QUARANTINE LIFE: ON CAMERA

‪Why won’t someone do something?
Why won’t someone say something?
Why won’t someone stand up?
Why does it continue to happen?

The newest weapon in the arsenal against racism is the smart phone. It’s capturing a lot, but we’re still seeing the same images with different eyes. It’s hard to fix what many excuse or refuse to acknowledge.

You’ll wait a long time for someone to denounce anything in which they find no fault, and to which they are committed. Asking or expecting some people to rethink or unlearn what is normal, true, acceptable, and right in their eyes, is asking the impossible. ‬

Someone who has benefited from the harm done to you will rarely admit it, or work to right the wrong. Being on your side is not in their best interest.
Someone who has harmed you, directly or indirectly, will always be afraid that one day, you will wake up and retaliate. They have to regard you as an enemy even though they were the aggressor and perpetrator. They are terrified that your patience and forgiveness will be exhausted; that you will remember, see, read, learn, think, reason, comprehend, communicate, plan, and execute vengeance with the same degree of inhumanity they afforded you. That fear sets them on a path of defense. They arm themselves. They demonize you. They ostracize you. You could be as meek as a lamb, with no thought of revenge in mind, but their guilt, entitlement, and anxiety won’t let them rest. Any strides you make are problematic. What if you gain authority, resources, or power? What if you decide to do to them what they did to you? 
To protect themselves, they have to control the narrative. They will lie, exaggerate, slander, and demean you. They have to make everyone see you the way they do, to justify their past and present actions. Their shame for what they’ve done is ever before them. Your presence is a constant reminder of their wrongdoing. If only you would go away. Even if you did separate yourself, their curiosity won’t let them leave you alone for long. If only they could cause you to be afraid. If only you would get mad and fight back. That would justify their need to engage you. Since you won’t, their only solution is to further harass, cheat, and oppress you. They don’t hate you. They hate your ability to force them to see themselves. They don’t know any better. They’re just doing what they’ve learned and have always known. 
The days of getting away with it, though, are coming to a close. The pictures, though they may not secure convictions, are everywhere, and they don’t lie.