From woke radical leftist to conservative, my questioning of my own ideology began in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd and the BLM riots. Up until that time, for my whole life I prided myself for identifying as a member of the “tolerant” left. I was pro-choice, anti-Trump, and an avid supporter of universal healthcare and Black Lives Matter. Coming to college, I quickly surrounded myself with like-minded people who encouraged these views I had, and I eventually became radicalized.
Following the death of George Floyd, we saw protests and riots erupt throughout the country. In June of 2020, I attended a BLM protest with a friend of mine. As I stood there with my sign that read “No Justice, No Peace” and chanted along with the crowd, I began to question why I was even there to begin with. I knew I supported (and still support) equality and felt the need to stand with my friends who were people of color. To chant “F*ck the police” with the crowd, among other hateful things, against people who had different opinions goes against the tolerance and acceptance the left and BLM supporters of the like constantly pushed. Quite frankly, it went against my own beliefs regarding avoiding hateful behavior in all things. Later on I even found myself justifying all the violence and riots that happened during that summer. However, I was then praised for being an “ally” after all of this.
I ignored any apprehensive feelings I had towards the BLM movement out of wanting to avoid ostracization. I was willing to subscribe to a narrative that I was not sure I fully agreed with just to avoid being labeled as a racist by simply questioning BLM. Hypocrisy is strong within the Left. The same people that will preach love, acceptance, and tolerance are the same people who will ridicule others who have a different opinion.
Looking back, I don’t believe there is anything “woke” about supporting Black Lives Matter. Virtue signaling like putting #ACAB and #BLM in their social media bios is a great way for people to look like they care. The problem isn’t with the idea that black lives matter. The problem lies within the violent actions being carried out by the organization. Black-owned small businesses were being vandalized and more harm was being done to the black community because of BLM, all in the name of George Floyd and others. In short, looking back I can admittedly say that I was wrong about my previous views regarding the BLM movement. Until people can have their eyes opened to the facts and hypocrisy of the left, they will continue to contribute to these issues in the country.