There is no way for me to sugarcoat the fact that I am angry. Truly outraged, hurt and lost. Who else would it be if not Black people to have to fight for their lives in the middle of a pandemic? Police brutality is a tale as old as time that has continually proven to the world that people see no value in Black lives. But what can we really expect from a group created with no intention of protecting us? Modern-day police are derived from slave patrols. Slave patrols were tasked to track down runaway slaves and stop revolts from transpiring. What do we see them doing now? Tear gassing and shooting rubber bullets at peaceful protesters, infiltrating protests to ensue violence, and much more. According to mappingpoliceviolence.org, 1,099 people were killed by police in 2019. Black bodies made up 24% of those killed even though we only make up 13% of the United States population.
On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police responded to a report of someone trying to pass along counterfeit bills. That someone was George Floyd. Shortly after officers arrived on the scene the events following were nothing short of traumatizing. After being taken away in handcuffs, video footage from various different angles shows the 46-year-old, African-American male being pinned down to the ground by a white police officer who was kneeling on Floyd’s neck. The video replicates the 2014 murder of Eric Garner who also suffocated to death at the hands of police. In both videos, you can clearly hear both victims say “I can’t breathe!” and in both instances, the officers waited until it was too late to resuscitate.
It’s sad to acknowledge but we are not new to these injustices. Police have maliciously killed Black people for decades, but that doesn’t make the pain of our reality any easier to tolerate; and we should not have to. In the wake of multiple crimes against Black people, George Floyd served as the tip of the iceberg and now we are saying enough is enough.
After news got out of George Floyd’s murder, the citizens of Minneapolis banded together and took to the streets to participate in what they thought would be a peaceful protest.
AC Wilson, a Minneapolis native participated in the first round of protests. He was there from the peaceful beginning to the life-threatening end. “[A] driving motive was the fact that when I watch George, I [see] me...or my uncle or my brothers...I just couldn’t sit there…” AC said when explaining what drove him to make the decision of going out and protesting despite knowing our countries history with protesting and the police.
The protest started out peaceful, however, after police-initiated violence by tear-gassing protesters一things took a sharp turn for the worst. Minneapolis citizens began rioting to amplify their voices. This caused a divide on social media for those who are pro and anti-looting.
In these situations, we are shown that trying to be peaceful with people who only understand violence will get you absolutely nowhere. Wilson broke it down like this, “If your girlfriend’s love language is physical touch, you’re going to love her through physical touch. America’s love language is violence. This land [was] found and breed on violence.” So often people love to quote Dr.King to push their anti-violence agenda and it is not in a means to comfort and/or educate you but rather manipulate and control you.
These protests have sparked ample conversation across all social media platforms while at the same time exposing non-Black, people of color for remaining silent in times where we need them to speak up. Especially those who argue for the right to use the n-word because they grew up around Black people, as well as those who fetishize Black men and interracial relationships so their babies can have “good hair.” Now is NOT the time for you all to be silent. We are getting to our breaking point and every single ounce of support is vital to our cause. And if you are someone who has non-Black friends and those friends haven’t even done the bare minimum like reposting a petition or retweeting a tweet to garner awareness, I highly suggest you reevaluate that relationship. Desmond Tutu said it best, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” We continually support other minority groups despite facing our own struggles yet we have to beg just to get half the support.
However, I do understand some people may want to help but just don’t know where to start; so I’ve taken the liberty of attaching a sort of “one-stop-shop” to help support the cause. Protesting, signing petitions, donating money, and reaching out to your government officials are all things you can be doing to help support. Posting a black screen on Instagram for one "#BlackOutTuesday" does nothing of any real significance, you got to get active baby.
While we are conscious of the idea that we need to protect our Black men, some of us aid in the consistent disregard of Black women.
On March 13, 2020, three officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department served a no-knock warrant and forcibly entered the home of 26-year-old, Breona Taylor, an EMT from Kentucky. The warrant was granted in hopes of busting a man on drug-related charges, however, the suspect officers were looking for not only had no association to Taylor but did not even live in the same apartment complex. In fact, the suspect was already taken into custody prior to officers entering Taylor’s home according to The Washington Post. The encounter ended with the malicious and negligent murder of Breona Taylor, who was shot eight times and died on her hallway floor. Taylor’s boyfriend initiated shooting and let off one round because he thought someone was breaking in so officers returned fire and murdered Taylor. This was about two and a half months before the killing of George Floyd and the case is just now starting to see the light of day which I find to be extremely disheartening. Ben Crump who will be defending Taylor’s family said “they’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers, but for whatever reason, we have not given our sisters the same attention.” More often times than not, we undermine just how often Black women fall victim to police brutality too. We are so quick to scream “we need to protect our Black men,” which is not wrong but it would be beautiful to see this same energy be shown to our Black women because the truth is we all suffer at the hands of police. Black women are at the forefront of every movement so it is time we start treating them with the respect they deserve. Taylor’s murderers have still not been charged and its partly because we did not place the necessary emphasis on her life.
We have to go hard for our Black women just as we do our Black men and that also goes for our Black queer community. Like Breona, there has not been much light shed on Tony McDade, who was also shot and killed by police May 27 in Tallahassee, Florida.
To be pro-Black is to support every and anyone Black. Black men, women, LGBTQIA+. You do not get to pick and choose who to extend your pro-Blackness to.
All in all, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was exposed to the threat society poses to Black people at a young age and as the daughter of someone who died at the hands of a police officer this conversation always hits much deeper for me. Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police than white people and hearing these stories and watching those videos of the senseless slayings of Black bodies by those who are said to protect us, it becomes very triggering. And as much as I have wanted to shut down and shut the whole world out these past few weeks 一 I owe it to my father and all other victims of police brutality and racism to continue on the fight, this isn’t something that I am giving up on. It is not a trend that I will let die within the next couple of weeks because enough is enough.
Peace and Love,
YAS.ALLI
P.S., Stay educated and buy Black.