Please Don’t Shoot
First written September 22, 2014 by Zakiya Jackson
August 9, 2014: Michael Brown, an unarmed young Black Male, was killed by police offer Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Mo. Michael’s body was left in the street for hours.
August 9, 2014 — present: Via Twitter, Alderman Antonio French shares through pictures, videos and words the protests, rallies, riots, meetings and other events that unfold as a result of Mike Brown’s killing.
August 27, 2014: Madison Square Church, in Grand Rapids, Mi holds a community event to process the Michael Brown killing called Ferguson and Beyond. It was facilitated by me and one of our elders, another Millennial, Katie. Jackson Beelen was present that night.
September 9, 2014: I hear a recording of a song Jackson wrote and recorded, called Please Don’t Shoot. I was told he wrote it after attending Ferguson and Beyond. I find Jackson and get permission to create a video with it.
September 21, 2014: The video is finally ready to be posted. Justice has not been served in Ferguson or for Mike Brown. Many more unarmed Black Men have been shot and killed since August 9. We must still educate, rally, protest and fight against unjust laws and unjust cultural codes.
I decided to use only pictures from Antonio French’s Twitterfeed because he is a young Black Man fighting for justice in the area for which he serves as Alderman. Alderman French and Jackson Beelen may never meet, but they are inextricably linked as Black Men in America who have to prove that their lives matter. I cried as I looked through hundreds of tweets and photos from Alderman French’s Twitterfeed. This video was hard to create because I too am inextricably linked to the two of them as a fellow Black American — who worries anytime I see a cop car.
Thank you Jackson and thank you Alderman French. I lack the words to convey my gratitude.
And please everyone, in addition to not shooting, think on this: Whether or not you worry when you see the cops, please consider how your life too may be inextricably linked to Jackson’s, Mike Brown’s, Antonio French’s, myself, and countless other names of both the living and the dead.
