I struggled to write something down for this one. What did I want to say, what could I say? My mind was all over the place. So i figured the best way to start was to approach those comments that stood out to me the most that I saw on social media, news sites, and heard people say. I know some will be mad at these words, or feel like I need to "let it go"..i also address that below.
Read on....
“Michael Brown and Eric Garner broke the law. They were not innocent. They were thugs that deserved to die. “
So with that same thinking, if this is what you are using for your justification, the next time a police officer pulls you over for speeding and he or she decide to beat you or worse then would your killing be justified. You live a perfect life? You have never: eaten grapes at the grocery store before paying; went over the speed limit, did not correct your bill when it came up incorrect? If so, that is breaking the law. You now deserve to die. That is basically what you are saying when it comes to these two men. All I can say to people that make such comments is God bless you. I pray you never find tragedy knocking at your door. That your son or daughters continue to live a perfect existence and never make any mistakes that could cost them their lives. I pray that if tragedy does befall you and your family that you don’t have to hear “They deserved death!” “They got what they deserved.” The sad thing for me is that a lot of people making these insensitive, cruel comments are parents. If you don’t care enough for these young men who had their whole lives ahead of them, at least put yourself in the place of the parents, spouses, or other loved ones who will have a very difficult Christmas this year without their son, husband, father, brother, grandson, uncle, cousin, friend. I pray that you never have to experience the pain of loss that The Browns, and The Garner Families are experiencing this holiday season.
“Its not about race. This is not a black issue.”
You may or may not be right. Considering the number of people protesting that represent various races, genders, socio-economic backgrounds it is a human rights issue. I will give you that. However when a several cases seem to affect our black men, as an African-American male, as an uncle to young men, mentor, educator, and friend to African-American, I am concerned. It seems to be happening to us more. So yes it is a human rights issue, yes it is a black issue, yes it is a white issue, Hispanic and so on.
“Slavery and Jim Crow happened so many years ago, we should just move on:”
Chris Rock said it best recently:
“But the thing is, we treat racism in this country like a style that America went through. Like flared legs and lava lamps. ‘Oh that crazy thing we did. We were hanging black people.’ We treat it like a fad instead of a disease that eradicates millions of people. You’ve got to get it at a lab, and study it, and see its origins, and see what it’s immune to and what breaks it down.”
“We don’t know the whole story: “
In the case of Eric Garner, this was on videotape. What “more of the story do you need?” The entire story unfolded before our eyes. The coroner ruled it a homicide, unjustifiable force. Please tell me what “more” you need.
“What about all the rioters and looters? What do you think of that?”
What about them? To me these are two separate issues. I cannot tell you how many people are using this as a way of justifying or saying that because of that, it solidifies the death of these young men. Do I condone the violence, the looting, people destroying their communities? Absolutely not, but understand its not just African-Americans looting, stealing or rioting….
When you bring up rioters and looters, what are you saying?
“Whites are discriminated against too.”
You are correct. As an African-American male I cannot understand your struggle as you cannot understand mine. However I pose a question. When you were discriminated against or know of someone who has, what did you do about it? Did you take it further, “Did you address the issue? It seems like the only time I hear this, is when issues like this come up. Are you saying this a way to: negate what is happening to us; justify what is happening to us; or just to say it for the sake of saying it. If you have been discriminated against you should’ve said something when it occurred. Discrimination and racism of ANY kind is not cool. It should be addressed on all levels. If you don’t stand up for yourself, you are not standing for anything.
“Blacks kill each other every day. Black on black crime.”
Again what does this have to do with the Mike Brown or Eric Garner? I have heard this from both sides. Yes, black on black crime is plaguing our communities but are using this argument as a way to justify what happened to these young men? That is a separate issue that also and should be addressed but in the grand scheme of this incident this is irrelevant and I am not sure why this is being brought up. Caucasians kill each other, as do Hispanics, as do other races. What does this mean for young men who are being killed by the police? If you can find a connection please let me know.
"Michael Brown threatened the cop. Darren Wilson feared for his life."
How much of a threat was an unarmed man? What sense does this make? Maybe Mr. Wilson did fear for his life, he could’ve shot Mr. Brown in the leg, in the arm, maced him, pepper spray, numerous ways of detaining this young man. But instead you shoot him 12 times? Something is wrong with the math here.
"Charles Barkley supports the Grand Jury Decision."
I am sorry I didn’t realize Sir Charles was the spokesperson for the entire African-American race. I missed that election where we appointed him “Chairman of All Things African-American.” Charles has a right to his opinion as we all do, but I have the right as we all do to disagree, and I certainly do disagree and if you think I am that shallow to change my point of view based off the opinion of a basketball player, you must not know me very well.
"Eric Garner Said 'I Can't Breathe.' If you can talk you can breathe.."
When Abigal Folger was being attacked by the Manson family, here last words were "You can stop now. I'm already dead." What that meant was she knew she was mortally wounded and that she was near death. When Eric Garner said, "I can't breathe.." he knew that he was near death, his airflow was decreasing and he was struggling for air. He was pleading for his life. He was hoping that by saying "I can't breathe.." the cops would have let up. This should be obvious to anyone who has 1/3 brain activity.
"There are other issues that need our attention too in our communities. Why don’t we focus on those?"
You are right. I agree. Perhaps these incidents will give way to discussion on how these issues connect? Yes there are other issues that we need to address, but we have to start somewhere. I could not think of a more crucial place to start then our young men and women being killed unjustifiably by people we pay to protect us.
"I am so tired of hearing about this. Can we just move on?"
Yes, I am tired of too. I am tired of seeing this on the news. I am tired of being pulled over for being in a neighborhood “that I have no business being in”. I am tired of seeing our young men being pulled over, harassed, beaten, degraded by people who are supposed to protect us. I am tired of being judged by past actions, by the actions of a few people, the close I wear, my socio-economic status, the neighborhood I live in. I am tired of hearing stories about people who you feel you can trust say things that completely blow your faith in them out of the water. I am tired of the lack of empathy or understanding. I am tired of the lack of respect. I am tired of: the self-absorbed natures, the judgmental spirit, and the refusal to be inconvenienced. I am tired of being judged based off the color of my skin, being referred to as “you people”, some women clutching their purses when I get on the elevator, the disrespect of our President, being followed in the store, and being stereotyped. Yes I am tired of hearing about it too, I am tired of seeing it and taking about it. Move on you say? I would love too as soon as you can find solutions to the issues I listed above. I am all ears if you have any ideas so we can as you say, “move on...” if you are tired of hearing about it, imagine living it? Imagine how tired we are.
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