#let dogs sniff things on walks it’s how they socialise and figure out who in the neighbourhood likes grass

[pjmendez]

Realising I can no longer do nothing

George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. ©CNN

I’m tired, just as much as every other Black person is, of seeing nothing change. Nothing has changed. We might like to think things have, and it might make us feel better to think things have, or that we don’t have the same problems here in the UK as there are in the US. In the UK we like to silence Black people bemoaning police brutality and institutional racism by talking about Black-on-Black violence, of knife crime and of Black music that appears to glorify intra-racial murder, even bringing up that old “Africans sold their fellow men as slaves to white people” chestnut without mention of any of the socio-economic, socio-environmental issues and nuances within those issues that result in things being the way they are in the present day. We don’t want, as British people, to be confronted with the idea that we have to change, that what we are doing is wrong; we like to turn a blind eye, as long as we are not the worst. We will do anything not to have to confront the idea that we are the worst, a fact most amply illustrated by the recent tabloid treatment of Dr Neil Ferguson on the day Britain became the country in Europe with the worst mortality rate due to Covid-19: anything to deflect from the fact that we, Britain, once leader of a great Empire, have sunk to the bottom, down there with the slime. We can look at what’s going on over in America and sleep soundly in the assumption that we don’t treat people that way or that “our” Blacks have it better. But to do so is to be complicit in the culture of a new Jim Crow, a global pandemic in itself, the epicentre of which is in the United States, of course, but one that we cannot afford to assume we are immune from or that isn’t already affecting us in any way.

This, in some ways, has been the most beautiful Spring of my lifetime. I’ve enjoyed the publication of my debut novel, and the response to it; the London I live in is looking its natural best. The sun shines every day. It’s warm; roses, azaleas and peonies are superabundant in deliciously saturated colours. But, otherwise, it’s also the ugliest Spring. Never before has it been more starkly presented to me, in measurable facts, the depth of inequality and injustice Black people are suffering here in the UK. Not only are we statistically more likely to be economically disadvantaged, with fewer opportunities for physical distancing and greater danger for exposure due to our likelier frontline jobs, we are seeing, in 2020, black men being stopped in their cars by police at a disproportionately high rate, and a ridiculously high mortality rate compared to other ethnic descriptions – this when, according to research published by the World Health Organisation, Africa is the least-affected region globally by Coronavirus (so far), flying in the face of any rabid eugenicist’s brainwave associating higher Black mortality rates in the global west with genetics. Not only do we have to wake up to a new morning and read about yet another person of our skin colour who has been brutally murdered by police or by a white supremacist father-son team sicced like dogs by their president to sniff out and kill Black people on sight, we also have to read about the memory of a Black woman, Belly Mujinga, being served the indignity of a closed case in favour of the person who caused her death. Which Black person would get off scot-free having spat at a white person, boldly claiming their fluids were positive for Covid-19? Which white person’s death would be shown on TV stations all over the world, their neck crushed for eight whole minutes under the knee of a Black cop? Simple role-reversals are just that – simple. They do not take into account the intersections from which Black and minority-ethnic and/or queer people have to negotiate their everyday lives in a structurally-racist world (which bell hooks has described as an imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy). No Black cop would ever rest his knee on the neck of even the most dangerous white suspect, because of the respect inculcated in us for even the evilest of white souls (remember the gentle way Dylann Roof, perpetrator of the Charleston massacre, was walked into custody?). Black people are allowed to be lynched for all the world to see; white cops think they’re doing the world a favour. And white people are not standing up for us. They are turning their heads away, as if racism is not their problem. Well, it is.

I get it. When I wake up, look at Twitter or Instagram and see another one of these stories come through, my immediate instinct is to turn away; nobody wants the politicised death of a stranger to be the first thing that confronts them, daubing over their waking dreams with thick, red graffiti. Part of this might be my own socialised British “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. But the greater part of it, I think, is a refusal to believe that this could be happening, in such a way, again, so soon after the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor; news came through the next day of the death of Tony McDade, a black trans man killed by a police officer in Florida. But I first became aware of George Floyd’s death scrolling through Instagram with my coffee in bed. Ms Tina Lawson, mother of Beyoncé and Solange – two artists who have put their careers on the line to do their duty to protect their fellow citizens and draw attention to the issues they face – is usually one of the first public figures in my feeds to denounce and rally against police brutalities, posting strongly-worded statements, beatified pictures of the deceased, phone numbers to lobby the sheriff and mayoral offices most local to the killing, calling for a change of mentality and an end to racist violence. Ms Lawson shared George Floyd’s portrait, regrammed from Viola Davis’s earlier post; so soon after waking, I didn’t quite understand the context, and to my shame, I scrolled on. But I kept seeing this picture more and more, shared by African American celebrities, and other pictures of a cop kneeling down – the apparently-righteous kind of kneeling, as opposed to Colin Kaepernick’s apparently-radical kind of kneeling – but I didn’t understand. I didn’t get the picture. Because of its composition, and the expressive manner of its majority subject, a white cop, looking at the camera, straight backed, hand-on-hip, ageing but lantern-jawed like an everyday superhero just doing his job enforcing the law, I didn’t understand what was going on, and how this image connected to that of the large, friendly-looking black man Ms Tina Lawson had shared earlier. It wasn’t until later that I saw that there was a head beneath this white cop’s knee. Captions put words in his mouth redolent of the last of Eric Garner: “I can’t breathe”. Then it emerged there was a video. I refused to watch it. I did not want to see someone lose their life. I did not want to see someone pinned down, struggling, fighting, unable to free himself from beneath the grown man resting his entire body weight on their neck, losing breath, losing voice, losing consciousness, being disestablished from whatever threat they were deemed to be, being murdered. I did not want to see a Black person go through that, for all to see; what was once a sycamore tree, now a knee; what was once a gathered crowd of white nationalists attending a lynching for sport, now millions of people all over the world gawping at their smartphones. Again. If I see it happen to another Black person, in my mind, it’s happening to me. It drips poison into my ear, makes me think of all the ways I might be punished if I leave the house, while Black, travel while Black. Every microaggression leads to my unjust death, a life lived in vain. I am not alone in declaring murders of unarmed Black people to be deleterious to my mental health.

I successfully avoided watching George Floyd die, or entering into the outrage about his death, but then the video – which I today learned was shot by a seventeen-year-old Black girl of uncertain relationship to Floyd, and God knows what trauma she must be going through now – was shown on BBC News that night, uncensored. We watched an American man die on the news – an African-American man. Does that desensitise us? Does it not feed into the suspected narrative that Black people in death don’t deserve the same dignity as white people? This compounds the feared belief that I, a Black man, am less worthy than a white person. That I do not matter. That my body can be choked of life by someone trained to recognise me as a threat to life – whether I have a weapon or not – and paraded around the world. The outcry, by both Black and some white people, has been strong. But beyond a few moments of contemplation in the aftermaths of these deaths, nothing changes. The slaps in Black faces become increasingly insidious.

White supremacy is here to stay, whether its supreme leader gets four more years or not. This is a wave whose power and intention is not yet clear. I want to write a lot more about this. But to all the Black people and our allies suffering pain and anxiety today, I can only say this: stay strong. We are wonderful and amazing. We are a miracle. We are great. For all the hundreds of years of the Atlantic slave trade, when our ancestors had no rights, no self-ownership, no means of telling their own stories, were bred like cattle for best cotton-picking/cane-harvesting characteristics – the fact that we are alive and so many of us are thriving, winning, despite the obstacles in our path other ethnicities don’t have and/or put in place, is a miracle, and we deserve to take all strength and belief from that. We walked the earth first and will always. But we have to keep fighting. Dr Cornell West quoted Samuel Beckett when he urged us to “try again, fail again, fail better”. We can not let any death, any injustice, any microaggression go unchallenged. It is exhausting, and we have to keep questioning what we want equality with (this capitalist agenda? Really?). I’m not the cleverest, I’m not the bravest. But I have a voice, and I shall do my best.

#BlackLivesMatter

References: 

bell hooks | We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity (Routledge, 2004)

Dr Cornel West in conversation with Anderson Cooper on CNN: https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1266532710266425345?s=20

Killer Mike’s address to protesters in Atlanta and other US cities: https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1266630475709177856?s=20

© Paul Mendez, 2020

[pawsclawstails]

Keeping Your Dog Healthy – A Beginners Guide

In this beginner’s guide for keeping your dog healthy, read about dog ownership for newbies, how to prepare your home to be dog ready and dog safe and get top tips for keeping your furry companion physically and mentally healthy.

Jump To: How do I prepare my home? What tips do I need to keep my dog healthy?

Owning a dog is a wonderful and rewarding experience. Few things can beat the feeling of arriving home to an excited tail-wagging furry companion, and owning a dog is beneficial to people of any age and background. And while a dog will definitely inundate you with joy and love, owning one does come with numerous responsibilities and even a couple of challenges to boot.

For new pet parents like yourself who might still be in the honeymoon phase of dog ownership, you will quickly realise that there’s quite a bit more that goes into keeping your furry companion in good health than you might have figured. That’s because your new four-legged companion will need to be provided with nutrition, care, love and entertainment for the rest of its life.

Although there’s quite a bit of work to be done to keep your mutt healthy and happy, you’ll be glad to discover that the potential drawbacks will be dwarfed by the benefits once you get into it.

First Things First – Preparing Your Home

If you’re planning on getting a dog or have just adopted one, getting your home ready for your new housemate is the first thing you need to do if you haven’t already. You will need to dog-proof your home to ensure your dog does not suffer any harm or cause any damage. You should:

Cover and secure electrical cables around the home.

Keep your socks, shoes and anything else that dogs can chew on in closets and cupboards.

Gather and store any potentially harmful chemicals in cupboards where your pet cannot access them.

Secure your trash by keeping it in lidded cans to keep your pet from scavenging through it.

Purchase the necessary dog supplies including food, food and drink bowls, collar, leash, doggy bed, dog crate, safe toys, identification tags and disposable doggy waste bags.

Additionally, if your dog will be living with you and your family, you will need to establish some responsibilities as well as a couple of house rules like which rooms the dog cannot go into, whether they can climb on furniture, and who’s responsible for walking the dog. Brief your family to ensure everybody is on the same page regarding their roles and the rules.

Top Tips For Keeping Your Dog Healthy

Now that your home is ready and everyone concerned knows and understand their role with the dog, we can get to the nitty-gritty of keeping your pooch healthy and happy. Here are a few crucial tips to help you keep your dog healthy as you begin your dog ownership journey.

Monitor your dog’s health from the start. Like humans, dogs also need doctors – or veterinarians in this case. Do some research online or ask for recommendations from friends to find a good vet in your area to help out with your dog’s medical issues. Ideally, you should research and find a good vet even before your new pet arrives home; if you haven’t yet, you need to do it immediately.One of the first things you need to do for your new furry companion is taking them to the vet for their initial visit. This is especially important for puppies who might not have had any veterinary care before.

Your vet will check your dog for any disease symptoms – including checking for parasites such as worms – and administer any vaccines required to keep your dog from catching common canine diseases. If you wish, you could also have your dog implanted with an identification chip and desexed for breeding control while at the vet’s office.

Provide your dog with proper nutrition. Dogs, just like people, need to be kept on a nutritious diet to maintain good health. While dogs can feed on just about anything – including human food – it’s recommended that you invest in high-quality commercial dog food as it’s developed to suit their systems and provide all the nutrition they require to stay healthy.Consult your veterinarian on the type of food you should feed your dog as well as the number of meals you should provide them with. Usually, a mature dog will require to be fed twice per day. The number of meals required will increase up to six for puppies that have smaller digestive systems and require more energy for growth.

Get your dog into a feeding routine as this will also help you with house training for your furry friend – dogs usually need to go to the bathroom about half an hour after they eat. Avoid human food as much as possible as this can cause health or weight problems with your pet.

But food is not the only thing dogs need to survive. Make sure your mutt is properly hydrated by giving it adequate water. Ensure your dog has got access to water at all times so that they can drink when they feel thirsty.

Keep the pests away. Because of its fur, your dog is a magnet for pests; the most common ones being ticks and fleas. These pests, if not prevented, will affect both your pet and your family – so it’s best to keep them at bay.You can keep your dog free of pests by cleaning its coat regularly, preferably with a shampoo that repels pests such as anti-flea shampoo. Most dogs will only require to be bathed at least once every month, but this will depend on your dog’s breed and activities. Inspect your dog’s coat for pests, especially ticks, which you should remove carefully so as not to cause your pet any harm.

Additionally, you should keep your dog’s fur trimmed if it’s a hairy breed. All dogs should have their fur brushed regularly to keep it untangled and debris free. Also, make sure to trim your dog’s nails as these could irritate its paws if left unattended. Be careful not to cut the nail’s inner part (called the quick) as it is alive and could irritate your pooch.

Help your dog keep fit through exercise. Your furry friend, just like yourself, needs to keep fit through exercise for optimum health. The amount of exercise required by your dog will depend on its breed, with some requiring more exercise to burn energy than others.Your dog requires to have at least one long walk each day or two small ones. This is especially important if your home does not have an enclosed yard where you can release the dog and let it run around freely. Games such as fetch can also be used while you are walking your dog to make the exercise routine a bit more intense for your dog.

Socialise and play with your dog. Dogs are pretty smart creatures which makes maintaining their mental health all the more important. Provide your dog with mental stimulation by playing with it and socialising it with other humans as well as other dogs. Introduce your companion to many different people, dogs, sounds, sights and smells to ensure they’re mentally well adjusted.Let your dog be a dog by allowing it to play and express behaviours normally associated with that particular type of breed. If your scent hound loves following scents, let it sniff away once in a while! You could even make a game out of it.

You can also keep your dog stimulated and entertained by providing training. Use a reward-based training for about 10-20 minutes twice a day depending on your dog’s concentration span. This not only prevents boredom but also helps you bond with your pet friend.

Finally, remember to always treat your new pet companion with love and respect and exercise patience especially in the initial days of your relationship. Sometimes it takes a while for dogs to adjust to a new environment. Otherwise, enjoy your new pet!

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