March on Washington

Let me start by saying that I am not for violence, but I am for civil disobedience. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the march on Washington, organized by Reverend Al Sharpton, had no ounce of the latter in it. As a result of this, I don't believe that enough pressure was exerted. I had honestly believed that this march would have been the final push after months of protests nationwide. However, after only marching for roughly one hour, and listening to speeches for two to three hours, it did not feel like our means were effective enough for our ends.

Nevertheless, I am thankful for the opportunity I had to be surrounded by hundreds of people who refuse to just sit and be complacent in a system that was built to oppress, not protect, people of colour. Police brutality is never okay especially when it mostly targets one racial group. 

Here are some pictures from the protest:

Remember the world is watching and so is God.

Why I Won't Be Staying in America

Protester in Ferguson.
This photo does not belong to me.

America the land of opportunities. America the great. America where dreams come true. All these wonderful things you hear about America, but is America really that great when you are 'black'? The longer I stay in America the more afraid I become of settling down in this country. Why? Because I see how much the colour of my skin can stir up hate in some people. In Kenya we are not taught to look down upon other human beings because of the colour of their skin. We are not raised to judge the character of others based on the colour of their skin. I am not saying they teach these things in America, but clearly there's something wrong when I can value and appreciate all other races whilst quite a number of people in America cannot.

Why is it that this year alone there have been a handful of cases whereby innocent black men have been murdered by the police? As a black woman I can no longer say I trust the police in this country. Michael Brown could have been one of my brothers. How can black men be expected to trust the police when it feels like the police have absolutely no regard for their lives? Not all police officers are bad on the individual level, but we have seen officers kill innocent black men and get away with it. The problem is deeply engrained in the system. A system that has failed black men one too many times. When will it be enough for us to see change? When will black mothers ever be at peace again when their black sons leave the house? When will black men be able to feel protected in this country? When will it be enough? When innocent white unarmed men start to get murdered on a regular basis by the law enforcement? Is that what needs to happen for people to understand that this is not okay? THIS IS NOT OKAY, and I can never settle down in a country whereby majority of the citizens don't even flinch when there appears to be a pattern when it comes to the murder of unarmed innocent black men by law enforcement officers.

Stay peaceful.

Book Review: The Circle by Dave Eggers

Bonjour tout le monde!

I hope you are all doing well (if you do actually exist and have decided to stop by my blog)! I just finished reading The Circle, and if I had to describe this novel in two words I would say that it's a disturbing eye-opener (I guess that's three words...kind of). It's really funny how I stumbled across this novel right after I started to move away from social media. If you want to read about why I'm trying to move away from social media then click here. Anyway, I believe that social media takes away from living. What do I mean when I say this? I believe that as humans we are becoming so engulfed with social media that we are missing out on life outside of social media. I don't think social media is bad, there have definitely been a lot of benefits. However, I took the time to view my life and the role social media plays in it, and I realized that I was uncomfortable with the lack of privacy. Yes I know you can make your profiles private and that you can choose who has access to your information, but why are most of us giving access to hundreds of people who we no longer have any interactions with. My classmates from when I was eight, who I no longer talk to or have any form of relationship with, can still know everything going on in my life. Some people may say that this is the beauty of social media, the fact that we can always stay connected with everyone we meet forever and ever and ever and ever... I beg to differ, and The Circle demonstrates why social media can turn into a very scary, very intrusive, very destructive tool.

Okay I am going to stop blabbing, and get to the actual book review. I would give the book a 3.8 out of 5. It was very well written and relatively easy to follow. The story-line was very unique, and I had no idea which way the book was going (this is what kept me turning those pages)! It took me a while to become fully immersed in the book, but once immersed I found it hard to stop reading it at the end of the work day (yes this is what I do at work for the most part). 

Lastly, it is a dystopian novel. So, if you love reading books like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Giver, and Brave New World then you will enjoy reading this book. Althought, I think this book may be intended for a more mature audience than the novels I just mentioned. 

Here are links to summaries of the novel since apparently I'm too lazy to write my own: 

Good Reads

NY Times (SPOILER ALERT...kinda)

I Deleted my Instgram and No It's not Because Rihanna Deleted Hers

Yes that's right I deleted the gram. This is not really surprising because just a few minutes ago I put a post about how I wanted to move away from social media. Click here to read the post. I mentioned how I had logged out of my instagram and deleted the app. However, I decided that this is not enough and that I had to actually delete my account. It is something that I have been debating about for a while. It felt like I was deleting a part of myself, but why do I feel this way about an app?

How did I go about deleting it?

I re-downloaded it and logged in.

I took a screenshot of my instagram page just so I can remember it when I am older and feeling nostalgic. 

I logged out and deleted the app.

I logged in on my laptop.

I clicked my username and chose edit profile.

On the bottom right I clicked the 'I'd like to delete my my account' button.

I gave my reason (which was other) and... I deleted it.

How do I feel?

Like I can do anything I put my mind to.

Will I go back?

Never say never so I do not know. I hope not.

Moving Away from Social Media

Last night I logged out of my instagram and deleted the app. A couple of weeks before that, I deactivated my facebook. Prior to that I decided to permanently get rid of my snapchat. Why? Baby steps. I am taking baby steps towards a life free of social media.

I remember a time when I wasn't so concerned about the lives of others. I also remember a time when I wasn't so concerned about showing others that I have a life. That time is definitely not now, and my concern has increased throughout the years moving from one social media site to another. It's a suffocating life, and it makes me feel like I am not truly living. 

Why do I feel the need to post a picture on instagram whenever I am doing something? Why did I feel the need to constantly put up a status on facebook when I was younger (I thank God my obnoxious facebook days ended because God knows I was a very obnoxious facebook user in my early teen years)? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I want to find out what life would be like if I didn't feel this need to  constantly broadcast my life to all my friends, acquaintances and even enemies (not that I consider anyone my enemy but you never know who considers you their enemy). The idea that I am so willing to broadcast so many things about myself leaves me with an unsettling feeling because I have always been a fairly private person. Moreover, it leaves me caring about what others think of me, and honestly I don't want to live life based on what others think of me. I want to live life based on what I think of myself. Before putting up a facebook status or an instagram picture I would always think to myself what if people judge me negatively for this post? Well, people will judge you negatively based on themselves, not based on you (unless you put up something that is actually worthy of negativity). 

To sum it up, I don't think that social media is terrible. Through facebook I have been able to maintain contact with my friends all over the world. Through instagram I can share my love for photography and appreciate people's beauty. So, I'm not antisocial media. What I am against is:

1. People being so concerned about the lives of others.
2. People depending on social media for their self esteem.
3.  People feeling like they must show the world that they have a life by constantly posting about what they are doing. As long as you are alive you have a life.
4. People not living because they need to check social media constantly.

I'm sure there are other things that I am against, but I can't think of them right now. I just believe that we should all be at the point in out lives where if all social media sites/apps were to no longer exist we would not be phased and life would go on.

Dark Girls

I just finished watching the documentary Dark Girls. Now that summer is here I have a lot more free time so, I've been cheating on my boyfriend school with netflix (shhh don't tell it's just a summer fling). So, yes back to Dark Girls. It was a good documentary that has definitely paved the way to a much needed discussion on colorism. 

I am dark skinned. Have I always known I am dark skinned? No. This seems to shock people, but I know for a fact that it's possible to live life without seeing the different skin tones amongst people of colour. I know this because that is how I lived for the first ten years of my life (or maybe eleven). I can remember the exact day I was told I was dark skinned. It came as a huge surprise because there I was thinking black is black, but no there are different shades of black and it matters which one you are. However, even after it was pointed out to me that I am dark skinned, I didn't have too many encounters with people mentioning my skin tone. I went to a school that was predominantly white, and they just see black, they don't see dark, brown, or light skin. 

Fast forward to when I moved back to Kenya. In Kenya it wasn't so much a dark/light skin distinction, but more of a black/mixed-race. I guess you could say that this is technically still a dark/light skin distinction. Still, in Kenya mixed-race people are pretty much worshipped, and thought to be more attractive. This was my personal experience anyway. 

Fast forward again, and I find myself in the land of 'opportunities' a.k.a the US of A. I did my last two years of high school in the States, and I still didn't really have to many encounters with colorism. It's only when I came to university that I really began to understand, see and hear colorism. It's surprising how much focus we put on the lightness or darkness of skin as black people. College is where I learnt that some boys will only date light skinned girls, and that some girls will only date dark skinned boys. This still surprises me to this day! Is black not black? Plus why are we so focused on how people look like? It's the soul, the connection and chemistry you have with someone, and how they treat you and others that truly matters. I'm just so baffled.

So let me wrap things up. I honestly cannot remember any incidents in my life where I have been judged because of being dark skinned. I haven't had people judge me positively or negatively for being dark skinned. Now just because people haven't said things to my face it doesn't mean that I have not been discriminated against because of my dark skin. I am sure there are men who wouldn't date me merely because of my skin tone. I am sure there are people who also think I am ugly because of my dark skin. However, at the end of the day we are all black. I think its so wonderful how we come in different complexions. I feel like every black person has a skin tone that is unique to them. I have never met anyone who is my exact same skin tone because our skins are just so unique to us as a race and as individuals. I am left in awe by how beautiful we are. At the end of the day all colours are beautiful! Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black and white.