Black Lives Matter.

There is so much change happening in our world right now. I am hopeful that progression is sweeping in bit by bit. It has taken far too long, and enough is enough, but there's always the first step to everything, and I believe 2020 definitely is the year that everyone needed.

We are seeing transitions take place from racism to unifying, from corrupt and oppressive government leaders with militarized and brutal police force to empowering communities, from near environmental collapses to an awakening and the face of a digital world. The virus made another virus visible, and that is racism. It is now or never. Our world is beautiful and has made some progress, but systemic racism, social injustice and oppression need to be resisted, fought against, and wiped out in order to build a new and unified world, with the human race moving together. It's about opening up our hearts and minds, and letting people ask the simple questions in order to learn or unlearn. Black Lives Matter. The reason this needs to be shouted is because "American history ignored black history, didn't tell black stories" - these words from The Reverend Michael Eric Dyson's book Tears We Cannot Stop, resonate so loud, because they speak the blunt truth. And most of us reading this know this already, but I felt it important to speak my words.

I continue with my blog today, because I find therapy in writing words on a page, allowing a reader to follow my thoughts, and it is a way of expression for me as well as a process of self education. I have been focusing on other matters presently, namely activating, as well as reading more on American history and whiteness, but right now, I need to express myself, and use my page to allow me to transcend into food. I didn't have the mental space to write, but my mind is yearning for it. Food is unifying, but it is also a weapon of America. I recently saw this statement by Ghetto Gastro, that spoke volumes. They disclosed an extremely raw truth about how "farming practices and the culinary innovations of enslaved Africans and Indigenous Americans are the foundation of 'American' cuisine. Never forget that the agricultural power and history of farming in this country is entirely a result of Black people's labor." That cut deep. I'm not from America, I had to learn the history and meaning of whiteness from my relationship, friends, and work places, but living abroad in various countries and coming from a marginalized ethnic minority definitely aided the teachings of anti-racism and supremacy in my upbringing. America was always deemed this precious progressive free leader of the world, and all this extra blah. There's something alluring about America and becoming American to foreign immigrants like my family, because whiteness is a privilege, it's a power and now I feel like I understand more why so many ethnic minorities really look up to that American superiority and privilege -- we feel the need to bow down to that superiority, it allows us to think we would obtain greater or equal opportunities, even though we know we are always inferior and will never be more than that in the eye of whiteness, which is exactly what goes on and how we, myself, my family are here today. What. The. Actual. Heck. Eh! This here is my life story and what me and my family have been unravelling all our lives. In the words of Dyson, "you know your white skin is magic, that is a key to open doors. Yet you know that whiteness for the most part remains invisible to many white folk". That is what's changing today in America.

So going back to food, although it is a weapon, it is still a universal language. Universal doesn't remove evil. It just means that the act of food and cooking is done by all people in the world. It speaks history, but not everyone cares about that. I want to know the flavors and understand more about that culture through food. It is an outlet for me, but food is also unifying. When you breakdown what you eat or what you like, it unifies you with where it originated from. I was about to write my blog post on the New York bagel before the world shifted, and the time was not the right place to be posting irrelevant content. It isn't relatable to black culture, but it speaks to another marginalized religion and race of people that in some ways can be comparable between the white privilege versus visible minorities when dating back to the World Wars. However there is systemic racism in every religion to this day, Jews included.

I'm not going to publish my baking process in this post, but more so wanted to take a moment to recognize the importance of food in culture and race. How it fuels and can de-fuel racism. Whiteness is emotionally immature about race. Silence is an easy way out, but most of all it aids in blindness or cover up. The greatest of all is seeing "no color" or "no race", which ignores and diminishes anyone who is not white, removing the truths behind history and simply damning those that speak up or stand to fight. The progressiveness we have started to see these past few years is uncovering the uncomfortableness of racial ignorance. Shattering the cloak of innocence that shields the inactiveness or ignorance of racial bigotry, which in fact means it is guilty. Food doesn't cover up. Food is a history, and it has origins. So much can be uncovered by the history of a cuisine and it begins with one dish. There are reasons as to why certain things were cooked the way they were, or mixed in the way they had to be. Your ancestors recipes carry meaning and story. They are stories that may be good or humorous, but uncover the past, the truths, the hardships and maybe even the escapes.

Being silent can no longer be the answer for anyone, and using food as a way of understanding more about one's culture and race is a start, it's a history lesson, but it is also more importantly a way to become unified and use food as unity. Starts with yourself. #blacklivesmatter and always have, and will.