I just can’t carry out it.
I was asked to write about the non-indictments of police in the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. I wanted to write a concise historically contextualized piece to help sway those somehow still on the fence about whether police brutality is a problem in this country. I wanted to write something that neatly summarized the outrage and bewilderment I feel moral now.
I’m definitely capable of writing such a piece but moral now I’m tired,angry, frustrated, and I just can’t carry out it.
I can’t describe how it feels to divulge your 11-year-used son that police arent always your friends. That as a matter of survival he should show police officers the same deference a slave had to show an overseer circa 1840.
I can’t articulate how I felt when my mom,a product of the Jim Crow era south, told me with tears of rage welling in her eyes how little has actually changed in America. How she was tired of people pretending not to see what’s clear as day.
I can’t relate the level of disgust I feel when I see a country so enamored with Black music, and dance,and fashion turn a blind eye to state sanctioned murder of Black people.
I just can’t carry out it.
The feelings are too raw. Too personal.
I am a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record and yet I enjoy been pulled over more times than I can remember (often searched but seldom charged). I’ve had a cop point her gun at me. I’ve been handcuffed and made to sit on curb while my car was searched. In 2006 I lost a ample friend. He was shot in the back 3 times by a police officer in southern California.
I can’t sum up the shame I feel about casually accepting all of the above as just being something Black men enjoy to deal with.
I can’t carry out it.
I also can’t sit idly by and say, “that’s the way it is.”Something has to change. For more De-Bug media (articles, and videos,photo essays) on the movement go to:Protect Your People: Running De-Bug Coverage on the Movement to finish Police Violence, Including the Killings of Mike Brown and Erick Garner
Source: siliconvalleydebug.org