Santos F. Ramos’s “Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice” (2016) not only discusses the well-known Black Lives Matter, BLM, movement, but also points outs misconceptions and what society is doing when they attempt to modify that phrasing. Ramos recounts his experience participating at a Black Lives Matter protest; holding on to the hands of fellow students and community members. The protesters blocked traffic in order to have their voices heard about police brutality in the Black community (p.1). Ramos talks about his experience in the midst of the protest and what he took away from it. Besides a general interest in standing with the Black community, Ramos’s reason for participating in this movement was conducting academic research about the reason for BLM and the message it is meant to spread.
A large argument throughout the article was about the …show more content…
For instance, he states that ignoring that BLM is about anti-Blackness is “an attempt by non-Black people to absolve ourselves from the social responsibility we have to address our own issues with racism” (p.6). This concept is not a new idea and has been brought to attention by influence music artists such as Macklemore. In Macklemore’s song “White Privilege,” he addresses the ones that stay silent during these Black Lives Matter movements, as he states “It seems like we're more concerned with being called racist than we actually are with racism” (Macklemore, 2016). This point made by Macklemore is really significant because it applies to what Ramos is stating why it is crucial not to shift away from the true focus of BLM. Shifting away from focus gives people an excuse to not confront the actual racism that is going on. If the racism itself is not getting confronted, BLM cannot go through with its purpose and bring about
A large argument throughout the article was about the …show more content…
For instance, he states that ignoring that BLM is about anti-Blackness is “an attempt by non-Black people to absolve ourselves from the social responsibility we have to address our own issues with racism” (p.6). This concept is not a new idea and has been brought to attention by influence music artists such as Macklemore. In Macklemore’s song “White Privilege,” he addresses the ones that stay silent during these Black Lives Matter movements, as he states “It seems like we're more concerned with being called racist than we actually are with racism” (Macklemore, 2016). This point made by Macklemore is really significant because it applies to what Ramos is stating why it is crucial not to shift away from the true focus of BLM. Shifting away from focus gives people an excuse to not confront the actual racism that is going on. If the racism itself is not getting confronted, BLM cannot go through with its purpose and bring about