I’ve been increasingly disheartened by the news lately. Since Trevyon Martin, how many more subsequent people or children of color have been killed in the name of “justice”? They have been shot and choked for what? One by a vigilante (Trayvon), two by police (Mike Brown and Eric Garner). People can try to pretend this isn’t a race thing but even a blind man can tell you something is definitely fishy about these events.
But Let me digress for a bit. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, o̶n̶e̶ ̶N̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶G̶o̶d̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶i̶v̶i̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶l̶i̶b̶e̶r̶t̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶.̶ Its a damn shame we were all taught to recite this. The striked through part is all bullshit. I dont know about the God part but this nation has been divided by a social construction. The colored folks get no liberty and the justice for all part? That’s a fucking travesty to teach the little children who have no concept of racial inequality.
How do you choke a person to death on video and get no indictment? Eric Garner said he couldn’t breathe yet that pig didn’t stop. He just kept choking him until he fell to the ground. Eric was out numbered 4 to 1. They wrangled him like they were wrangling a hog. They treated him like he was anything but a human being. What made Eric so dangerous that he had to be held in a choke hold? 4 people couldn’t take him down normally so a choke hold was the best plan of action? No pepper spray? No taser? These alternatives aren’t any better but they probably could have defused situation much quicker than trying to wrestle or choke Eric to death. All 4 aggressors in the video were white. Eric was a black man.
Now the Michael Brown Case. Im not going into the details but we know for a fact he was shot 6 times. Where was the taser? Where was the pepper spray? Has it become shoot first and ask questions later? Even if he did commit a crime, was there a reason to shoot a teen 6 times? Not to mention one shot to the head. If that doesn’t constitute an execution, I don’t know what is. Its sad because we are all too familiar with police brutality especially towards minorities. If Darren Wilson was trying to protect him self, wouldn’t 1 shot have been enough? But had that been the case Michael Brown might have still been alive. Once again, Michael Brown was a black teen, and the officer was white.
What I’m really trying to say is that we do not live in a post racial society. We might have made progress since the Civil Rights era but not nearly enough to stop tragedies like these from happening. Police brutality is too prevalent in America. And Racism isn’t dead. All three of these cases have to do with the systematic oppression of people of color, especially African Americans. In the past, the transgressions against African Americans were slavery, then lynchings, then segregation. In the present we have police brutality. I mean is it a coincidence that the people who got killed in these cases were all black? Lets look at all the history books about America. Who was in power? Who was in position to oppress the minorities? All of these issues have many very serious implications that even I can’t even begin to fathom.
The question I have to ask is where did this mindset come from that minorities and people of color need more “supervision”? That they have a higher tendency toward criminality? Haven’t these people sacrificed enough since the founding of the United States to have earned some protection from police brutality? Why are there an overwhelming number of minorities incarcerated compared to Whites? Why do police automatically assume minorities are suspicious for something they would not give a second thought to had they been white? As much as we don’t want this to become a Black vs White thing all over again, the circumstances in which that we live with leaves us with no choice. In these 3 cases, we’ve witnessed 3 black people getting shot by white people. Even if we didn’t want these cases to be about race, it always will be. If we can eradicate the whole idea of race and all of the problems with it, we would no longer have racism or a white vs black problem. But as long as “race” being a social construction continues to exists and as long as we keep separating ourselves based on skin color, racism will continue to exist. We as humans beings should strive toward transcending something as petty as race. For something as stupid as race to affect our socioeconomic and political statuses is beyond absurd. And if we cant get past race and its problems, even the Pledge of Allegiance will continue being a travesty against all Americans. Its sad but o̶n̶e̶ ̶N̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶G̶o̶d̶,̶ ̶i̶n̶d̶i̶v̶i̶s̶i̶b̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶l̶i̶b̶e̶r̶t̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶.̶ is a lie.
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