You can’t check me, boo!

It’s 2016, wake up and smell the tear gas

by Brentley V. Williams

DISCLAIMER: Before you read this piece, either check your bias at the door or stop reading immediately. This is MY perspective as a 27 year old black woman in America and I’ll be addressing a few different things.

Now, that we’ve got that out of the way. Let me start by saying this. You wouldn’t go to a Breast Cancer awareness rally and start bitching about why the organizers and participants aren’t rallying for Pancreatic Cancer or Brain Cancer. Ok, now apply this logic to #AllLivesMatter. Duh, we KNOW all lives matter, but we’re bringing attention to a particular group, for a particular reason and it’s NOT ok to try to pacify the #BlackLivesMatter movement all because you feel uncomfortable or some sense of guilt. The reality of the situation is that in 2016 people are in the streets making their voices heard over issues that should have been dealt with not long after the signing of the Civil Rights Act.

Not too long ago it was brought to my attention by someone close to me who said that they felt that a post I put on my social media made them feel uncomfortable. That post featured a young man holding a mirror that had the words “Want to see who came to riot? Look who’s dressed for a riot” written on it. In the reflection of this mirror was a file of officers in riot gear. My question to anyone who finds this image offensive is, if we have the right as American citizens to protest peacefully, why is it that in a lot of cases we are met with militarized officers of the law as if we are some terroristic threat. We are being met with the assumption that we are going to be violent and why is that? Maybe because someone knows that we DO actually have something to be pissed about.

This entire topic of police brutality, accountability and racial injustice ISN’T something that you should feel comfortable about. I for one am not about to walk on eggshells. The truth is the truth and everyone is going to have to step outside of their comfort zone to affect real change in this world.

Accountability should apply to EVERYONE. This “code of silence” needs to stop now. Why are you silent? You cannot stifle the truth. The outpouring of support from people of all backgrounds for families through the years whose loved ones have been senselessly killed at the hands of the law is evidence that you cannot silence what is right. First line officers of the law are trained for high tension, high pressure events and instances, so it is beyond my comprehension as to why something as simple as a traffic stop turns into 4 bullets entering a passenger’s body in front of a child and his girlfriend.

When folks occupied Wall Street were they met with weapons fit for some foreign enemy combatant? No, I wonder why? It reminds me of when I would leave certain nightclubs in college and the police would be near the “urban” clubs on horseback, but on foot for all the other clubs. Let me also say this, as tragic, unnecessary and unfortunate as the Dallas shootings ARE, that still does not NEGATE the fact that people of color have CONTINUE to be mistreated, abused, and murdered by (some) of the authorities sworn to protect them. Do you know why you’ve never seen DROVES of people flood the streets in protest of the way citizens treat the police? Because it is not the police who feel abused.

I’m not even going to started on the fact that so many of the United States most notorious outlaws and murders are the subject of big screen film and held almost in a high esteem. The glorification of mobsters, mafioso, serial killers and mass murderers has always been made material for award winning film and documentaries. The vast majority of these people are white, but do not get my mention of this misconstrued. A criminal is a criminal, just very interesting that even in film we see a difference in the way white crime and black crime is regarded. Even when it comes to apprehension of criminals there are drastic differences in the tactics taken. People have shot up movie theaters, blown up buildings and marathons and STILL walked away to stand trial. However, you leave it up to people like Rudy Giuliani and he’ll tell you black families just need to respect the police and they might make it out a basic traffic stop alive.

We can’t go from last week’s incidences to having a kumbaya moment for the mere fact that REAL reform needs to happen. Real reform means being forthright and upstanding men and women whether you are a civilian or not. There are laws in place that just do not work in favor for everyone even in 2016. Guess what, laws were made to be amended.