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| The media was dying to make him a thug, too..try again. |
Officer Michael Slager has been charged with murder and now faces 30 years in prison or the death penalty. I can say that this is one of the rare occasions that the justice system has worked and for that I am glad.
But I'm also angry. And scared.
Officer Slager fired EIGHT shots into Walter Scott's back while he was RUNNING AWAY. The man was scared and running for his life; but he was shot down like a dog in the street. Officer Slager then filed a police report stating that Scott took his taser and that he acted in self defense; a claim that likely would have kept him a free man if some brave soul hadn't been recording the incident that day. I'm sorry but my faith in America's law enforcement has been severely shaken. This is a cop who shot a man dead in cold blood, cuffed his dead body, dropped his taser beside the body, then tried to convince the public that he deserved to die. I've always had a pretty good idea of how evil the human race can be, but this story has appalled me to no end. After watching the video, I had to stop and seriously ponder if this is the sort of country I want my kids living in. Would I in fact be guilty of child abuse and/or negligence to even bring a child into an environment that's obviously hostile towards them?
Something has to be done about these policemen. Now.
I see now what Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party were facing back in the day; black people in California were being brutalized by the policemen then also, but Huey discovered that if he knew the law, they couldn't touch him; thus, he made sure that every member of the Party carried a pocket version of the California law book at all times. This frustrated the police to no end, as Huey had figured out a way to beat them at their own game. I'm not saying that simply knowing the law will protect us from police brutality, but it's surely a great place to start.
People wonder why black people in America don't trust police...
It's hard to trust a police department that's overwhelmingly staffed by people who do not look like you nor share your interests (check out these statistics on how homogeneous police departments are across the nation). I've said for the longest that if the government wants to show that it cares about us, it needs to provide incentives for more minorities to attend police academies. As long as police departments are brimming with white men, there will be problems. I am not a racist; I'm simply aware of reality. Despite how people like Raven-Symone feel, we are different. I understand how Raven feels; yes we are all Americans, but we are DIFFERENT, and that is perfectly fine. America has long been known as a "melting pot" of people and cultures; well, you can't have a melting pot with a single ingredient, right? We are Black, we are White, we are Hispanic, we are Middle Eastern, WE. ARE. DIFFERENT. And I don't believe black people will ever truly feel protected in this country until we have people who look like us on patrol in our neighborhoods.
Rest in peace, Walter Scott.
-Nick G.
Good stuff Nick. I must say however that I agree with both you and Raven-Symone. We are different, but we all do, in fact bleed red. I admit that I play devils advocate a lot when it comes to racial issues but this time you struck a nerve: You said "after watching the video i had to stop and seriously ponder if this is the sort of country i want my kids living in." Right before following your invite to this blog from IG i came across TIME magazines cover dedicated to this tragedy. It reads "Black Lives Matter...This time its murder." I posted it on IG with a caption Raven-Symone would agree with and then i scrolled to find a picture of a sign that reads "Justice for ________. I left it blank because ill probably need this sign next year." -- All of that in a matter of seconds (thanks www). And now the nerve you struck: i have a rule. if youre not for me youre against me. In this case you, me and thousands of other young black people are unsure if this is the world in which we imagined to raise our children. We are murdered physically, socially and psychologically everyday and now the only source of procreating our species is unsure if its safe to do so... Eventually they wont need to shoot us to get rid of us, we wont exist. And im not okay with that. The solution is not not procreating. that wont do at all. because then we lose. and not that this is a game but again, you must be against me if youre not for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Raven. And yeah I understand where you're coming from. I wasn't necessarily saying we should stop reproducing; I was just in an emotional state writing this and I'm sure that shows. Yes we're all the same, but the black community has several issues that have persisted for generations without being dealt with; now we have to worry about being gunned down by policemen who are supposed to be keeping us safe. The real problem is that with the way things are going, I feel I could be next. Personally, I've never been snatched out of my car by a cop or had one pull a gun on me, but who's to say it won't happen tomorrow? I believe that 90% of cops sincerely want to protect and serve, but I never know when I'll run into one in that 10% and end up just like Walter Scott. That's the problem right now. I'm paranoid. We (black people) are paranoid and growing increasingly leery of police in this country. I feel there are measures that can be taken to alleviate some of this paranoia like recruiting more minority police officers in this country. Also, cops shouldn't shoot to kill, especially if the suspect is unarmed; it's just unacceptable. But yeah I likely will have kids and raise them here; I'll just make sure they're well prepared to deal with whatever sort of world they're brought into.
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