Just like everybody else in the world right now, as the number of murders of people of colour by the police increase, you begin to feel a type of numbness with every count. You become accustom to the Instagram posts, the hashtags and the demands for the change we never see. As someone who cares deeply about social equality and justice, this gets tiring. I can only imagine what it feels like to be someone of the African American community. However, even though throughout the year most politicians stay silent on racial issues and most discrimination as a whole (especially in the US), it’s hard to stomach that as soon as one of these types of tragedies occurs it is moulded and compromised to become a sick kind of game in the world of politics. Why, It’s very simple?
Addressing race in government over the last couple of decades has become the janitor’s job. Nobody wants to do it for various reasons, mainly because it’s disrupting the foundation on which the law was build on, for the benefit of white men. Nine times out of ten any proposition brought up in congress is dismissed, we have witnessed this during Barack Obama’s presidency and the many times he has tried to tighten gun laws which we know in retrospect did not go successfully. Also, statistics show that a large percentage of those who vote consistently for the government are white people, naturally addressing race relations to a white audience doesn’t appeal significantly enough to pass a bill ergo it is dismissed in the government. There’s always going to be a lack of morale in a government that is predominantly white and male because they will feel no connection to a murdered black man. A white male rapist will go to jail for six months because congressmen can see themselves in this criminal, or their sons. However, when a black man is slaughtered on video they feel no connection, no sympathy or empathy to the victim or the family. If there is no justice there is no peace. It took Martin Luther King Jr. a heavily documented period of time to get the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 and even now in 2016 we are still having this vital conversation about the worth of black lives.
Alton Sterling was the 558th person shot by police in 2016. There have certainly not been 558 hashtags on twitter, not all these cases are known nationally/internationally. Suddenly, as soon as a black man is inexcusably murdered on video, we have political candidates all over the globe on a small and bigger scale, stepping up the pedestal and saying “vote for me and I’ll make sure the police is held accountable” or “vote for me and I’ll stop racism!” Cardi B said it best in one of her latest Instagram videos. She said that if even our own black president can’t make a change to the system what makes you think you can? It’s a known fact Obama has been doing his best to address police brutality in North America and the idea of making all police officers wear cameras on their uniforms has been raised but somehow when a new death arises we fall back to stage one, questioning, where do we go from here? It’s a question that nobody can exactly answer. Where do you go when even our people of authority can’t be trusted, who do you call for help?
The only thing worse than the senseless killing of a black man is the manipulation of the situation to suit the political agenda of somebody else. Pretending to fake care to gain the support of a community is twisted and toxic to the movement in which we are striving for equality. In 2016, nobody is going to step up and say “I hate black people” rather they are going to stay silent and pray for more murders of those in the community, which I believe is one of the scariest things.
To conclude this article I would like to link you to Beyoncé’s latest website link where you can contact your local congressman or woman to vote to protest for either Alton Sterling and/or Philando Castile. If there is no justice there is no peace. Please, let’s use our voices to spark a change for the future generations to come.
“If you want to make the world a better place take a look at yourself and then make a change” – Michael Jackson
