A Year On - George Floyd by Sirayah-Shiraz

Today we honour George Floyd a year after his murder, and all the lives lost to racial injustice globally AND the legacy that's been left on the fight to protect Black children, Black lives and Black futures.

As I woke up this morning and looked at the date a flood of emotions resurfaced, a mixture of sadness and surprisingly, hopefulness clouded me. George Floyd’s murder sits at the petrifying end of a continuance of racism that many of us have been calling out and protesting about for lifetimes. For the Black community, white privilege and power shape our lives, control our opportunities and as we have witnessed time and time again throughout history, can kill.

Despite the horrifying history of institutional and systemic racism within the UK + US (and worldwide), that people of colour are all too familiar with, the usual ways of attacking this has been to reach as many people as possible through education, volunteering time, money and social media.

A stand out revelation for me over this period has been the power of your bubble. There is strength in doing what you can with your family, friends and colleagues. If everyone impacted their personal community, we would be more progressive on a consistent basis. I personally have found physical volunteering to be most effective for my bubble. Whether that is working at a food kitchen for the homeless in deprived areas, supporting diverse youth development in schools or protesting. Over this past year me and my personal bubble have volunteered 640 hours (26 days) of our time and resources to action change. Imagine how much more people we could reach, help and educate if we all proactively did this.

It has been a particularly traumatic time this past year to be Black, but I know through this, my generation make me feel proud. We are pushing and fighting for change. Empowering others to use their voices and empowering others to listen. I hope this past year from the use of social media, protests, our bubbles and institutions stepping up to their social responsibility, people from all communities can take some time to invest into us, our history and see the fantastic people who have strived and created a pathway to where we the Black community are today and where we are aiming and deserve to be.

Above artwork by @sacree_frangine "Say it with your voice, say it with your chest, say it with your words, but say it."