THE Black Lives Matter street protests have divided Northern Ireland since last week.
Across the world millions have taken to the streets to protest against the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis and the same sentiments were echoed over the weekend as thousands gathered in both Belfast and Derry.
I covered the story in Derry and as I looked out across the crowd I thought that we have gone from one extreme – being locked in our homes due to a deadly pandemic – to the other – gathering en masse in the streets to protest.
Later that day social media exploded as the two sides of an argument battled it out. It wasn’t an argument centred on whether or not racism was prevalent in society, it was whether or not the protests themselves were the right thing to do in the health crisis we still find ourselves still navigating.
‘You’re wrong, I’m right! No I’m right and you’re wrong! You’re a racist because you didn't protest! No I 'm not, I'm just scared of picking up the virus! Yes you are! No I'm not! Yes you are!’
It was totally exhausting to witness.
The fact is, everyone here has an opinion. That opinion is formed by their own lived experiences, their concerns, love for their family, passion for the issues they hold dear.
There are people who think the rallies that happened in Belfast and Derry were the right thing to do, to make a stand, to have their voice heard. And that comes from their lived experiences and things they hold dear. Perhaps they or loved ones have suffered racial abuse themselves; they no doubt were completely outraged and horrified at the killing of George Floyd, as we all were; they feel enough is enough.
There are also people who think the rallies were a really bad idea in the midst of a pandemic and there should have been a different way to make voices heard. This also comes from their lived experience, having their entire worlds come crashing down on them for the past three months, maybe losing precious loved ones, losing their job, their business, their future, fearing for their own lives during a deadly pandemic, being separated from their family, fear of this all continuing and getting worse, fears for our health service, wondering if huge sacrifice these past 13 weeks was for nothing.
I’ll be honest and say I am conflicted about the protests. My mother is battling cancer, I haven’t been beside her for three months. She would likely get seriously ill if she picked up the virus.
We are so strict about social distancing and abiding by rules, not because the government tell us so, but because we want to be sensible to stop her getting sick. So the sight of thousands of people doing exactly what scientists are telling us not to do in order to curb the spread truly horrified me.
By the same token, I was utterly horrified by the brutal killing of George Floyd, and understood where the anger and frustration and desire to come together in protest is coming from.
I spoke with members of the black community on Friday for a piece in the paper. They spoke of verbal abuse in playgrounds as children, brutal physical attacks as adults, homes sprayed with graffiti and their property vandalised and being afraid of letting their young children play in the street in case they were subjected to racist abuse.
There is no doubt racism is prevalent here in Northern Ireland, as it is throughout the world. There is no doubt that we need to stop this in its tracks – challenge racism, challenge inequality, challenge violence and discrimination. Northern Ireland cannot normalise racism. We need to teach our kids that they must always stand up and speak out on this type of behaviour. We need to stamp it out in the playground before it festers.
We must do everything in our power to make the change.
