What I do think of the BLM protests as someone outside of the US

 

I would like to give an opinion from one mildly affected by this issue mostly and from the perspective of what the experience seems to be from the blacks looking from outside the hot zone.

I am a Nigerian, a black man of 23 and in my country, there's of course no racism since we are all of the same color.

First of all, I will start with my country and the African bias in Africa by Africans

The opposite seems to be the case in some sense. For people who are in corporate industries, you'd see that those who study in the white man's country have advantages in employment in the workplace.

It's common for the government to overlook their own people to give huge contracts to foreign companies and people even if we have the same level of expertise in the country. So I would say we are faced with a different type of racism or prejudice.

Sometimes I wonder if the colonial era in the country twisted our minds so much that we can't seem to just appreciate our own.

I'm sure the world heard about the questionable xenophobic act of South Africans killing Nigerians in their country. It brought a huge question mark ❓ on whether we are ready to even defend our own

It begs the question that if we are divided against ourselves, how can we expect to fight the real stigma of the supremacy of the whites over blacks in the world at large?

This brings me to the other issue of what's going on in America, the UK, and other countries where racism has devoured the human soul and been propagated in several facets.

I'm going, to be honest and plain, racism is a disease. When I hear about it around the world. I wonder what would make someone think that just because his color looks brighter, that he is better than another human being. That is an insult to the intelligence of the human race.

Looking at the US, I see that most of what America is today, the success and all avaveragel the contribution of the hardworking black people in the country. Without blacks, America won't be the America we see today. There have been black innovators in technology who contributed immensely to America.

The footprint in Hollywood is undeniable, it's a full package.

So why the violence and fighting, they sure are valuable for the country.

In my own opinion, I feel it's a fear that the blacks are overthrowing their identity and hold on the country.

Anyways, that is what I think looking from outside. In terms of a solution, I really don't know. Progressively the stigma is going to go away, but the message has to be plain and clearly stated across all institutions

Black lives matter!

So when I initially wrote this post on Quora, I got some replied some comments that I would like to drop in this  

• Someone insinuated that if Africans hadn't been colonized that we probably wouldn't have gotten this much developed. My answer to that is... Before you was Egypt, so stop being presumptuous. Like someone rightly said in the comments, Nation's rise, fall and rise again. Development isn't on a straight linear curve but together humanity moves forward.

• And yes all lives matter, but the question was regarding the blacks and the black lives matter campaign.

• Also, America is not the only country that faces this or even where the worse racists live, but its the country I chose to talk about cause it also happens to be a favorite country. (it really has a rich history, Nigerians love y'all even though...you know. lol, I'd stop there)

• And yes, the biggest part that blacks have played a role in is the music industry. I put it together with Hollywood at first, but yeah, in the music industry, I dare to say blacks have dominated. From Michael Jackson to Beyonce to Tupac, the music culture has been influenced greatly by creative and gifted blacks.

My opinion about what's going on with the effect of the riots on the white folks who are not racist.

I hate it when I'm being blamed for something I didn't do or given a more than fair share of the consequences of something that I had no part of. I'd give you a snippet from my life, an experience that just sums up what it feels like. (or at least how I connect to it)

There was this time when I was younger, my two brothers- my twin and younger one of about 6 at the time, where playing catch me in the living room. Normally, I used to be you know the more active one, and all but then that day I was just calm for no reason, perhaps I was hungry cause I can't think of any other reason.

I kept trying to tell them to stop. I knew something bad was going to happen, they kept jumping on the chairs and table and making a whole lot of noise while my parents where out in the veranda...but they won't listen. So I just sat in one of the chairs, tired of talking. And then my twin while running or jumping landed on the center table and broke it. Immediately my Dad came rushing in, got angry, and started flogging them.

I sat calmly knowing I had no part in it, but after he had finished flogging them, he turned to me and said I was getting it too. I looked bewildered, why? I protested. He said I should have warned them more. And he flogged me as much as he did the others, making me understand for the first time how much this life isn't fair. I felt hurt, broken, and unjustly treated... I didn't deserve this.

And that's why I can say I feel for those who don't deserve to be part of this mess.

Who has unjustly been stripped off their livelihood, molested and assaulted in the public, called names, talked down when they weren't even part of the white racists in the country.

Here is an instance I refer to:

A mob of Portland Black Lives Matter protesters forced a white man to crash his truck, then punched and kicked him unconscious, disturbing footage. He was dragged from the truck and tackled to the ground as he begged for help — getting repeatedly punched as he tried to call his wife while pleading with his attackers as he sat on the ground, the videos show. BLM mob beats white man unconscious after making him crash truck: video

In this picture, young men could be seen carrying crowbars as they tore down plywood covering store windows and bashed their way inside and looted

The wreckage left after looters destroy a shop in Midtown Manhattan.

Black lives matter, yes, but all lives matter ultimately too.

If we get to lump people(the whites who aren't racist) in with other folks(the white racists) as bad just because of the color of their skin, is that not the same as being racist? Are we not doing the same thing all over again?

This truly is not the message we want to pass out. I think some people are trying to use this as a way to paint the issue- the black lives protest badly and I don't think it's right.

Black oppression ND racism, in general, is a disease but this is not what we want and surely not the way to go in eradicating it. We can't fight darkness with darkness, only through light can we extinguish it.

I think that black people feel that the whites are not taking this very seriously in the country and so are using these mediums and outrage to show that.

Falling back on my story- snippet from my life, while it's not fair to get a share of the consequence of something I had no part of. I could have gone out and reported them, shed light on the matter, and rid myself of any backlash.

So my message to whites caught up in this mess even though you really don't engage in racist acts is that standing on the fence worsens the issue, if we can find ways to shed more light on these problems and not stay mute, it'd bring clarity and more resolution to the issue and cause for stronger and more fair policies and regulations.

Apologies in advance if I hurt or struck any painful chord. It's just my opinion.

But I would really love to hear from you about what you think about the BLM protests, drop them in the comments section. 

And don't forget to subscribe by clicking the "subscribe button" at the top of the page