Thread by @AamerAnwar

A very personal thread on racism, & #GeorgeFloyd 🇺🇸 ‘I’m tired of grieving at the gravesides of those who lost their lives to racial violence, tired of families in the midst of the grief forced to set up campaigns for justice..’ 1/12

2/12- I’m angry that 28 years after my teeth were knocked out by Glasgow police with the words “this is what happens to black boys with big mouths” that neither then nor since has any police officer in Scotland ever faced justice for racism- don’t tell me it doesn’t happen -

3/12- I’m tired of being angry,I’m tired of the bad memories, I’m tired of never being too scared to say anything when racism effects me personally, tired of reading statements of solidarity from the “great & the good” whilst there’s silence on #ShekuBayoh

4/12- I’m so tired of the compare & contrast, of being told our racist murders, attacks, discrimination are not the same, that it doesn’t have the same impact, the same feeling of helplessness, of isolation, of terror & fear? That we don’t have racism in Scotland

5/12 I’m so tired of telling young people of colour who want to study law to work 20x harder than their white counterparts & be prepared to watch over their shoulders for the rest of their lives, to perform to a higher standard-tired of total lack racial diversity at the top

6/12 Tired of white liberals telling us what racism is, of analysing us like animals in a laboratory whilst making sure that even if we have a seat at the dinner table with them we will never feel we are a diner #tokenism

7/12 I’m tired of wanting to scream, tired of being told there is nothing you can do, tired of hearing racism has always existed, tired of worrying if my children will face the same journey as I did, tired of explaining why human beings can commit such horrific acts to others

8/12 - I’m tired of being asked about what I think about terror attacks just because I’m Muslim, yet I would never expect a white person to be questioned on a Bible waving ‘thug’ like @realDonaldTrump or Far-right violence & terror

9/12 Tired of watching a system & media criminalise, stereotype & charge those who cannot speak following their violent deaths, but the words of anonymous accusers taken as truth, & having to fight with no resources & feel like you can never give up because it will be a betrayal

10/12 Tired of feeling the pain of racism but never allowed to vocalise it in case I’m accused of being that angry young man I was after being brutally attacked by police, or even accused of taking racism personally as though that’s a crime

11/12 -I’m tired of being made to feel I must apologise for the actions of mindless terrorists who act in the name of God/Allah, yet I see no thousands on the streets, no hash tags, no candles, no vigils when people die because of racial violence in this country

12/12 I’m tired of the same questions being asked again & again on racism, the solution does not rest with us, if it did then we certainly wouldn’t be living with same pictures just different decades - say their names #ShekuBayoh #GeorgeFloyd #DavidMcAtee 🙏#BlackLivesMatter

“Tired Of being too scared to say anything ”