Speaking up against racism.

SPEAKING UP AGAINST RACISM

No one living in the present-day world needs a definition of what racism is. We see it in our day-to-day lives ranging from the violence to the subtle and vivid bias and discrimination in the government, criminal justice system, and the health services.

People of color have been faced with extraordinary pain and anguish from decades of discrimination, inequality, and targeted hatred. It’s sad and archaic to believe that a person is superior to the other solely because of the color of their skin. Racial discrimination has been allowed to occur for far too long and far too often that we are just waiting on the next “news” because we know it will happen again.

Racism has eaten so deep into the system that it is almost accepted as the ‘normal’. To fix a problem, it is important to identify the problem first. The problem of racism can be largely traced to environmental conditioning. No child is born racist. Every racist individual alive was taught to be racist. The environment an individual grows up in shapes their psychology and bias. We all have biases. Though these biases have been deeply ingrained in racist individuals, it is not impossible to unlearn them.

The problem of racism was not created by black people and cannot be solved by black people alone. While the reasons may differ, many people, both black and white have the urge to remain silent about the issues of racism.

This is quite unfortunate and bad because remaining silent includes you as part of the problem. Our words are our most powerful weapon against decades of systemic oppression and harassment. Are you waiting for the next racial injustice to happen to you or your loved ones before speaking up?

It takes courage to speak up. Speaking up may bring about the change we want to see slowly but it’s progress. Keeping quiet will keep us dormant and under the same oppression that has followed us for decades. There are many ways we can speak up. Pick the one that best suits your personality and be strategic about it. Building an anti-racist environment is a collective effort that involves everyone.

In our bit to speak up against the issues of racial discrimination and harassment, Liberty Experience collaborated with Munich’s antiracism team of Amnesty International to organize an interactive online workshop that creates an open space to speak up against racism. The event was titled: “The Elephant in The Room”.

During the workshop, there was an informative session by Cindy Adjei who shared her personal experiences of racism and admonished the audience to reflect on their behaviors and challenge themselves to be better.

This event proved to highlight the urgent need of our societies to create safe spaces for people to be able to speak and air their opinions and experiences with Racism, so we don’t collectively suffer the brunt of pains and distrust Racism tends to perpetuate in our lives.

If you and your team would like to participate in this workshop in the future, you can read more and register here: https://libertyexperience.org/social-workshop/

Moreover, as part of our goal to help migrants smoothly integrate into their host country, Liberty Experience runs an initiative that provides musically talented displaced migrants with platforms to showcase their talents and build their musical careers. All these help us drive positive social change. Through this initiative, we have helped many displaced migrants get basic life amenities and to contribute positively to their new communities. You can read more about this initiative here: https://libertyexperience.org/openstage/

——-
Become a donor: Our activities and projects at Liberty Experience provide safe spaces for displaced migrants to integrate into their new communities. These projects are mainly financed through donations and grants. Your donation of any amount goes a long way in making our projects possible.

Here is how you can donate: https://libertyexperience.org/donate/