26 May

Today was sad in so many ways. The video footage from the day before of the police officers in Minnesota murdering George Floyd in broad daylight was one of the most sickening things I have ever seen. A straight-up act of racist violence. It happens a lot in this FUCKING country, but my God, when it happens so brutally, in the middle of the day, surrounded by people, and totally unnecessarily, it’s all the more agonising. It shows you how little regard so many police officers have for black lives and it’s just so, so sad. They were fearlessly killing him in front of people. I hope they get the punishment they deserve. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I saw that video. The blatancy of it, that poor man’s voice, begging ‘please, please’. He was saying he couldn’t breathe, he called out for his mumma. It was so hard to watch, but so important that people do. For us to really understand what black people experience you have to witness it and acknowledge it – we don’t have the right to turn away. But those images will never leave any of us. The only thing we can hope is that it is the catalyst for change. I am so sorry for George Floyd and his family. So sorry for every black person who has been brutalised, abused or murdered by police. To live in fear of the people who are supposed to protect you must be unbearable.

I’ve spent the past few years really listening to the conversation about racism. Until white people admit their part, and do the work to make things better, things will not change. I want to do better, and I have been reading and listening and doing my best to be an ally rather than another bystander. I’d urge you to be the same. To open your eyes and ears to what is happening, and to voice how it makes you feel. If you see an opportunity to do anything helpful, take it. Your efforts might feel small, but imagine if we all did what we could to speak up, call it out, and be a part of change rather than presuming it’s down to someone else to make that happen. It’s up to us all.

My heart goes out to George Floyd, his friends, family and his little girl. This should never have happened.

Love Dawn x