I had to compose myself to get this blog together. At first after hearing about Ahmaud Arbery, I thought I would be proactive and run in his honor, proudly posting the hashtag #irunwithmaud.
Shortly thereafter more videos would surface by conservatives trying to thwart liberal race baiting and prove that Ahmaud Arbery was not the innocent victim he was initially made out to be. When I heard about Breanna Taylor, I signed protests and used my voice as well as online presence.
Even with social media shadow blocking, the message continued to spread.
The tragedy impacted me however it still didn’t hit close to home. I was more concerned about what was happening with the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine. I had dedicated my resources to health and wellness. From teaching fitness classes online to selling sea moss gel and other health goods. Even my fundraising and activism was faced towards women’s rights and domestic violence.
Or maybe I had become so desensitized to the violence online that i learned to compartmentalized it.
And then one day I saw the most disturbing video that changed everything. After scrolling Instagram, I saw the video of a man, George Floyd begging for his life. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know this man and before that day, I had never heard of him. With tears forming in my eyes, I could barely watch as George Floyd helplessly continued to plead for release until his light was extinguished.
I was shocked and saddened but most of all I was pissed. Not because the media was spinning this as race baiting, not because the country wanted to blame division on the current president and not because there was some hidden political agenda or conspiracy looming.
I was angry because of the response or lack thereof from people not truly interested in justice but those who want to prove that there was no longer racism in this country. This wasn’t someone who’s trouble past was seeping through or someone who’s legal woes had outshine the true crime. It was blatant brutality. It was murder! And much like the tension that followed the Rodney King beating, which resulted in riots, backlash and outcries for justice.
By now you have seen the video or gotten wind of it so I won’t post it.
While some seemed to be shocked racism still exists, others choose to ignore it. But what was worse was that a lot of those who have a voice seem to feel that because they don’t partake in blatant racism, they are not doing anything about it. Then you have those whose activism goes as far as a hashtag. Either way the plight of black people was and is nothing more than a hashtag…
Simply because it’s trending.
Regardless, I was and am pissed because it happened… Period! And it’s just as rampant as it’s always been. It may not be as deliberate as Jim Crow or public lynchings but racism still exists.
It’s sad to live in fear that if a cop stops me, it could be very well the end of my life because I’m a black person. I learned that a few years ago in the case of Sandra Bland.
I won’t even go into the fact that if a man corners me, it could end in rape. But this is not about me being a woman. Today my fear is for any person of color.
Watching the cops arrest and kill George Floyd was plain and simple wrong. I watched that video with tears in my eyes in disgust.
Why the fuck did a man beg for his life only to die as his pleading went ignored? He laid on the ground with a cop’s knee on his neck while handcuffed. He begged for damn near ten minutes before dying in the street like a dog. And for what? A bad check? During a time when so many are out of work and hungry.
Now before you go claiming all lives matter, that racism isn’t like it was or that white privilege isn’t a thing or that [poor] whites have it bad too, keep reading.
It seems that any time a black person cries injustice some trolls have i=to interject or play victim somehow. I love when someone posts #blacklivesmatters yet someone else posts #AllLivesMatter. Oh and the best part is that they go on quoting that more whites are killed by cops than blacks. And yada yada yada.
Funny no one goes to a breast cancer awareness rally screaming prostate cancer matters?
Folks love quoting stats … But they don’t tell you this…
Did you know that blacks only make up 13% of the 328 million of US citizens & whites make up about 76%. So if 2019 saw 370 whites fatally shot & 235 blacks fatally shot, that means only 1% of the white US citizens succumbed to police gun violence vs that of 7% black US citizens 🤔.
What’s even worse is that blacks are twice as likely to be shot fatally by police despite not being armed. And their killers are rarely if ever reprimanded. The racial bias that is so apparent in law enforcement is just disturbing. Police judgement based on location, gender, race is apparent especially when you look at the fact that cops are more likely to shoot or detain non-whites. And then when you add the fact that most brutality cases against non-whites goes unpunished especially when the incidents are not caught on video.
Only 13 of the 104 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was killed by police resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime. 4 of these cases have ended in a mistrial or charges against the officer(s) being dropped. Up until 2015 where fatal shootings at the hands of police were reported, only 4 resulted in a trial where the officer(s) involved have been convicted and sentenced. And none of those officers were sentenced to serve more than 4 years in prison. We have seen so far that only 1 of the 4 officers involved in George Floyd’s murder has been arresting and charged.
When shit like this happens, it barely makes the news. Sadly and even more so black women rarely make the news versus that of their male counterparts. Why is that?
There is so much that is wrong with this country that it’s sickening. What’s worse is that incidents like the ones we have seen in a matter of weeks is not new. Black people being targeted is not something that is alien in American history. Racism is not making a comeback. It never left, it just found new ways to hide over the years… And now it’s just being recorded in this digital age we live in making it easily accessible before the morning paper or news as in the past. Just imagine how many cases have been ignored or swept underneath the rug as a result of corruption.
Now folks are revolting. They are more than angry, they are enraged. Between the rioting and looting. The systematic oppression plaguing this country is sickening. So much that it only becomes an issue when black folks act out the only way that thye have been conditioned to do so and that is with violence and sheer ignorance.
Does it help the cause? No. But it sheds light on a deeper issue plaguing those suffering from post slavery syndrome, oppression and poverty. Poverty that rarely any escape from. While I believe that we need to be more self-sufficient and less reliant on a system that was not designed for non-whites. Protesting is cool as a way of exposing inequality but it does not change anything if we don’t follow through nor does it help if we accept the scraps of freedom and not justice.
So in closing, although we need accountability for our own actions and socioeconomic status, it does not take away from the fact that many of us have been denied simple rights to do so since the institution of slavery was “abolished” in this country… and now the chickens as Malcolm X once said are coming home to roost.
Politicians spinning these types of tragedies to get votes to further divide just adds injury to insult. What makes me really angry are the asshole trolls screaming blue lives matter and all lives matter on every hashtag that says black live matter. I mean are these people so blinded by their privilege and ignorance that they can’t even see how stupid they come off.
A fucking life has been lost, a fucking light has been extinguished… All for nothing. And instead of having unity, we are being driven further apart.
Some argue that we need guns and to police and protect our own community. Others march or protest for peace and justice. But all in all if the end result is not the same or if these incidences trend only for a short while, what’s the point?
While I believe that law enforcement needs a complete makeover to differentiate it from its roots of simply protecting the haves from the have-nots.
Until Next Time Kiddies,
Shalom
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