Burning Hate

17th of September 2020

It's hard living in this world nowadays. I've always tried to speak from my point of view because I don't like to pretend I know what others are thinking. I also don't like to speak for others. We all have a voice and are responsible for how it is used. In this world we live in, our voices seem to be used to fuel hate. If you haven't heard about the protests going on around the country, hell, the world, against police brutality, where have you been? Police brutality is a problem. It might not be one for me, but it is for some people. Black people in particular. There's no argument on that. There's example after example to be listed off. If you say it doesn't exist, you're not blind. Being blind is something people can't help. You're looking away and making excuses for your hate.

You can hear my support for the protesters in my other articles. I did at one point ask "don't all lives matter?" Just asked, didn't really profoundly say it. I got the answer "sure, all lives matter, but it's the Black lives that are in danger." It made sense once it was explained to me, and it only took one time to explain it to me. I decided I would never stand by the statement all lives matter.

However, if most of you read my articles, you know I work in the media. I also work at a bar downtown as a door guy (security). These 2 jobs crossed over. When covering the protests, it was decided to send some back-up with the reporters. I was that back-up for a crew. I've been out a few times, and nobody likes the media. Nobody. Not politicians, not CEO's, not the police, not Black Lives Matter protesters, nobody. I found this out the hard way the first time. The anger the protesters felt was there. That's for sure. I'd hear stuff like "Fuck the media," "you guys suck," or "you're not welcome here." One even said that if he was me, he'd kill himself. Today, the protesters caught my name on my badge and were saying it loud and to remember it. Some people even took pictures of it. What will they do with it? I don't I know. I can't say that I'm not curious, but I'm ready. I've already deactivated every social media account possible. I just stood quietly while they threw their hate at me. The worst part is one of my "friends" was one of them.

When the station first sent me out for back-up, I was told to not say a word to protesters, so I didn't. The most I could do was just make sure nobody was going to hurt my coworkers. However, it hurt that they were angry with the media, angry with me. Face it. I'm the media. It's not going to change for a while because that's how I make my living. I wasn't sure what they wanted out of me, and I have no idea how to ask them without being insulted. Some would say to just take the insults, but words really do hurt people.

A lot of times, I wonder if people REALLY watch our coverage. I also wonder if people really read the comments on our Facebook page. This world is full of people who really don't have a clue. There's people who complain that we're trying to appeal to the left. There's people who think we're trying to appeal to the right. Like I said, nobody likes the media. Theses comments that I see left on social media tell me one thing: People can't handle the truth. What's sad is people laugh at that phrase, but I believe it to be true. Those comments tell me that people want to dictate what the truth is, and that's just not possible. Last time that was possible was Nazi-Germany. Just saying.

I don't think these protesters realize that most of my coworkers were tear gassed and even pepper sprayed during some of these protests. Did the police instigate the violence? A lot of them, yes, I can say for sure. The ones I witnessed, the police were the ones to start it. In defense of the police and BLM, there were some people there just wanting to stir up trouble. They wanted to drown out the message from BLM. Those are the ones that need to be arrested. The ones throwing bottles full of whatever liquid (most likely piss). Honestly, I'm angry, and I'm hurt. Now, just because I feel betrayed by BLM, it won't change my stance on equality. The police need to be put in check. They cannot get away with a lot of what they do. They need to serve and protect the people and not their own asses. They need to stop racial profiling. They need to better serve the community and not look at everyone as a criminal. When they see another cop doing something wrong, they need to stop that offending cop.

However, EVERY side is spewing hate. And nothing is going to get better until we start listening to one another. Do you talk to hear yourself talk and put others down?