White People: Do Your Part

I don't know if my white friends understand the seriousness of this or not. Every black person has a story like this, including myself. Not all have peaceful endings. 

I don't want people to think that this stuff is new just because social media allows people to plaster it all over the web these days. Since I was a teen, I've experienced many incidents about if I "belonged" somewhere. 

Do people not realize that calling the cops on black people for no legit reason these days should be a form of criminal negligence?  If you think that someone doesn't belong then call a building manager, not the police!  Find out the truth instead of trying to intimidate someone.  White people who threaten to call the cops on black people should know that the end-result will be the severe mistreatment, and in some cases, death, of that black person.  

Until white people actually speak to their peers about correcting it then I'm afraid that it's never going to cease. Racism isn't a conversation for black people to have.  It's a conversation for white people.  White people started racism, so they have to end it.  Minorities can stomp, march, and hold signs all they want, but until white people bring this conversation into their churches and homes, it's never going to end.

I grew up in a predominantly-white school system and I had quite a few white friends. Not all white people are prejudice.  But, understand that it only takes a few dummies to make everyone look bad. Weed these people out already! Being silient is just allowing you to get unfairly lumped in with the rest these idiots. 

I won't hold my breath and wait on this to be shared, but know that an uncomfortable discussion is what it's going to take to reduce the number of prejudice people in the world like this guy.

Police Only Protect And Serve Each Other

So, yet another video surfaces of police using excessive force during an arrest.  The suspect later died after being taken into custody. 

During the video, the man pleaded for mercy and indicated that he couldn't breathe quite a few times.  He kept trying to adjust his head to find relief, but the number of cops on him wouldn't allow him comfort.  Not to mention the one cop who applied pressure from a knee to the back of the man's neck.  He was clearly increasing the pressure the more the man appeared to be adjusting to get some air.

Despite the man being in custody and no longer a threat, this cop still felt the need to "punish" him by keeping the knee in the back of the man's neck which ultimately may have led to the trauma that killed the man.  The onlookers pleaded with the cop to ease up. They begged the police to just put the guy in the squad car.  They told them to check the man's pulse when he became unresponsive.

The cops did none of that.  An ambulance was called, but the man appears to have died before they arrived.

Look,  I understand that police are humans and get frustrated, too.  They get tired of people who may run and / or resist.  But some cops don't realize how what they do comes off as severe bullying to the general public.  Especially minorities.  Once the suspect is subdued, the fight is over.  You don't have the right to continue to punish someone who is in handcuffs and not in a position to be a threat to anyone.

I have met some really good cops in my life.  Cops who wouldn't dare think of intentionally harming someone.  But until THEY start to speak out against this, we'll continue to see videos like these.  When was the last time you saw a cop testify against another cop for police brutality?  Wait.  When's the first time you've ever seen that?

This "loyalty to the uniform" stuff needs to end if they ever want to truly gain a reputation for "protecting and serving" the people.  Because right now, the police only "protect and serve" each other.

Black Lives Don't Matter, But Cops Lives Do

So, a couple of more unarmed black men are approached for something petty and ultimately gunned down at the hands of cops.  One of many reasons why I wrote about black people being extinct by the Year 2100.

Let me start off, like every other black writer, by saying that I have nothing against the police.  For some reason, people think that if you're pro-black that you're anti-white or anti-cop.

That's just stupid.

Just because you want to stop breast cancer doesn't mean that you're all for cervical cancer.  This blog encourages common sense, so those who actually use it before commenting or inboxing me are appreciated.

The Media

First of all, I'm tired of the media regurgitating the same ol' rhetoric that means nothing.  I'm tired of hearing "It's time to have the conversation about..."  About what?  We've been talking for 60 years and nothing has changed.  The only difference between 1956 and 2016 is that we have the ability to film the killings today.  The only downside to that is how the media exploits it.  They're the main reason cops are afraid of black men today.  We're portrayed as predators and the police hunts us down as such.

The officers being shot last night in Dallas was a tragedy.  The media should be bringing their family together via satellite with the family of the unarmed black men who were recently shot to show their similarities.  Instead, they act as if those grieving black families no longer exist.  Because the shooting of cops is more important to them than of unarmed black men.  Black lives don't matter, but cops lives do.  The value of their lives are unequal in the eyes of the media.  That nonsense is passed on to the American viewers who ultimately start to subconsciously believe the same thing.

The Police

The same police who scream about how snitching is protecting criminals in the black communities are ALWAYS tight-lipped about one of their own who commits an atrocity against an unarmed black man.

Has anyone in the police department ever stood up and said, "my partner was wrong for shooting that man"?

If so, then I'd love to see a video of it because I've never seen it.  Police protect their own yet chastise the black community for doing the same.  The irony in that is astounding!  They want black people to help them find cop killers, but won't help black people find unarmed black men killers.

Black Cops

If you're a black cop and you don't speak out against your own people getting killed, then punch yourself in the throat.  It's a shame that some black cops will protect the law enforcement brotherhood while ignoring their own.  Is this lady the only cop with guts to speak out against the treatment of her own people?  Does it have to be someone in your family before you start to care?

Oh, I almost forgot.  The Commander in Chief needs to take a stand for the killing of black men like he has for the LGBT community's rights and health care.  Stop ignoring black people, Mr. President.  This has nothing to do with gun control unless you're going to start taking guns from the police.

Conclusion

This will never end.  It will never end because we will always have an Us. vs. Them mentality.  There is a ton of evidence of blacks snitching on blacks for the greater good.  When police start doing the same with each other, then maybe some trust can be developed.  When police actually start going to jail, then maybe black folks can be alright with the PD.  When the media actually bad mouths police like they did Christopher Dorner (a former black cop), then maybe black people will come around.

Oh, and Christopher Dorner was a terrorist for sure.  But if you think that he's much different than the cop who shot Philando Castile, then you're not capable of understanding the point that I'm trying to make.

Good and bad doesn't have a color, but we don't treat it that way.  If it were, then armed white men wouldn't get taken into custody and bought sandwiches while unarmed black men get taken to the coroner with multiple bullet holes in them.

#Ferguson: A Year Later

Last week, I found myself in the St. Louis area on business.  I decided that since it was only a 20 minute drive to Ferguson that I at least wanted to see the city to see what it was like.  I had no idea that I would leave with an empty feeling inside.

Arriving in the city didn't feel like arriving in any other city.  All of the stories in the media over the past year and has turned Ferguson into somewhat of a "haunted house" type of feel.  You're looking around as if to expect to see something "pop off."

But as I drove through the city, I didn't see media vans and cameras.  I didn't see any protesters (most protests occurred during the evening and I was there during the morning).  The city appeared just like any other city.  There did appear to be tension in the air just from some of the locals we came into contact with, but for the most part, just another day in an every day city.

We thought about just turning around and leaving, but then I decided to pull over and Google the Mike Brown incident.  I wanted to learn more about where it occurred.  Maybe we were on the wrong side of town and the commotion that we see each night on TV is elsewhere.  That's when I came across the street name where Mike Brown was shot.  It was about a 10 minute drive from where we were.

(Right click and open link in new tab to zoom)

I wasn't aware of the memorial dedicated to Mike Brown.  When I drove down the street where everything happened, I was actually surprised to come up on it so quickly.  There was very little traffic at the time and the few cars that did drive by did so slowly.

Four kids, no older than 12 years old, came walking by the memorial.  They barely looked at it as they crossed the street and said "hello" to us on their way into their apartment.  I didn't want to ask them if they knew Mike Brown or not, but somehow I knew that they did.  What did the memorial mean to them?  Did it make them hate cops more or did it make them fear cops more?  Did they look at Mike Brown as some sort of martyr for allegedly standing up to an officer or did they look at him as a troubled kid who took things too far?

(Right click and open link in new tab to zoom)

Once I drove past the memorial, I pulled over to get a closer look at some items placed on the side of the road.  This is where I felt the bottom of my stomach drop.  I saw stuffed animals with names written on their shirts: 

• Aiyana Jones, a 7-year old killed in a police raid in Detroit.  
• Tamir Rice, a 12-year old killed on a playground in Cleveland with a toy gun.
• Sandra Bland, a 28-year old arrested for resisting arrest despite never being initially charged with a crime.

There has to be another way for cops to do their jobs without incidents like these.  Why does everything have to end in tragedy?  At one time, being a black man made you feel like prey, but I never imagined that feeling would extend to black women and black children.

If you've read my blog long enough then you know that I have no tolerance for criminals.  But you also know that I believe in the punishment fitting the crime.  We'll never know if Mike Brown actually tried to harm that officer on that day because he's not here to tell his story.  A lot of people have not gotten to tell their stories because they are dead.

As we left Ferguson, we were silent for a good 20 minutes.  However, before we got outside of the city limits, we saw two kids walking down the street and it made us wonder if they would make it home that day.  So many never did.

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