BLACK LIVES MATTER: Beyond the hashtag

This should not be an ephemeral fight

Yannick Olivier Orounla
2 min readJun 10, 2020

My fight is not just about George Floyd, but all of us black people.
You may see this as just another racial post or wonder why I do this but I am free to say whatever I want and saying nothing is just being in huge denial of the reality.

Posts about racism online just fade away with time after the hashtags stop trending and no one cares anymore. Unfortunately, this is a daily reality. Yes, We are constantly targeted by all other races, not just white people, and this can be quite unbearable. Some will try to act cool with you by pure hypocrisy but they obviously don’t like you.
When you complain they’ll tell you that no one asked you to go to that country, or you’re not from this or that. Well, I never claimed to be British, I am from BENIN (West Africa) and I am proud of that.
However, I pay taxes like everyone.
Shops don’t remove VAT from items I purchase because I’m black, I pay it like everyone else.
I do not benefit from healthcare, I pay for it.
My university fees are not less because I’m black, on the contrary, we international students pay way more and double sometimes.
Complaining is ok, but doing something about it is better. I personally fight this by being an example to my fellow black people, and that’s why I always challenge myself to achieve what people think we can’t achieve. I have always been discouraged by people from staying in aerospace because it’s a white thing. I don’t care anyway and I do it in spite of all the racial difficulties. People say I act white, but I show them there’s nothing a white or non-black person can do that I can’t do. I am proud and I want to be able to show black kids that it is possible and help them achieve better. Some did not get the chance to have the education I got, but we can change it by helping each other.
What about non-black people? They grew up with the idea of black people being inferior to them. All they see on TV is a crying Sudanese baby asking for help or safari documentaries, and nothing else. When it’s a non-African on TV, well he’s a criminal. That’s all they know about black people then they think they can step on us as they grow. Racism is built into their systems and we should show them what they don’t know.
I’ve been advised not to talk about this, but I did it anyway.

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