This post is about the claim that “our quest for social justice and equality for all is the American thing to do!” Because there’s nothing “American” about it given American history, considering the fact that America was actually built on slavery, genocide, oppression – anything but justice and equality and humanity. So, to all those people – especially black leaders leading the Black Lives Matter movement – don’t feel compelled to validate your movement and struggles by insisting that they’re American.

Today, I planned to attend the Millions March at my University campus. (For anyone unfamiliar with this, it’s basically part of the Black Lives Matter campaign. Look it up if you don’t know; you should know as a citizen of this world where injustice is the norm even in the supposedly most civilized, “first world” countries like the U.S. But here’s an article I wrote last month on police terrorism in America that may help explain why this march needed to happen.) It was scheduled for 12pm; we were to gather at a Martin Luther King, Jr. statue on campus and march a couple of miles all the way to the state capitol. Being a strong supporter of social justice and having no excuse not to attend this event, I made sure to go and encourage my friends to go as well. So we go. And then I’m disappointed because someone decided to sing the U.S. national anthem in an effort to prove that the Black Lives Matter campaign had “American” roots, that fighting for justice for black people was the American thing to do! This couldn’t be more father off from truth, reality, and America’s brutal history based in oppressions and injustices against especially black people and Native Americans.
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