Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald, Dontre Hamilton, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddy Gray, the list goes on and on past streams of consciousness. These are the deceased black bodies that no longer see the light of day. These are the black bodies that were unarmed and murdered by our ‘friends’ in the blue uniforms. These are the black bodies that invoked racially charged riots across the country because someone had to act when the court systems would not. These are the black bodies that never received justice for their murders.
We know the influence that the police have in our society. It’s the ‘American dream’ to join the military or be a part of the police force. When asked what they want to be when their older, kids respond with a police officer, because who wouldn’t want to protect people for a living, right?
But what happens when our police system falls corrupt? When more people are scared of you or hesitant to call 9-1-1. In the black community, the police have always been an ominous presence, dancing on the line of judicious and corrupt and for as long as I can remember we have feared you, Mr. Police Officer. We fear your traffic stops that end in discriminatory violence and your random searches that leave our skin crawling. We fear the power that you have over us, always lurking in the corners.
For as long as I can remember, we have feared you, Mr. Police Officer
In the past few year, you have shown us how powerful you can really be. You have portrayed this through the number of unarmed black bodies you kill and easily get away with. Yeah, you’ll stand on public trial and take a year or two off, but the end result seems to always be constant. You found the person who’s death is in your hands ‘intimidating’ (really, who’s the one with the gun here) or ‘he came at me, it was just self-defense (he was UNARMED). Perhaps the flaw lies in the teaching at the Police Academy, that these officers just aren’t remembering their policies, because I’m pretty sure they are not teaching you to shoot at everything that moves and cry wolf when society questions your actions.
Today yet another name was added to the growing list of dead black bodies killed by police officers and left without justice. 18 year-old Mansur Ball-bey is dead now because law enforcement deemed him too intimidating. I’m sure they used their wide range of skills and training before their fingers skimmed over the pepper spray and tasers and landed right on the gun that ended his short life. A drug raid turned into a deadly scene, and I can’t imagine that this is how St. Louis Missouri ends all their raids. Because the court found ‘insufficient evidence’ these two officers are now getting away with murder, free to kill again and again.
It’s funny how officers that kill black bodies like to bring up the ‘intimidation’ factor that black men have on them. It’s funny to see the affect of the color of ones’s skin or someone who has so much privilege and power. When Mike Brown ‘charged’ at Darren Wilson, was he so intimidating to the point where Wilson was forced to shoot. Did Wilson really believe that this black boy could only be controlled by death. When they shot Laquan McDonald did they have to shoot him that may times? Did they like the way the bullets ricocheted off that poor man’s body. And young Tamir Rice, who was only in eighth grade, wan’t even given a chance before he was publically shot. And yet, all of these killers live to taste wonderful freedom while the rest of us are worrying who’s next.
We get it, the police win every time. But could the court systems at least pretend that they are trying to serve justice to the dozens of black bodies that lay dead beneath our feet. I have a feeling that this wouldn’t happen this frequently if the race roles were reversed, and I’m a bit tired of watching another white police officer kill and get set free again and again and again.
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