it's Ajobi blog: Black Lives Matter

This week was meant to be a style guide post but with all that's going on right now in the world especially in America, I can't ignore it. The footage I've seen this week of human being is being treated worse than animals all because of their race sickens me to the pit of my stomach.

Although I live in England I think it is important to aknowledge the struggle that these people are facing right now. Where ever we live these people are our people, they are our brothers and sisters and we are all part of the same race… The human race. This struggle is our struggle and although all lives matter, yes, right now it is evident that we need to focus on black lives.

It is painful to see in 2016 that we are facing the same struggle since the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and people from centuries before them. Lynching and police brutality is not a thing of the past. Racism, however we might like to think, it is not a thing of the past. All of this is happening right now, in this day and age, 2016 and something needs to be done about it.

Behind all the horrific videos of police brutality and other inhumane acts that we do see, there are many scenarios of discrimination being inflicted that we don't see; some of which I'm sure are far worse and it's only continuing to escalate. Since 2015, 443 black people have been killed by police. 103 of these people were completely unarmed. In the space of five days since July 2nd till July 6th of this year four black men have been murdered by police. That's almost one person being murdered every day, all of them Fathers.

#BlackLivesMatter, they really do, yet right now that doesn't seem to be the case. This needs to be more than a hashtag! Something must change. But we mustn't forget that in times like these, prayer is key. This is a predicament that is bigger than us but not bigger than God. Pray for the world.

These are some of the names of people that have been killed by police so far, this summer alone;

Jessica Williams- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Michael Wilson Jr- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Vernell Bing Jr- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Doll Pierre-Louis- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Devonte Gates- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Ollie Brooks- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Antwun Shumpert- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Clarence Howard- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

Delrawn Small- Unarmed killed by Gunshot

(According to my calculations that's approximately one unarmed black person murdered every week since May)

Today I marched for the rights of all black people and in respect of the ones we have lost. Other marches will continue to take place across the world for the same reason. If you are in the London area and would like to be part of the next march, please see below for details. Also if you would like to see videos from today's march, feel free to add me on snapchat: Ajobi (QR Code below) and/or watch out for next weeks post on my YouTube where you'll be able to view it there as well. (subscribe to it's Ajobi YouTube to be notified.)

To see full list of those killed by police click the link below:

Police Killings