A viewpoint on the protests in the U.S

After spending every night on twitter, reading more about the protests that are going on around the country, I became aware that I am pat of the problem, not that I am racist but that I am not speaking up. To anyone who reads this who is a person of color, allow me to apologize for not saying anything sooner. While I am a small streamer, it is when all of the small people speak up that a revolution can occur.

While I would like to explain what racism is, I can't. I am a Caucasian male and as such has never in my entire life been affected by racism or sexism, and as such do not know exactly what it is like to be held responsible based solely on the color of your skin or the gender people perceive you as. So to make this easier, I will actually split this up into two sections, however I encourage everyone regardless of color of skin to read both.

To anyone reading this who is a person of color - I apologize. I apologize that I have never stood up for anyone of color before, and have never taken a step towards ending the racism that plagues the country. I apologize for what my ancestors did to your ancestors, hundreds of years ago because it was completely wrong. I apologize that you have to live in fear, not only from random white people who treat you like a criminal for just going out on a walk or doing your job, but I apologize that you have to live in fear from the police as well. Before these protests, I believed that it was a few bad seeds in the police force who were racist. While I am not saying every police officer is part of the problem (hell, I have a family friend who is a police officer himself), the problem is much bigger than I ever would have envisioned. I could go on and on about apologizing, but apologizing doesn't go far enough. For the rest of my life, I will be much more mindful of the world I am apart of.

To the majority of my audience who is white, if you are living in a world where racism doesn't exist, a world where the property damage in these riots make you more angry than the systematic and racist killings of unarmed people of color, I encourage you to talk to me. I want to try to allow you to see the light, to see the problems which plague our nation. My guess is that anyone who fits the above narrative is also republican, and perhaps a supporter of Trump. In high school, I identified myself as a republican. In college, I grew more and more aware of the world, and strove to be independent, as I believed republicans and democrats both had good ideas. Until the republican party entirely denounces Trump, the worst thing to happen to this nation since 9/11, I will solely support democratic views and leaders in congress.

So where do we go from here? After my pokemon series run, I will do my best to go to Boston myself and join protests. I haven't told my parents yet, but I will certainly do my best to make it happen. While my voice is small and few will listen, it's about the echo that a large group of voices can create. If anyone wants to discuss this in my chat today, I welcome the discussion as long as people keep things civil. I sincerely hope that big change is coming to our nation, or else history will just repeat itself the next time an unfathomable act of racism against a person of color occurs. - Rob