Listen. Watch. Defend.
By: What The Http
Tags: Listening, BlackLivesMatter, Civil Rights, George Floyd, Equality

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Awhite friend of mine asked me what he should do in response to all of the rioting. I withheld publishing this blog at the time of this event. This occurred around May of 2020, but I didn’t want to draw any attention towards me, at that time.

He wanted to know how could he contribute to bettering things in response to the brutal murder of George Floyd and the recurring civil injustices along with the widespread racism towards black people; which seems to be new to some people. Hmm…

I didn’t know how to respond. After all of the work and protests to have our voices heard by members of society, how does one effectively respond to an individual who wants to know how to change their actions for the betterment of black people.

I knew this ugly, cancerous monster of racism and injustice wasn’t all on his shoulders to change, but I knew that this is where the solution starts. With the individual. Just like fighting cancer is a battle that begins on the inside of the body. Racism can’t be beat on the skin level but on a deeper cellular level.

I told him the first thing that I could come up with at the time. That the best he could do was to listen and take witness of the gravity and power of racist acts and injustices that happen against people of color. Especially, what people in authority do to us.

The greatest hope he could have to make a positive civil affect was to understand that black people are deeply affected, traumatized and brutalized by the harmful ways that someone with his skin color has said, behaved and done against people of my skin color for generations.

To know that we are human beings just like him and that our lives matter too. The melanin in our skin color doesn’t mean we are any less important than he, or anyone else is.

It wasn’t until the following day that my thoughts settled on three powerful words that summed up everything I was trying to say. Three words I believe can help people like him who want to combat racist thoughts, acts, and poisonous beliefs toward people of color.

Listen. Watch. Defend.

I knew this was a direct link resulting from my relationship with God. First came the words. Then came the definitions.

Listen = to how you say things.

Watch = how you behave.

Defend = what you believe.

It all makes sense to me. Allow me to explain why.

Listen.

Everyone contributes to the societies that we live in. You and I make these societies what they are. We do this by what we add to the social plot each and everyday. Comments on social media, words said to our neighbors or the people walking down the sidewalk. Communication being had with our friends, family, co-workers and numerous bystanders.

It is our thoughts and emotions that fuel our responses and reactions to external stimuli including other people. Our thoughts are governed by our mental filtering process before we ever speaking a word. That’s what makes what we say, “a Choice”; just like deciding when “I want” to release this blog.

The effects of external circumstances cause us to have emotions. Emotions fuel and color our thoughts. Our thoughts propel us to commit an action. That action can be something we do with our hands or with our mouths.

My father told me recently to get into the habit of waiting 30 seconds before making any emotional decision. This way, you truly allow yourself to think your decisions through, instead of being emotionally immature and impulsive.

Our words are powerful forms of communication that we must be weary of. They can be used to inspire, motivate, seduce, tear down, insult, convince, empower, attack, or build up, among many other things. They are a form of power that can effect us to our core, and we must be mindful of how we use our words if you wish to change the script on how you treat other people.

Your words have energy and cast spells. That’s why it’s called “Spelling.” So be careful of what you say to others and to yourself.

If you wish to make things better for others, you must pay attention to how you say things. We can all foster the extra time in-between voicing our thoughts and thinking through how and what we say could affect others. It’s more tedious to take that 10-30 secs of proofreading our thoughts, but it’s the only irreplicable action we can take back.

Once we speak it out of our mouths, that’s it.

It’s your choice to put in the extra effort and work of thinking your speech through, regarding who you’re talking to and what you really want to say, so choose wisely.

Watch.

Our thoughts fuel our actions, so we must watch and be aware of our thoughts prior to committing actions. That is our responsibility as peace-seeking human beings.

It’s so easy to believe our own junk without double checking it. It’s more difficult and time consuming to put in the work of verifying our thoughts, before speaking, but it’s necessary and it’s worth it.

Don’t believe that you know what you saw, heard, believed, thought about anyone before simply questioning what you experienced a little deeper.

Is what you thought about someone true or some form of gossip, discrimination or stereotype.

There’s a simple way to mitigate your thoughts from betraying your intentions. Just ask the person directly in an open and friendly manner, but be mindful of the questions you ask.

Is your question coming from a friendly disposition or a pre-loaded emotional dagger dipped with poisonous intentions? Ensure that your questions aren’t connected to a harmful, exploding bag of emotional shrap metal ready to explode like a dirty bomb in that person’s mind.

Asking someone a direct question can be welcomed, but only when it from kindness, compassion and honest consideration. If it doesn’t feel right to ask something, follow the golden rule:

Don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

Defend.

Our thoughts are fueled and secured by our beliefs. It is up to us to decide what we want to believe and why.

Many beliefs are instilled in us through the influences made in our childhood, but we can change what we were taught if we truly believe that those beliefs are wrong. That’s a personal decision only you can discover and act on.

Consider this; All things in life are made of inexhaustible energy, so you cannot erase something that you once believed without replacing it with something of equal weight and value. If you replace fear and hate with love, you will have to fight continuously to alter those old values, but it is possible.

If your battling with dark beliefs that you’ve been instilled with, take it slow. Any change made in an instant is bound to waver. You’re human, which means change comes slowly. Take it one day at a time.

Continue to practice your new-found beliefs as often as you can by showing love to all of those around you. This may not be an easy task, as our previous beliefs have been established deep in the roots of our psyche. Which is why you will have to make the decision to defend this new belief with vigor.

Defend it from external influences, common mental triggers, and all other internal threats of reversion. Stay focused on the end result.

A more just society for all.

Listen. Watch. Defend.

This is just my two-cents on how we can fight the cancer of racism in the world. The truth is, the only answer to hate from within and from without is Love.

Let’s learn to live with love in our hearts for each other and for ourselves. That’s the only way to better the world we live in.

Fore within us, we are all beautiful, valuable individuals worthy of love.

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Here’s to a new world understanding!