An attack on a minority is an attack on the whole.
I don't know when it started or how it started but the twisted thinking about our way of living should be stopped. Black people shouldn't have to teach their kids how to act when a cop pulls them over, Hong Kong protesters don't have to give their life's fate on the color of their clothes, Lumads and Aetas shouldn't have to force their rights on their own lands.
Fudge up people should stop fudging other people's life.
We have to realize that the only thing we should teach our children is how to treat other people right. How to be a good citizen, a loving human being, a passionate person, and a caring soul. If you think this is not the teaching we should impart our children, if you think that you are above a certain human being, if you think for a second that you are more deserving of life than others, get yourself check.
You are one of the reasons why the world is in chaos. You are a disgusting human being who preys on other people just because they can't fight. You are one of the reasons why dreams shatter, why people fear for their lives, why being a human being sucks. You are a murderer. You kill dreams, you kill hope, you kill people for the sake of power.
Children, no matter what their skin color or race is, should have the rights to live a world without fear of being an outcast. They shouldn't have the 'talk' where they need to learn what to do in situations that might get them in trouble. They should be able to get home after school safely. They shouldn't, despite their clean records, be deemed guilty until proven otherwise. They shouldn't learn how to fear for their life.
The only thing those children should be scared of are nightmares, the monsters that live inside their heads and storybooks. Those monsters shouldn't have a form. Those monsters are not supposed to have physical hands that can hold weapons that can kill dreams and life forms.
Those monsters should remain in storybooks. We don't need monsters in the shape of a man holding badge and gun, feigning law as if being a human of color is a crime.
We need to tell people that color is not the reason for crimes and indifference. Color does not define people, their character does.
I'm not sure why people can't grasp the idea of protest as a sign of people noticing that something is wrong, same as a fault on a mathematical question that gives you an error.
'A riot is the language of the unheard' -Martin Luther King Jr.
Minneapolis' protests and riots were not the first. For the last couple of months, Hong Kong protesters suffer from abusive encounters with the enforcers. The protest movement has been on for months and counting, they are trying to get their freedom, they are fighting for their rights to power.
A lot of people around the globe gave empathy to the protesters in Hong Kong when in fact it shouldn't even happen in the first place.
The series of protests lead the once touristy destination in becoming a dreadful place to be in. Last year when the protests heightened a lot of tourists were forced to cancel their trips while some tourists that were already there were trapped when major transportation hub got affected.
Hongkongers were arrested just by wearing the a specific color of clothes, a unitary movement they decided to do which led the authorities to halt imports from other provinces of China which includes black-colored clothes.
Recently, a cry to stop sexual violence roars louder as female arrest rose in alarming numbers. These arrests were inhumane with bouts of physical violence. These arrests were warrantless and make me furious as a woman.
Women are not pawns to a game of chess. They shouldn't be maltreated to protect some king or queen, or any pieces in that matter. Women should not be used as leverage to a game of tug of war.
When women cried to be treated equally as of man and that they should fight battles and war, they mean they want to fight in the battlefield together with other people of color, race, and gender. So fight them squarely. Do not cower behind a battlesuit, do not fight with an armed platoon to suppress a woman.
"Until we win or die." -Hong Kong protesters
Indifference is not limited to color, gender, or economic status. In some parts of the world, people are fighting to live in their own land. The native or the indigenous people are facing a constant battle for their rights to their own home.
In Brazil, the now-elected President plans to use Amazon's resources trouble environmentalists. The plan is not only a huge threat to our environment but will also harm the indigenous people living peacefully for thousands of years.
In the Philippines, Lumad is also facing constant battles. Their minority faced an unclear future when their land is being exploited by foreign companies for mining.
Lumad, which means 'born of the earth', is one of the largest indigenous groups in the Philippines. And you can only imagine the irony of the meaning of it, born of the earth and yet they are fighting for their native lands.
Lands that turned into mining fields, land that became lands of uncertainty when their home started being unsafe because of military encampments and indiscriminate firing. Such events lead 9 out of 10 Lumad children with no access to education.
Lumads are treated as if they are less when they are what completes us. They define us in many ways that you can't imagine and the threat to their community is a threat to all Filipinos.
Forcing Lumad and Aeta's off their native land and luring them of a 'better lifestyle' disguised as cemented housing, electricity, and cemented service roads is like giving a dog a bar of chocolate; it's sweet but deadly.
Instead of luring them out of their native lands and promising them a better life, why don't you give them the support and education that they need? Help them preserve their lands.
Taking them off from the lifestyle they know best without education and without providing them the means to survive on our lifestyle is deadly.
Do not impose a lifestyle when theirs are better and can be improved. Do not fix something that is not broken.
"Indigenous people made huge contributions to this country. The biggest is in sharing the land and resources. People need to see that, understand that. Indigenous people should be viewed as the founding peoples of this land." -Perry Bellegarde
Human right is not limited to age, gender, and race. An attack on a minority is an attack on humankind. It affects you because no matter what color your skin is, no matter what origin and race you were brought up, or no matter what gender you prefer, an attack on human life is an attack on all forms of life.
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