Black Lives Matter
同志社女子高等学校

１年

竹口瑞希Black Lives Matter. This is one of the slogans used at demonstrations toprotest discrimination against Black people and started when a Black man
named George Floyd was killed by white police officers in May last year.
Honestly, when I heard it for the first time, I had no idea why they use “BLACKLIVES” as the subject instead of “ALL LIVES.” However, the following
Instagram post totally changed my view and solved the mystery for me.

“YOU ARE PRIVILEGED WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. SOCIETYThis argument was mainly sent to people who insisted that expressing
Black Lives Matter was wrong and All Lives Matter was proper. The
statement was posted by Billie Eilish. I felt her point was accurate, and I wasdeeply moved. Although she was 18 and only 3 years older than me, she had
decided in her heart to post her thoughts on social media after thinking
sincerely about discrimination against Black people and expressing it in aburst of emotion, knowing well that she would be criticized later. I felt
miserable. I had thought that discrimination due to the innate color of one’s
skin didn’t make sense, but when I was thinking about why white people and I,
a Japanese person, weren’t discriminated against, I realized that Black people
are in a weaker position in society. Actually, I had never thought about how
much more privileged white people are in every aspect than Black people are.
In addition, I was convinced that discrimination had nothing to do with me
because I live in Japan. In Japan, there are lots of people who still don’t knowmuch about Black Lives Matter. It’s because we turn away from suchproblems with the excuse that we aren’t Black or white. Unfortunately, this isJapan’s present reality. It clearly shows how poorly aware we Japanese people
areabout

discrimination.

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criticismsonsocialmedia

about

高校生―Ｄ部門

GIVES YOU PRIVILEGE JUST FOR BEING WHITE.”

demonstrations and things like that even though we don’t know enough about
them. Although social media is a good way to influence people, as Billie did
when she shared her post with the rest of the world, Japanese people often
use it for blaming and abusing others. I was speechless at the reactions fromsome Japanese people when Naomi Osaka tweeted about her decision toboycott the tennis match for the purpose of making time for us to think
about discrimination. There were many slanderous comments, such as “It’s anabuse of office power” and “Black people kill white people too.” Few Japanesepeople understand “Black Lives Matter” and praise Naomi Osaka.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus that has been spreading since last year hasbrought about changes in the way we think about discrimination. l found thatJapanese people are indifferent to discrimination in other countries like this
高校生―Ｄ部門

because we had never felt that we were being discriminated against. Ever
since the coronavirus started to spread around the world, Japanese people
have been experiencing discrimination against Asians from some people who
selfishly think that “Asians equal the virus.”

While it is a sad occurrence, we now have an opportunity to turn ourattention to the numerous cases of discrimination occurring in other countries,
don’t we? Now, people - especially teenagers like us - can use social mediaeffectively to post things or share the posts of others. And doing so will
enable us to properly understand and share opinions with people around theworld. I believe we will be able to become driving forces, in the same waythat I was moved by Billie’s post. So, let’s communicate to those who areindifferent to discrimination.

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