Black Lives Matter

On Friday (June 5th), Rose, David, David's 2 other friends, and I attended the protest in downtown Portland. We all met up in front of the Apple store at Pioneer Square and then went to Pioneer Courthouse Square for a bit and listened to some speakers talk. Walked across the Burnside bridge to get to the Revolution Hall and then joined the march from Revolution Hall to South waterfront. It was so inspiring and powerful to see so many people stand in solidarity against racism and police brutality that has been occurring against the Black community for so many years. People from different background, ages and ethnicity were out there supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Aside from the people who were marching, there were people who were handing out free water bottles, food, snacks, health kits, masks, ear plugs, etc. Everyone was very friendly and the protest stayed peaceful. After walking across the Hawthorne Bridge, we decided to go home since it was getting dark out.

This was truly a powerful and eye opening experience for me. Everyday I am continuing to learn more and trying my best to help out in any ways I can. I still have a lot to learn. If you are unable to join in the protests, please sign petitions, donate, speak out, educate yourself and others. If you are unable to donate, there are plenty of videos on Youtube right now that you can watch where 100% of the advertisement revenue will be donated to various different organizations to help out.

There honestly needs to be change. Enough is enough. All lives can’t matter until Black Lives Matter. We need justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many other Black lives.

I am pretty bad at expressing my thoughts and feelings into words, but I really resonate with what Jenn Im said in one of her Instagram post:

"This is completely unacceptable. Systemic racism and police brutality towards Black people need to be stopped. How many more innocent Black lives must be taken for change to happen? I can’t even imagine HOW exhausting it must be to constantly demand justice and spread awareness about these deeply inhumane acts of vicious cruelty and ignorance. You’d think it’d be common sense by now to NOT be racist, but it’s evident that we’ve come to an era where we all must vocally state that we are anti-racist. 

Asian Americans have always been seen as the model minority: quiet and compliant. This may have been an effective survival tactic in the past, but many of us are apart of a new generation that can break this cycle of silence. 

Growing up I’ve always been passive and terrified to speak up about anything because I felt like my voice genuinely didn’t matter. This is wrong. It matters and so does yours. You have the power to convince and educate your sphere of reach. Now is the time to shine a light on the injustices that you see. Speak up, sign the petition, donate, and get educated. This is not a trend. This is beyond a hashtag. This is about keeping our societal contract as decent human beings and treating everyone equal regardless of the color of their skin."