I mean we are human and our lives matter, as someone said on Twitter why is that a debate? It makes no sense and I am tired!

It takes real strength of character not to give in to hatred and anger and I am thankful for my Christianity because it keeps me from falling off the edge.

However I am fired up. I just can’t take it anymore.

Before going to a country I have to think about how racist that country is and if I’ll be safe or not. I live in the UK and even going to Europe isn’t so peachy because Europe is hella racist even though they try to hide it, especially Eastern Europe and even France, Spain and Italy. Forget that, England is bloody racist they just know how to hide it.

It’s exhausting having to navigate that on a daily and it’s gotten to the point where I only feel comfortable, truly comfortable, around other black people. With other black people, I am just a person.

Two years ago I was messaging my friend about how being black was getting to be exhausting because it truly felt like the whole world hated us. It still feels like that, bar Africa, and that sucks.

There are good people in other races who stand with black people and all that but I wish they’d stand up more and confront the racist people around them on their racist thoughts. Especially in England, racists hide their racism and try to ruin your life in creative ways but they’re honest around their white folk, I wish more white people would challenge those racists when they reveal themselves to them.

The older I get the more I understand Malcolm X. Do I agree with violence? No. Do I understand it? Definitely. And people criticise the looting but not the murder and that doesn’t sit right with me. I mean shops can be fixed but when someone is dead, they’re dead.

It just shows they care more about the money than the human life. At this point racists care about anything and everything before caring about our lives.

Side note: You cannot be Christian and racist. Are you really going to go before God on judgement day and proudly proclaim you support murderers? Really?

And we’ve been peaceful. This movement is not new. It’s been going on since the 60’s and we’ve been peaceful more than we’ve been violent and no one listened!!!! So of course people are going to be frustrated.

I mean America is so fucked up.

England is so fucked up.

I just…

I’m pissed.

*deep breath*

So I’m doing the best I can to fight the racism around me, praying for courage and bringing awareness to it in my circle and hopefully further.

 

In these times it is important, if you’re black, to take a break. That saying ‘black don’t crack’ refers to our beautiful skin but mentally we do crack. We have more mental health issues than other races and ours go unchecked.

So get therapy if you can. Take some time to unplug if you can. Do something that makes you happy each day. It could be something as simple as reading a book, looking at flowers, listening to music, singing, dancing and drawing. Or just laying down and doing nothing for an hour.

We’re growing roses and each day I get to water them and nurture them and I’ve been enjoying that. It’s something simple that has really lifted my spirit.

And as this blog shows music also really helps me. I was so overwhelmed last week and so angry as well as sad and I didn’t know what to do and it was night time so it’s not like I could go for a walk. So I put on some music and it really helped me.

So yeah, take care of yourself and remember we are beautiful, awesome and talented!

I mean whenever I think of the allegory of the X Men I think about how they’re literally the next stage in evolution and have these amazing gifts and yet are made to feel like trash and less than human by insecure hateful humans.

Don’t let the hateful humans brainwash you. We are beautiful in all our forms. We are talented that’s why they steal from our culture all the time. We are a rich and diverse people. They keep trying to crush us but they will never succeed, believe that.

 

Those are my thoughts on the issue and as I said in my last post I will never stop talking about this in my personal life or on here. I will also never stop uplifting my people.