…Is it really Racism?

Tags

#blacklifematters, black murders, black on black, brown, cops, eric garner, ferguson, guns, indict, indictment, michael, racism, wilson

I’ve had these questions bubbling on the inside of me ever since the Michael Brown incident, and with the Eric Garner tragedy, its bubbling even more.

Did the police officers not get indicted for choking Eric Garner to death only because Garner is ethnically identified as a Black person?  …or was it because the laws in New York favor cops in situations like that?

Did Michael Brown get shot only because he is ethnically identified as a Black person?  …or was it because of his actions?

Did Officer Wilson not get indicted only because he killed a Black person? …or was it because they deemed his actions were justified?

…if a 6’4 274lbs person was charging at you, and they already tried to take a gun from you, hit you, and you’ve repeatedly told them to stop/freeze…  what would YOU do?

In the minds and hearts of many people, these cases did not bring “JUSTICE” for the sole reason that the two men who died are ethnically identified as Black males.  Well here are two articles I think you should read.  The first one happened in 2011 in Orange County, CA in which 2 cops went to trial for beating a WHITE homeless man to death.  There is video of the beating, showing that the cops were severely beating this man, and you can clearly hear the homeless man (Kelly Thomas) repeatedly saying “please stop“, “I am sorry“.  The verdict?  Both cops were acquitted.  In the second article (which happened this year) an unarmed WHITE male is shot and killed by a cop (there’s video of this shooting as well).  Did the cop get indicted?  No.

So the question is…

…is it really racism?

Let’s look at some numbers really quick..

Nationwide, Blacks make up only 12.5% of the population, yet according to the US Department of Justice, Blacks accounted for 52.5% of homicide offenders from 1980 to 2008 – with 93% of those Black victims being murdered by Blacks. Also in 2008 young Black men, who make up 16% of the youth population, accounted for 52% of juvenile violent crime arrests, including 58% for homicide and 67% for robbery.

Think on that for a second..

Okay now let’s look at something that blew my mind, look at where Ferguson is located.

Missouri is the Black on Black murder capital of the nation! (has been for three years in row). The numbers say Black males are more likely to get shot dead by another Black male in Missouri than in any other state.  Within the St. Louis city borders alone, 125 of the 143 murders that occurred were Black on Black… (the crazy thing is, when I wrote my last blog – Snitches get Stitches #ferguson [please read if you have not] I did not know any of these statistics).

So again I ask you, where was the #blacklivesmatter before these recent tragedies??  Really ask yourself that question, WHEN DID BLACK LIVES MATTER to you??

Just one month before the Michael Brown incident, 82 black males were shot in Chicago on the 4th of July weekend, 14 of them died.. It made the news.. but nobody marched…  I mean, while they were in the midst of rioting about “JUSTICE” in Ferguson, a young black male was shot multiple times sitting in his car in front of his house …rumors are because he was one of the many black witness whose story collaborated with Officer Wilsons.

People we are reacting EMOTIONALLY to a pain that we have to take some responsibility for…

Hear me out..

If someone gave me a skateboard and I went and tried to do some eXtreme sport move and broke my leg,  I would be in a GREAT amount of pain. Now what if I responded by just yelling and screaming at the pain I’m feeling, or yelling and screaming at the person who gave me the skateboard, but I never went to the doctor to get my leg FIXED…  you’d think I was crazy.

They say the reason the guns are in the ghetto are because of the government (WHITE PEOPLE). But as we just discovered, most of the time it’s a black person pulling the trigger..  Cops are not responding to just WHO they are…  they are responding to WHAT they are doing. Could you imagine working as a cop in cities with a high Black on Black murder rate… imagine working there for one whole year…

– When we FIX the high black on black murder rate.. and FIX the high Black violent crime rate.. I believe the PAIN we are feeling right now will dissipate…

Look, cops are no different than you and I.   They are human beings who will make mistakes, just like we do.  They were not created in some cop laboratory. Now I am not naive to believe that there are no racists cops; there are definitely cops who need to be fired as of yesterday!  ..and some, who at the very least, need to be prosecuted.  But there are MORE good cops out there who took the job to serve the people, who put their lives on the line everyday, so YOUR city is not full of chaos.

As a black male it’s very sad that I get pulled over for a DWB (driving while black) and I’m sure you are extremely frustrated… but we also know that stereotypes come from some form of truth.

One  power we all have been given is the power to choose, everything you’ve ever done, you made a choice..

I just believe life is 99% of how you respond to the 1% that’s done to you…

So again I ask..

..is it really racism?

Snitches Get Stitches #ferguson

Tags

#blacklifematters, black murders, brown, cops, ferguson, guns, michael, racism, wilson

I’ve had many conversations with people of all ages, sexes, and races regarding my views of what took place in Ferguson, MO back in August.  To my knowledge no one really ever disagreed with it…I’ll see if that remains the same after this.

According to Michael Brown’s friend Dorian Johnson, he and Michael Brown were walking in the middle of the street when Officer Wilson drove through and told them to get out the street…  He told the news reporters their response was “no we are a min away from our destination” PAUSE.  When a cop says get out of the street, you get out the street and onto the sidewalk…  Let’s honestly ask ourselves this question, if they would have just said “whatever man, okay” and got to the sidewalk, would Michael Brown be alive today?  Then Johnson said that when Wilson pulled up to them he just grabbed Brown, struggled with him, then took out his gun and shot him.  According to Wilson and other witnesses they were actually fighting over the gun and exchanging blows.  PAUSE.  Again why was he fighting with a cop, and if your response is “oh that’s the cop’s side of the story” then you should look at the fact that Johnson’s side of the story is just “his” side of the story that we heard from first.  You see us as African-Americans play the race card and victim card far too much.  Clearly just by these acts alone they do not respect authority, as a lot of the young men and women who grow up in that environment do not – by the way that is not an opinion it’s a fact; I work at Juvenile Halls, and speak at Continuation Schools in Watts, East LA, and South Long Beach, it is a major issue in those areas.

Now let’s turn our attention to the aftermath.

Michael Brown was an unarmed black male who was shot in the street.  Stop me if you’ve heard that before…  An unarmed black male who was shot in the street…  This happens every week in America.  I’ve been to a couple of funerals over the years since living in LA — the EXACT same headline -Young black male shot dead.  Where was the outcry then??  Where was the #blacklivesmatter then??  The worse thing about this is that if it was a black male that killed Brown, not because of the color of his skin, but because of the color he decided to wear that day, it would have gone unnoticed and most of us would not know what state Ferguson is located (I didn’t) .  People have nothing to march about or protest about when a young black male is killed because of the street he “represents”, or who they so happen to be in the car with.  But let a white cop, who was responding in the area because of a robbery, shoot a young black male who did not respect what was asked of him, and who fought with him, let that end in a death, then its “OMG there’s a racist cops killing young black men epidemic and we can’t take it any longer!!! ”   You see I just had a very intellectual conversation with a 17-year-old who’s facing 6 years in prison.   He said to me that even with the Travon Martin case (which is TOTALLY different) he said “why would I march and wear a hoodie when my cousin just got killed who was innocent too.”  And like Michael Brown “my cousin was unarmed and even had his back to the street…  they came up on him thinking he was an enemy (rival gang) …he wasn’t, he never has… nobody’s marching for him!”   Then he said something that blew my mind “this happens everywhere but since we been at war with each other so long we have to choose a new enemy, and the new enemy would be that white man (blame him)..I mean it can’t get no worse than it is I mean, black on black crime… “     Look y’all I love ALL people – YES Officer Wilson should’ve been reprimanded for his excessive force, YES it is a tragedy and we should be angry that this young man died very early in life…  but why does it HAVE to be because he’s black?  If it’s possible that Officer Wilson’s side of the story is not 100% accurate then you have to be fair and say Dorian Johnson’s side is not 100% accurate.

Then it comes out that they’ve declined to indict Officer Wilson.

Then we have video of Michael Brown’s stepfather yelling “lets burn this B___ Down!”

…later we see Ignorant people burn down buildings in their own city…

Sad thing is when violence goes down in the ghetto,  the code is you don’t say anything.

You are mad that Officer Wilson does not go to jail, yet if it was an actual murder… nobody would pay… cause snitches get stitches.