A Virtual Black+White Hug.

WOW it has been a week filled with so much hate, rage, protesting, tears, pain, uncertainty and throw in Corona that we have been dealing with, for the past 3 months. May sure is ending with a bang, isn't it?! I am so sad and it breaks my heart to see angry, mad, desperate, evil, bad cops treat someone in the way George Floyd was treated. Even if he was a criminal, even if he was armed, even if he inded was arrested for a crime, even if he was a suspect - he did not deserve to die and definitely not the way he did. It was inhumane to say the least. No one should be treated and murdered the way he did, no matter if they are black, white, yellow, red, brown. I don't care what the color of your skin is, or your ethnicity, or your religion, or your beliefs, or your sexuality, or your gender. At the end of the day we are all humans and should be treated as such! And yes BLACK LIVES MATTER! Every life is so precious. And only God can decide the day we are supposed to leave this earth.

Yesterday on my Facebook I wrote an entire long post about what is currently happening in the USA of 2020, what is happening today among the black community. They are my thoughts of course, but I based it on my own experience and drew from that, I wrote from the heart and from my perspective. It was a very thought-provoking post and it took many people's attention. Most agreed with me but some did not. I decided to do a blog post on it too because I think we have our blogs as our platform to raise our voices and speak up on much bigger issues than personal style and fashion or other similar topics. Honestly, these other topics are fluff compared to what is happening to our world. Here is my post below.

I migrated in this country almost exactly 23 years ago. My family - all 4 of us - were as unprepared, as poor, as gullible and as unknowledgeable about this country as they come. They were rookies to say the least. I came from a middle-class family in Albania but middle class there, a quarter of century ago, meant very poor by American standards. Heck we even borrowed money to come here. Flight tickets alone were more than what both of my parents made in an entire year. I have seen, heard and experienced a lot of racism and discrimination in my life, not just against others but even against me, against my accent, against my upbringing, against my beliefs, against my lifestyle, against my religion, against my political opinions, against my country, against what I wear, how I mother my daughter, how I decide to spend my free time, how I decide to spend the money I make and I pay taxes for. Some of it has even been very hurtful to the point that it has brought tears. Discrimination even against what I write, because I write a lot, just like I am doing now. Because just like I am opinionated, so is everyone else and that's ok. But what is not ok is when those opinions are discriminatory and borderline offensive. And see I am white, not black, not Latino, not Asian, not Indian, I am 100% Caucasian white, though a couple of people here in USA disagree with this "statement" of mine. For some reason coming from Mediterranean roots, a lot of people think you are not white. My point is, EVERY HUMAN BEING in this Earth should be treated and respected the same. It is a disgrace to the humanity to see racism and discrimination in the 21st century, in year 2020. And trust me, as a citizen of the world - that's how I feel with dual citizenship - I, as a white Caucasian woman have too experienced racism. What is happening in our world today and in the country where the word "freedom" comes with a meaningful set of amendments, is Heartbreaking to say the least. And not only because of all the innocent black people that have been killed lately. On the other side, angry, violent protests and riots are not the solution! This is not the right way to go about this. Let's remember the protests during Martin Luther King's day. They had purpose. They had perspective. They were based on principle. They were done peacefully. And they worked!! Let's put our skin colors, our political beliefs, our backgrounds, our heritages, our professions, our statuses, our class positions, our sexualities, our genders and our pride aside. We are all CITIZENS OF THE WORLD. We are black, white, brown and unique. We all bleed the same. Everyone's shit stinks. We all have hearts. We all have a voice. Use that voice to make a difference, but the right difference! Giving you all a virtual hug. Through this world pandemic and with everything going on in the world right now, I think everyone could use a hug. This post is not a rant, it is just my two cents. Thank you!!

Last, I am leaving you with a beautiful art graphic my daughter did. She uses this computer app to do these beautiful, colorful drawings with. She drew these two little girls, gave them names too and have them be best friends. I also love that she put a big colorful rainbow on top of them. It puts things into perspective and it gives me hope that when Vivian is an adult, all the blacks of the world, not just in America will be treated the same, just as they should! Fun fact, Vivian has three best friends at school: one is Indian, one is Asian and one is African American. I think that's a beautiful thing!

Don't you wish everyone was like Kate + Alice?! How beautiful would the world be then?!