Surprise! White Police Officers Still Don’t Give A Damn About Black Men and Boys
Despite national attention and debate, and despite the success of Black Lives Matter and the beginnings of a movement, black men and boys are still being harassed and killed by white police officers all too often. As a black woman, and mother of two black boys, who is married to a black man, it really bothers and angers me that our men (of all ages) cannot be and are not safe ANYWHERE. I believe that two very recent incidents demonstrate this perfectly.
The first, is the pulling over and handcuffing (at GUN POINT) of terrified unarmed twin 11-year-old black boys (a 17-year-old family friend, who is also black, was subjected to the same thing) in Grand Rapids Michigan for no other reason than they “fit the description” of a suspect who was allegedly carrying a gun in the neighborhood. The two white police officers involved in the incident, who were wearing body cameras during the stop, were found to have acted correctly and received no disciplinary action for supposedly following department policy. If this is true, then I say that the “policies” certainly need to be amended.
The other incident occurred in Dallas Texas and involved an unarmed 26-year-old black man, Botham Shem Jean, who was shot and killed by a white police officer, Amber Guyger (both are pictured above), in his own home because the officer mistakenly (and quite frankly unbelievably) thought that the apartment was her own and that the victim was a burglar. The officer was indited and has been charged with Manslaughter in the case. The officer is currently free on bail while awaiting trial.
Both of these incidents clearly highlight the pervasive racism and discrimination woven into the very fabric of our country. These incidents demonstrate, in an dramatically and in-your-face fashion, what black people, and black men specifically, have to endure every day. After all, I highly doubt that two white children, in a predominately white neighborhood, would have had guns pointed at them and/or handcuffed by police officers (of any color) for no reason. I don’t care what the police were being dispatched for.
Moreover, I doubt that white men, peaceably and lawfully inside their own homes, have to worry or even think about police offers breaking into their homes and shooting them dead. I believe that the so called “Stand Your Ground” laws and the alarming rise of the Alt Right clearly make such a prospect very unlikely. Yet, these outrageous and unjustifiable occurrences ARE not only possible but probable when those on the receiving end are black and male. For those who believe that our work is nearing an end, or hell that we were making progress at all, these two incidents should serve as a reminder that simply “living or existing” while black is and will continue to be a crime in these United States of America.
I believe that it is going to take something more than demonstrations and protests to make a verifiable difference and long lasting change. Don’t get me wrong, as an advocate, I certainly believe in both of these (we need more them in fact) tried and true forms of activism and civil disobedience. However, they will not and have not solved the root problem of implicit biases and racism within our society. When the demonstrations and protests are over; everyone goes home and continues doing what they have always done, thinking how they have always thought, and things remain the same more or less.
And while I don’t pretend to have the absolute answer and/or cure to racism I do believe that a step in the right direction would be through policy. We need better and more robust laws that are strenuously enforced on the national, state, and local level, which would make the killing and harassing of black people a serious (like guaranteed jail time serious) crime. As most black and enlightened white people already know, the laws, as they are now (even the civil rights and hate crime laws) are a complete joke and do little to prevent deaths or increase the quality of life of everyday black people. Until these things happen, I will continue to pray hard for the safety of black men, young and old, for those I love, and for those I don’t even know.
#BlackLivesMatter #LivingWhileBlack #WhiteSupremacy
If you liked this article be sure to clap and share:)
Latagia Copeland-Tyronce, MSW, CADAS, is a longtime parental rights and social justice advocate, child welfare reform activist, writer/blogger, and journalist whose work has been featured in BlackMattersUs and Rise Magazine. She is the founder, president, and executive director of the National African American Families First and Preservation Association (NAFPA) a groundbreaking 501c4 nonprofit origination, the first of its kind, devoted exclusively to the protection and preservation of the African American (Black) Family though policy and legislative advocacy.
And for EXCLUSIVE content on any and everything (including CPS, culture, Black life, Black womanhood and white supremacy) from the perspective of an unapologetic pro-black and utterly unafraid highly educated but broke millennial Afro-American woman, PTSD sufferer and macro social worker who’s been through more than you can imagine subscribe to Latagia Copeland-Tyronce’s Newsletter. I’ll see you there:-) Be sure to follow Latagia on Instagram, Twitter, Quora, and Facebook.
References
