#Black Lives Matter and thankfully today accountability started. There is a long journey ahead as lets be very clear, there is a very long journey ahead to over throw systematic racism in policing and justice.
Tag: georgefloyd
Whats really changed?
It was a hard read/listen but I’m glad to have read through the article which Leena suggested for me.
The Black Experience in Graphic Design: 1968 and 2020, has a number of black designers read through a hard copy article written in 1968 to see how much has changed or rather reflect on how little has changed.
As I started it was a hard read as there was a lot I recognise in my experiences as a designer in the earlier days of 2000. Like most of the designers featured, I stay hopefully too However I also listened/read the wired article – Five Years of Tech Diversity Reports—and Little Progress.
So little progressive…
Its coming up to 6 months since George Floyd was murdered by the Minneapolis police. One of the things I am planning is a look at all those pledges to make a change by companies to see if they actually did what they pledged.
Part of my work is to extract the data from this amazing presentation. Put into a form where others can add to it, likely a airtable, mutliple google sheets or github somehow? I think what the original authors did is amazing but it they limited its impact by not separating the data from the format. Not a criticism of course, but I could really help if they provided the data or sources.
If you can help or can point at places which might help a XML type person like me, do shout. If you are interested in joining what happens next, drop me a message.
Little update
I started a google sheet, after pretty much manually pulling the data out of the Google Slide. There’s lot of room for adding others. I’ll likely drop the sheet somewhere, so others can add without messing with the existing data. I’m testing the protected cell feature in Google sheets, although I have a copy if it all goes wrong. This gives me the chance to mess with Airtable I guess?
Christian Cooper Creates Graphic Novel About Racial Injustice
If you remember the Christian and Amy Cooper incident in Central Park? It was the exact same day as when George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by the police. I was so badly shaken by this incident, as it touched a deep nerve.
Amy apologised for whats its worth, but Christian Cooper took a lot from the experience and went one further.
Christian Cooper, the Central Park bird-watcher who was racially profiled by a white woman, has created a new graphic novel for DC Comics about racial injustice influenced by his own experience.
Amazing and so very powerful I mean his cool calm handling of the incident was just incredible, then later seeing him accept his apology was powerful and now this?
I’ll be seeking out a copy just to have and share with others.
Black lives matter protest Manchester
I did make it to Manchester’s Black Lives Matter protest via the George Floyd mural in Stevenson Square. I stayed back and watched from a far, as I wanted to make sure I was social distanced.
While walking around Manchester I today I was looking at peoples faces and theres a sense of real anger but also that something might actually change?
Although I did have an encounter with some folks I knew as I walked back. They were complaining about lots of people protesting and breaking the social distancing guidelines. I explained I was there too and left saying, when people are faced with a system which is killing you, what would you do? They left in silence.
One of the best signs I saw today was this one…
Your activism must continue after this protest…
This is exactly where I am, right now. Protest is the first step but the next one is how to make sustainable long lasting change. We need to organize and break down the systematic state of racism.
I have thoughts and currently looking for the others. A few people have also made the point there should/could be a focus on the UK/European problems which is very much the same but sometimes more subtle in nature?
Unconscious bias kills black lives
There is so much I have been thinking about in the last few days. I found Baratunde’s discussion with Leo quite relaxing to listen to. While America is on a knife’s edge with Trump once again making things much worst. Thankfully his Democratic opponent Biden is right on edge extending his ears and heart to understand.
On May 29th one of my favorite cities in America, Minneapolis’ police killed George Floyd because he was accused of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. The new york times have a good video explaining what happened using a number of different camera views including security footage. I’m not going to share because its a very difficult watch and been shared widely.
The almost the same day Amy Cooper (white lady) in central park calls the police on Christian Cooper (black man) saying shes an “African American” was threaten her. No one died thankfully, Amy was fired from her job and Christian makes clear its not about Amy but the systematic racism in our culture.
Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm
— Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) May 25, 2020
(If you didn’t get the Karen reference here is Bill Maher to explain it for you.)
Systematic or institutional racism as defined during the Stephen Lawrence case is exactly why so many black men and women in America have died at the hands of the people who are meant to be protecting us all. Heck even Ben & Jerrys knows its true! Its clear to me there could have been two deaths that day simply by calling the police out to a IC3 incident.
As Baratunde says we need everybody to get involved. This isn’t that tonedeaf all lives matter stuff. I am humbled to see London, Berlin protest and see a sheriff rejecting orders from the white house.