Life Style Archives - Black Lives Matter

A Few Hours in Kanchanaburi

November 11, 2020December 29, 2020ccarthern

You’re probably asking where the heck is Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is a town in west Thailand located about 3 hours from Bangkok. A friend and I traveled down to the River Kwai for a weekend getaway and we decided to spend a few hours here. We made the most of our time here but Kanchanaburi is definitely worth a visit. The town is known for its Death Railway Bridge that was built during WWII. The bridge crosses the River Kwai and was built by prisoners of war. Many died building this bridge. We met some friendly Americans while there and got a tip on a few good eating spots. We decided… Read More

It’s Exhausting Being Black in America

September 29, 2020ccarthern

This post is for any black person going to work still and their employer and co-workers expect you to act like everything is normal. We are in the middle of a pandemic that is affecting black people more, we have witnessed Ahmaud Arbery’s murder, Breonna Taylor has been murdered by cops without being charged, George Floyd was lynched on video, Rayshard Brooks was gunned down and the list goes on. Now they tell us blacks are “hanging” themselves from trees. We are not required to operate as normal. Too often blacks have had to remain professional at work to spare white people from being uncomfortable. This stops now. I saw… Read More

The Power of the Black Dollar

September 16, 2020ccarthern

Recall that blacks had to sit in the back of the bus and if a white person boarded the bus and they were the only black in a seat then the law was that they had to give up their seat to the white person. We as consumers have power. Never forget why the Montgomery Bus Boycott was successful. Blacks accounted for approximately 40,000 bus riders which was 75% of the city’s bus riders. They wanted black drivers, segregation laws and a first-come, first-seat policy. They made sacrifices to sustain the boycott. They organized carpools, black taxi drivers charged the same price as bus fare and many people walked. The boycott lasted 381 days. Companies today wouldn’t last that long in a boycott. Covid-19 has shown us that. Black buying power is close to $2 trillion dollars… Read More

The Black Experience in Corporate America

September 9, 2020ccarthern

Black people make up 13.4% of the US population, but only 3.3% of all US corporate executive or senior leadership roles were held by Blacks in 2018. Data taken from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Only FOUR, less than 1%, of the current Fortune 500 CEOs are Black and ZERO are women. Corporate American has been failing black America for centuries. This is a form of systemic racism. There are talented non-white men that can lead companies. It makes absolutely no sense that you have white men making decisions for an entire consumer population. Companies have no problems advertising using black culture but won’t put us in power positions… Read More

Discrimination Against Black Natural Hair

July 7, 2020November 11, 2020ccarthern

Systemic racism runs deep. Especially in corporate America where they can use something as simple as black hairstyles to discriminate against us. The year was 2006 and I was about to graduate college. I was forced to make a decision. Cut my afro that I had been growing for 4 years in order to conform to white society norms or risk not getting hired out of college. I chose to cut my hair. This was an all too familiar decision that we face as blacks. A couple years ago a black high school wrestler was told by a referee that if he didn’t cut his dreadlocks, he would forfeit his… Read More

Why Do Black Lives Matter Now?

June 15, 2020January 18, 2021ccarthern

Something has been bothering me since George Floyd’s murder. What made this murder enough for white people to finally protest? Blacks have been telling you about racism in the US forever. There is this fantasy that since slavery is over and on paper, we are equal and that everything has been fine. Stop complaining. You see the statistics and you have even seen the videos but we always face the same questions. What did the victim do? What is his criminal record? I truly believe if people were not forced to sit home and actually watch the George Floyd video that most of the world wouldn’t have protested. It took a… Read More

Why Defunding the Police is Only Part of the Solution

June 11, 2020June 11, 2020ccarthern

What does defunding the police mean? It doesn’t mean abolishing the police. It simply means moving money from the police and putting into other things that are for citizens wellness. We not only need more body cameras, but we need laws for officers that deliberately turn off their cameras. What are they trying to hide? Officers should be forced to intervene when they see officers cross the line or they themselves are complicit. We need laws for excessive use of force. The officer that killed Eric Garner used an illegal choke-hold but didn’t face any consequences. Even when they are breaking the law the officers are not punished. We need… Read More

We Demand Justice for Breonna Taylor

June 5, 2020June 5, 2020ccarthern

Breonna Taylor was an essential front line worker for her community. She should be celebrating her 27th birthday today. Instead she was murdered in March. A month ago, the Louisville Police Department performed an unannounced no-knock drug raid on her home while she was in bed. Not one of the officers announced themselves before breaking down the door and firing 22 shots, shooting Breonna 8 times. The officers not only had the wrong house but the man they were looking for was already in custody and had been arrested earlier that day. None of these officers have been arrested and it has been a month. Charges must be filed immediately.… Read More

Love Brownie Tasting

March 12, 2020April 9, 2020ccarthern

I love brownies. I am a self-proclaimed connoisseur and when a brownie shop called Love Brownies opened up in my town of Harrogate, England, I had to see if they stood up my standards. Watch the video to see if they did!

The 2019 UCI Road World Cycling Championships

February 26, 2020ccarthern

The UCI Road World Cycling Championships took place between 21 to 29 September 2019 and North Yorkshire was on display to the world. I had no idea how big this was going to be but this was bigger than the Tour de’ France. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the small town of Harrogate to watch the races. Traffic was redirected and streets were closed down. The races brought a lot of former champions to town and many sponsors. One of my local pubs was hosting a ride with ex world champion Johan Museuew from Belgian and I was contacted to take photos before they rode off. The local pub… Read More