I’m not one to let hate into my heart. I try more often than not to deny it entry. Some days are harder than others to comprehend what is happening before us. Thankfully on May 21, 2020, a third person was arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. His name is William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. He is the person who filmed the horrific video footage of Arbery being chased down by Gregory and Travis McMichael. My hope now is that these murder charges stick because that’s what happened. They lynched a young man for merely taking a jog. The sad part is it never stops. I feel like I’m on repeat and wondering when and if I’m going to get a call one day and told that one of my friends didn’t make it home, and it sucks.
So imagine that. Losing a friend is hard. Unfortunately, I know I lost a friend, but imagine how a mother feels when their child doesn’t come home. Imagine getting that phone call. Or imagine a husband never coming back to his family again. And apparently, we’re not prone to discriminate against sex, just color in these cases. Just the African American community. There’s no JUST in this. There’s not because this is a group of people. They are a COMMUNITY. They are PEOPLE. I cannot understand how it is 2020, and we are still having race issues. I don’t understand anymore why this is happening.
In Kentucky, the death of a young woman by the name Breona Taylor was shot to death in her own home. Despite insisting that they had a search warrant to search for narcotics and knocked, the police entered the house forcibly. Taylor’s mother argues that no one knocked at all. No one announced themselves. So if Taylor’s boyfriend was trying to protect her ultimately, why was she shot eight times? EIGHT TIMES. Everyone should be allowed to defend themselves. That’s what guns are for supposedly. We should all have one in our home and be able to protect ourselves. And of course, there were no drugs found in the apartment. Her death is more than just a tragedy. Her death is more a “botched execution of a warrant.” Breona Taylor’s life mattered.
The other day a man could have lost his life if Amy Cooper had her way. At no point was she or her dog in danger. Yet Cooper called 911 and reported being threatened by an African American man int the park. She kept stressing his race. She even choked her dog in the process of trying to prove her point. The man, Christian Cooper (of no relation to Amy), can also be heard asking her multiple times, please don’t come close to me. All he wanted to do was tell her to put the leash on her dog as it was against the law in the Bramble in NY’s Central Park. There are signs posted saying that dogs must be on leashes at all times. By the time she strangles her dog, she is in near hysterics when saying, “An African-American man is threatening my dog in the park and me, PLEASE SEND THE COPS?” Thank God Christian was not there when and if those cops arrived. Christian Cooper’s life matters!
What if they would have shown up and assumed that he did indeed threaten her. What if this man had not recorded this video? There are too many what-ifs that should not be the case today. This woman was never in any danger, yet she willingly put his life in danger by making that phone call. None of us are that naive not to know today’s social climate because, sadly, at least once a week, some other person is practicing the hate they learned growing up. These things spew from their mouths, and sometimes they even emit from their guns. More often than not of late, they discharge from their guns instead because instead of attempting to get the facts straight, it has turned into a shoot first, ask questions later society in the African American community.
In Missouri, a mother aIn Missouri, a mother and son, Marvia and Derek Gray were arrested by cops after a store employee informed the police that the two had paid for a television set the police falsely accused them of stealing at a Sam’s Club. This situation should not have escalated to the degree it did. No one should have laid on the ground for theft due to racial profiling. They have sued the four police officers who humiliated them and caused them mental anguish. Even while detained, Marvia was rightfully worried for her son’s life and him becoming yet another causality of the so-called justice system. Why wasn’t the store’s employee not respected? When will the police start arresting actual criminals instead of continually racial profiling others? Marvia’s life matters! Derek’s life matters!
To make matters worse yesterday, George Floyd died due to unnecessary roughness by a police officer. If a person is telling you that he cannot breathe, common sense would tell someone to get off their neck. I know that people will argue that the police were called to arrest him and that Floyd resisted officers. However, we see earlier in the video that they had him subdued, and he was in pain. They dispatched the officers to do their job. They did not send them to give this man a death sentence. A person’s skin should not equal their death. Protests have since taken place at the intersection and the precinct where the police have had to fire rubber bullets as well as release tear gas as the protests turned violent from the once peaceful protest. Much different from white people carrying guns to protest and nothing happening. George Floyd’s life mattered!
People should not have to keep reporting on this. Hate crime laws should exist everywhere. We have to fight together. We have to come to a point in our society where we stand up for each other. People have to stop thinking these backward thoughts. Yet we have people coming out of the woodworks every day believing that these people had to die. These people think that these events had to happen. That officer did his job, forcing him to the ground with his knee. That woman had a breakdown and felt threatened. Those two men were defending their neighborhood, and they are God-fearing men. We don’t know the whole story. No. That narrative does not cut it anymore. That narrative needs to be demolished with a quickness before any other lives are lost. Stop defending killers and attempted murderers.
We have to get it together for each other. More importantly, we have to realize that black lives matter. Until we break the mindset, the laws merely exist in the books. Until then, we will forever remain in an endless cycle of lives lost. And quite frankly, that is not acceptable.
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