By Carol from India,

 

Today I will be talking about a very important matter, something, which is important, and something, which cannot be unseen or unheard, unless, and until we all do something together towards it. I will be talking about two Netflix series, in order to explain my point here.

 

So, recently I have been watching an American comedy series about an Afro – American Family, called as “Family reunion” on Netflix, this movie is about a family of 6 people (parents with their 4 small kids) that moves from Seattle (Washington) to Georgia (Columbus) to be closer to their grandparents. This series is amazing as it tells things about actual people and their situation, such as “racism” that still happens. Each episode has a different message, “such as protesting against unfair laws, gender equality, empowerment, explaining about Afro-American culture and many more topics”.

 

In this series, there was a small part where a small 10-year-old boy along with his younger brother and his friend returns home, but unfortunately no one was in the house and hence, they were trying to find the hidden spare key. As they were searching for the key, someone called the cops, thinking that these small boys were thieves. The cops interrogated these boys, asked them to kneel down, cuffed their hands, and kept them in the same position until the parents of the kids returned home. When the parents returned home, they saw their kids crying and suffering as they were kneeled down and were not able to move. After seeing their small kids in such situation, the parents got very angry and went towards the officers.

 

The parents asked the officers: “What is happening over here and why did you arrest our kids?“ The officers replied to the parents telling them „someone called us, informing that there are some people trying to steal“. The parents replied to the officers by telling them „Yeah! We understand but these are small 10-year-old kids“ and not adults. The officers released the kids by replying to the parents “we were just doing our job“.

 

After this terrible incident, the kids have been traumatised for several days and they started questioning the parents, asking them what was their fault? Why did they think that we were thieves? Why us?  The parents never thought that they would have to talk and explain about “racism” to their kids at a very young age. The parents explained their kids that sometimes people of different colour are treated in a different way, which can be very bad sometimes and hence, the officer thought that you all were thieves. The kids were very disappointed after hearing this but the parents also encouraged and motivated the kids by telling them that they should be proud of themselves and their colour and should be never afraid of anyone.

 

The other American series which I watched was based on a real story called as “When they see us” on Netflix. It’s about 5 teenage Afro- American kids, that were falsely accused in a relentless and unforgiving manner for the crime (Rape, brutal attack and murder of a female victim) which they didn’t even commit, and were prisoned for 6-13 years. Their only fault was that they were at the wrong place at wrong time.

 

This was the toughest series that I have ever watched. I wanted to stop watching it in the between as the things which happened to small kids was so cruel and evil but I also wanted to know what happened to the kids in the end. As I was watching this series the only thought that came in my mind was, I wish I could have done something for the kids.

 

I can give you a short summary of this series. This series is about 28-year-old white women, Trisha Meili, who had been out jogging in the park in New York on 19th April 1989. She was found beaten and raped and was in a coma for 12 days. 5 Young Afro- American teenage kids, aged 14 – 16 was falsely accused and were intentionally proved guilty just because of their skin colours and were sentenced to jail for the crime which they didn’t even commit. These boys who are now grown up men were proved innocent few years back and were released from the prison.

 

The reason why I am telling you about these series is because we all know what is going on right now in America. Our poor brothers and sisters are being treated in a miserable way and are suffering for what? Because of their skin colour. Imagine if we were in their situation, what would we do? It is a high time, if we won’t do something together now towards “racism” then maybe next time the victims of racism can be you and me or may be our kids. These series were eye-opening series for me and it really changed my thoughts and now after seeing news about racism and racist people, I have decided to do something towards it, I don’t know right now what? But if I get a chance to be a change or to bring change, I won’t step back. Remember one person can change the world and I hope you would do the same.

 

“Say No to Racism and Racist people.”