WHY I MARCH by Nathaniel Qushawn Sawyer
A 21st-century worldwide pandemic isn’t enough to stop systemic racism from rearing its ugly head through our authority figures. While some seem surprised, African Americans around the country are not. It’s 2020, and in the midst of COVID-19, instead of figuring out how we will rebuild our economy after an extended nationwide quarantine, we find ourselves using our newfound free time to fight systemic racism. If there is anything I wish white people understood about our movement, it is that we are not blaming them for systemic racism. Systemic racism was created long before our current generation, but that doesn’t mean we shoulder no responsibility for reforming our governing bodies to correct the wrongs of the past. Law enforcement has historically never had a good relationship with
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people of color. During slavery, law enforcement helped hunt down runaway slaves. When the Ku Klux Klan was created, many law enforcement officers helped community members form the group. The bold racism of the past has transformed to accommodate changing times and now most often operates in subtle and deniable ways. The system that was once used to hunt us down now harasses and provokes us, looking for any reason to imprison us, and even requiring no justifiable reason to execute us. African Americans have never been safe in a world where this system is used against them. THIS IS WHY I MARCH. In understanding systematic racism in the U.S., one of the most important factors to consider is education. Black families in the U.S. are supposed
Nathaniel Qushawn Sawyer is an International Policy and Development master’s degree candidate who will graduate in May 2021. He is the vice president of the Democratic Club of The Monterey Peninsula. Sawyer is a former corrections officer and direct care specialist and is YWCA of Monterey County’s Human Trafficking Coordinator specializing in babor trafficking.
to raise their families as if they are receiving the same job opportunities, education, and connections as their white counterparts, when this is frequently untrue. There is a considerable discrepancy in knowledge distribution between African American and white children. Children who are black and brown are more likely to be placed in special education programs, given psychotropic medication and diagnoses such as ADHD, and sent to detention or suspended. Black and brown children are more likely to be given low grades, not because of their lack of understanding, but because of the lack of resources such as good teachers and supplies. Additionally, the history of minority peoples is frequently taught incompletely so that children of all races receive lessons that do not reveal the true suffering of minority populations. This is especially detrimental since education is key to ending systemic racism. African Americans are numb to social media shootings and the sharing of racism. We have been living in a system of racism our entire lives. We’ve had to fight, and giants in the African American community have died to help us gain basic human rights: to be counted as a whole person, to go to school, and to vote. African American history, slavery, and civil rights are portrayed as if it’s a Disney movie. The blood, torture, and unjust rule of law policies that hindered African Americans and their descendants are often downplayed or missing from historical accounts. MONTEREY BAY PARENT • july 2020
