Occasionally, when people of color gather to protest the death of an unarmed person at the hands of a police officer or private citizen, some property destruction occurs and, even some looting.

When that happens, I see this gem trotted out.

And, it pisses me off.

First, this meme fails to acknowledge that, while it is true, Dr. King was also killed by an assassin for advocating that this nation live up to its own Declaration of Independence and honor the clause “all men are created equal”.

It is also a not so subtle nod to the idea that “peaceful” is the only legitimate form of protest … for black folks.

Bullshit.

The Boston Tea Party was not peaceful. And, I am sure some of those folks went home with some tea in their pockets that day to stick it King George.

When an armed, white militia showed up at Cliven Bundy’s ranch, assumed sniper positions and pointed guns at law enforcement, a major news channel (FOX) called them patriots, not the threatening mob they were. FOX did not back off that position until … surprise, surprise … Bundy started saying blacks were better off when they were slaves.

When peaceful protesters show up at Trump rallies to protest his racist, xenophobic rhetoric, they are often assaulted by Trump supporters, even when being escorted out by security/police.

No one in the Trump camp calls those guys thugs or brutes. In fact, they are cheered on by their peers and Trump himself.

Hypocrisy much?

But, let’s assume for a moment that peaceful protests are the only legitimate form of protest.

Colin Kaepernick tried that, on this very issue.

Did most of white America thoughtfully rub their chins and say “Well, I am not black and this is not my experience, but it may well be his. We should look into this and see if something needs to change.”

No. We did not.

Instead, we spent more time and energy calling Kaepernick a traitor than we did examining the issue he was protesting. We spent more time crying “all lives matter” or “blue lives matter” and framing “black lives matter” as reverse racist, as if that somehow justifies unarmed black men being shot by the police, which is the same issue that causes the riots in Ferguson, Baltimore and now Charlotte.

It’s been almost five years since Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman for being a black kid in a white neighborhood. Since then, we’ve had unarmed black men, young and old, shot dead by both law enforcement and citizens.

Some of these shootings have been unclear. Others have crystal clear cases of poor policing leading to the deaths of unarmed people of color.

Walter Scott. Freddie Gray. Aiyana Jones. Oscar Grant. Henry Glover. Alberta Spruill. Ousmane Zongo. Sam DuBose. Yvette Smith. Jonathan Ferrell. And now, this week, Terence Crutcher and Keith Lamont Scott.

If you do not know these names, look them up. Do your homework.

Here is the thing. These shootings seem like a new thing; a curious epidemic. But, that cannot be the case. More of these shootings are being brought to light due to the rise of smartphone cameras and the implementation of dash-cams and body-cams by police departments.

The chilling implication is that this problem has been going on for a long time and, only recently, has technology provided incontrovertible evidence of that the problem is bigger than we’ve been led to believe and not a series of unfortunate, isolated events.

This means systemic racism within police departments is not a new problem. Sensational cases like Abner Louima (NYPD) or Jon Burge (CPD) have occasionally made headlines. But, this means there have likely been hundreds, if not thousands, more Terence Crutchers or Walter Scotts since April 4th, 1968, the day Dr. King fell to a sniper’s bullet in Memphis, Tennessee.

I was born a month before Dr. King was shot. I am almost 49 years old.

Almost 50 years after Dr. King fell, unarmed black men are still being shot in the street and arrested, tried and convicted at a higher rate than any other group. So, why should anyone be surprised that protests occur and occasionally get out of hand?

If the problem still persists, can we really say that Dr. King changed the world?

Or, did he pull away the veil, show us all the problem, and ask us all to fix it.

In that case, the problem is not the protesters, it is us.

We have not done our part.

I’ll do mine. Will you do yours?