BLACK LIVES MATTER
Benjamin Franklin once said the world was “divided into three classes: the immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”
I believe you are on the AIME mailing list because you are movable, or you move.
We have to move the dial on inequality, we all have to move it and demand more.
Is this current movement and augmentation of rallies on the topic of black lives matter in the USA and Australia extreme? Not in the slightest, it’s screaming out for the most basic of human rights: hey, please don’t murder us, hey, can we have a more balanced judicial system, hey, what does equality look like? Yeah we’re now citizens but how come so many of us are in the prisons? Have the boardrooms changed? Have politicians changed? Has power shifted?
Do black lives matter – absolutely yes! Do I believe in the melting pot of humanity and valuing every human being? Yes. And can this current moment be a focused introspection on the power divisions, the societal structural impediments, the legal misnomers, and the barriers to progress that divide so many black and white people across race lines in the USA and Australia for example? Yes.
Is this complex? Yes and no – in Australia our Indigenous people have only just, in the last 50 years of our 60,000 years, been acknowledged as people. Did that cost anything to the government? No, just common sense. Now all the land, Indigenous terra firma, has been taken up by houses, businesses, and factories. What’s shared with Indigenous people in terms of economic equality and power? Social worth and value?
Can we re-imagine the structural economic and social modes around power? Is it centralised or is it shared? Is it a combination? Are there models that don’t just demand progress and GDP growth? What are we growing towards and for whom? Do we, all of us, have the capacity to imagine a world where there are no food shortages for anyone, anywhere? Do we really want a fairer world? Do we really want to see black people, brown people, any people, have the most basic human rights and a chance to have a life of worth and value? Can we be honest about what’s wrong and what we’re afraid of?
What are we willing to give up to make this change real? What of our wealth and power are we willing to share? How much money is too much? Is anyone worth multiple millions of dollars a year? Can you imagine what it’s like not to have everything you have, and look at those that do? Can you imagine what it’s like not to matter? Can you imagine not being seen? Can you imagine being forgotten? Can you imagine nobody being there to help? Can you imagine?
As we look globally are we cool accepting the hunger crises in Somalia, conflict minerals from the DRC, abuses against women in India, blood-diamonds from West Africa, fashion-slave-labour in Bangladesh and SE Asia, irreversible (in our lifetime) deforestation in Brazil, genocide in Myanmar, CAR, and the Sudan? Child slaves across Latin America for precious cacao for your chocolate?
I don’t want to look back in 50 years and still have black lives matter marches, I want to have worked with you all to create the change we require to see a world mended and find a way to re-imagine itself and ourselves. I want to see different economic models like universal basic income considered and explored logically: what if we had a different relationship to work? What if we promise and deliver every child an education? What if we can provide healthcare and clean running water to everyone, everywhere? What if, what if, what if? What if we can promise everyone the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? What if?
We really can do this if every single one of us warms up that voice box, and doesn’t sit by in silence. We really can do this if every one of us looks at our world, our common humanity and says, “I have a responsibility not just to my lot, but to the lot.” We can build bridges and create imaginative worlds where kids are banging down the doors with pride in their veins and freedom in their minds. The challenge of our time will be to see those with power, those with wealth, those with jobs, those with privilege rise to the moment and kick to curb the irrepressible monster Greed, so with clear minds and souls we can consider what is fair and just for everyone.
Right now, right here, I challenge you all to lift the conversation from your computer screens to your lives.
From your laptop to your living room.
From your email account to your workplaces.
Real change, the change we idolise, requires you, right now, in this moment to rise up and ask yourself: What can I do? What can I change? How can I challenge the all white rooms and say “hey this room needs more diversity yesterday” – because it makes our knowledge bank richer! How can I look at the diet of our home and see whose stories we consume – do we listen to stories of people of colour? How can I be a student of history, and challenge the models we are looking at? It starts in your homes, at your work, by being brave, by speaking – it’s our gift as humans – we can speak and we can listen – build that middle ground, and move the conversation through to actionable change – time for you to activate that AIME friendship, that Hoodie, and to move, the movable and the seemingly immovable.
I’ve dedicated my life to giving my time, wealth, knowledge, opportunity, and life forces to try and help others who are being left behind. I believe this is critical to us having a social contract of worth and I implore you to take this moment to work out what you can share. The most selfish and satisfying thing I have ever done is give away money and time to others who need it more. Do it – let’s all do it, and build this fairer world we are promising.
Let’s go there together,
Jack MB
AIME CEO and Founder
10 June 2020