What Is Happening? (or Why I Support Black Lives Matter)

At the time I’m writing this post, there have been 2 black men killed by police (Alton Sterling and Philando Castile) in the past 2 days and 4 cops who were shot at a peaceful protest about those killings. Honestly, I don’t know what to write about this but I can’t stay quiet.

All of the killings recently have hit me so hard. I saw the videos of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile online and was just shocked by what I saw. I don’t watch violent things usually and these videos were some of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen. I am impressed at Lavish Reynolds (the girlfriend of Philando Castile) who was able to stay calm and film what was happening so that the world could see what happened in that car. Some of my friends posted about how the police violence isn’t new, it’s just the fact that everyone has cameras now that allows us all to see what’s happening. That may very well be the truth and we can’t turn a blind eye to it.

I’m not trying to say that all cops are bad. I know cops who are very good people and I understand that they do put their lives on the line every day and that can be scary. But for a cop to feel it necessary to shoot a man point-blank in the chest multiple times while they are on top of him because they believe he has a gun in his back pocket (which he can’t get to because you are holding him down) is ridiculous. Police are supposed to enforce the rules but they aren’t supposed to also be the judge, jury, and executioner for the people they stop.

I know that many members of various police forces are speaking out about this violence and saying that it is not necessary. They are showing so many examples of where white men who are either pointing a gun at the police or shooting at them are able to be stopped without dying. Sometimes those men are shot, but never multiple rounds at point-blank.

I’m embarrassed to admit that many years ago I questioned if the men who were killed by police did do something wrong. That changed with Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, but especially with Tamir Rice. I saw that surveillance footage of Tamir Rice and was disgusted. I can’t believe that the cops shot a child within seconds of arriving to a 911 call where someone thought he might have a fake gun and after they shot him they didn’t think to do any lifesaving measures. Seeing that made me realize that these shootings aren’t because the victims did something that made them so high risk that the police had to shoot them to protect others, these shootings were because the police were scared or acting irrational.

I remember seeing this amazing tweet last year which really made everything clear to me.

I’ve been so mad for years hearing people question my friends who were sexually assaulted or raped saying that maybe they shouldn’t have worn whatever they were wearing and then they wouldn’t have been raped. For the record, my friends who have been attacked have been wearing things like a pajama set (a man came and raped her in the room she was sleeping in), jeans and a t-shirt, a dress at a black tie event, and maxi skirt with a tank top. The men who raped them would have done it no matter what. So victim-blaming them doesn’t do them any good.

It’s the same with all of these incidents. I have friends who are raising young black men and they have had to tell their sons for years that to prevent being shot by police they need to obey no matter what. But then when Philando Castile was doing just that in getting his ID from his wallet as the officer told him to do, he was shot and killed. What are mothers and fathers supposed to tell their kids now to not be shot during a routine traffic stop?

When I was starting to write this post, it was just going to be about the shootings and how I just don’t know what to say about things. And as I started writing, the news from Dallas came out where snipers were killing cops at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest. I don’t believe that the snipers are a part of the protest but decided to take advantage of a situation and perhaps try to get the blame landed on the group.

But Black Lives Matter is not about only caring about the safety and lives of black Americans. It is saying that black lives matter just as much as white lives and that needs to be recognized. It’s like the example I saw on Facebook today:

Nobody is saying black lives matter more than others, they just want them to be recognized the same way as others. Nobody is asking for privilege, they are asking for the privilege to go away and for equality to exist. This needs to happen. There have been too many shootings, too many attacks, and too many parents scared for the lives of their children.

This is not just a bad police issue, this is a humanity issue. And I want to see the change happen within my lifetime so I know that my friends and family who are scared every day can finally feel safe in their lives.

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