Blurry

    I feel like my move to the States has opened a huge can of mind-boggling worms. As someone who has spent their entire life in Africa with most of the population being black, there are just some things I have never had to deal with, things I never even knew were issues. For those of you at home still scratching their heads (stop it by the way, you're ruining your hair), 'tis racism that I speak of. And everything that comes with it.
    So, there are all these topics like cultural appropriation, which I'm still not totally crystal clear on, and of course the deaths of the African Americans at the hands of the police. Sometimes I feel like it is not in my place to speak out about these topics because I feel so out of my depth and it's not something neither I nor my family grew up experiencing. Most of the time I just fall silent because of some of the comments I read and I feel sad because some people seem incapable of empathy.
    What spurred this on was an argument I got drawn into about two weeks ago after the concurrent deaths of Cecil the lion and Sam Dubose. Now, for those of you who don't know about the latter, because I'm pretty sure everyone in the world heard about the lion, Sam Dubose is an African American man who was pulled over by a Caucasian policeman (political correctness is exhausting) and ended up being shot in the head by said cop, without sufficient provocation to illicit such a reaction. If you're interested, here's the story:

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/07/29/university-of-cincinnati-police-officer-body-cam-shooting-vo.cnn

So, anyway, it was a Buzzfeed article about Cecil the lion, and I posted a comment along the lines of 'I wish people would cause as much of an uproar about the death of a human being'. Some guy then proceeded to begin a looooong argument about how I don't care about the life of the lion, and went on to explain to me that, in fact, the death of Sandra Bland was televised for weeks. Long story short, the guy hadn't even heard about Sam Dubose, thus proving my point. I actually had to convince him to watch the video for himself because already he had assumed that 'well, he must've done something wrong'. I cannot tell you how immensely sad that made me, that this man was tried and sentenced, without his story even being heard ,because let's face it, this is the version we often hear from the media. I'm assuming that it was an effort to save face or something, but he proceeded to try and prove that this was not indeed an act of racism, and was simply people of color pulling the "race card". After all (get this) he totally knows and understands the hardships black people face. I mean, as he put it, he is one of the few people in his family who is white.

Yes, make way for the authority on all things race. I'm still trying to grasp the full meaning of the phrase "pulling the race card". What exactly makes the cut for being a legitimate act of racism? It must be said, there's those weird ones that treat these incidents like a contest, as if we're keeping score. The "what about us?" variety. I mean, hey, if you'd like the monopoly on hate crimes against your race, be my guest.
    I also happened to hear about the whole Kylie Jenner-cornrow fiasco and Amandla Stenberg (click on her name for her video on cultural appropriation) calling her out on being culturally (in)appropriate(?), while others claimed people were just being, pardon my French, 'butt-hurt' about nothing. There was a whole Buzzfeed article about times the Kardashians have been called out on cultural appropriation, and I start to wonder where to draw the line. Does it apply when we buy Maasai blankets and wear their headdresses? I feel like I need to take a whole course on this!
    A William Wilberforce once said:

"Let it not be said that I was silent when they needed me."

I still struggle with making a call on when to speak up about something, and when to let it slide because some people simply get their kicks from getting a rise out of others, even when the argument is pointless (I loathe those people). There's something I read one day, and I kick myself every day for not saving it or writing it down somewhere, whose basic gist was, if everyone decided to fall silent about issues simply because they "didn't affect/apply to them", and everyone is left to fight their own battle, no one will be left to help you fight yours. Granted, the original sounded a whole lot more articulate and wise. But. yeah, basically. I know, ever so eloquent. Just something to think about.