Joe Weller joins millions of others in expressing their anger at the recent killing of George Floyd.
Many creators are using their social media platforms to share resources, create fundraisers, sign petitions and spread awareness to the suffering and oppression of Black people in society. Joe Weller has been using his Instagram account to share information, and recently uploaded a video that highlights his anger at the current state of societal racism.
Joe starts the video by highlighting the story of George Floyd’s death that so many of us are now familiar with. Police officer Derek Chauvin arrested George Floyd, restraining him and kneeling on his neck for over eight minutes, killing him. Joe highlights how Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, “where you intend to hurt someone, but not intend to kill them, and you kill them”. (Since the uploading of this video, the charge has been increased to second-degree murder.)
Joe echoes the outrage of a great many people in questioning, “How can you kneel on someone’s neck for eight minutes and not expect to kill them?!” He goes on to share more stories where Black men have been killed through “police brutality… It’s murder.”
Joe highlights how this systemic racism has been happening for many years, “We think it will go, it will be dealt with, but it remains and it remains. The only difference is now we see videos of it. We can capture it on our phones.”
He explains that this is not just a problem primarily within the police force, but that this type of racism is ingrained within society as well, showing photos of riots and football matches where racism has been apparent. “There is no positive outcome from racism,” he says. Joe also calls out other influencers for not being vocal online on this topic under fear that speaking out may damage them if a brand does not want to work with them in the future.
Lastly, he talks about how we need to stop making negative assumptions of people based on their skin colour, as this contributes to everyday racism, and that racism is not limited to “police racism of the highest order”. He ends by calling for people to come together and become more aware of how we think of and treat others to challenge racism.
Those wishing to lend their support for the Black Lives Matter movement can do so via this resource.
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