I was going to do a confession type post today, but changed my mind at the last minute. At this point I don’t care if I sound like a broken record. I don’t care if my post is just another in the thousands that are floating around about this, I need to get this off of my chest.
An unarmed black teenager was shot six times. Six times!!
A child who was holding up his hands in what we know as a sign of surrender, a sign indicating that the other person shouldn’t shoot was shot six times. Twice in the head! I know this isn’t the first time it’s happened and as much as I want it to be, it’s not going to be the last time. Ferguson has been heavy on my mind and heart since I found out about this injustice and Mike’s loved ones, that town, shoot this nation have been in my prayers. Nothing against ALS because I believe we should raise awareness (and funds), but where is the local media coverage on this shooting?!
“The revolution will not be televised”…but it will be on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and any other social media site that today’s youth can think of.
I saw a tweet the other morning from someone who said that she didn’t understand why people think looting is the answer to their anger; that it only causes more unrest within the community. Now, I agree with her to an extent, looting is not the answer, but this is all we’re seeing televised because that’s what our attention is supposed to be. People are angry and I understand why, but there’s so much coverage of those who are protesting violently instead of those who are peacefully demonstrating. And when the peaceful protesters are being shown it’s because the police have unnecessarily overstepped their bounds and attacked someone else they shouldn’t have. You know it’s bad when city officials have to create a barricade between the protesters and the police in the city. It shouldn’t have to come to that. Prayer vigils in churches should not be stormed in on and disbanded by the police.
It’s not just news outlets doing this though, the NAACP said something on Twitter that didn’t sit well with me then and still doesn’t. The tweet has since been removed, but the gist of it was that Mike Brown’s shooting wasn’t racially charged. He said we as black people can’t expect other races not to act violently towards us when we act violently towards each other; ie ‘black on black’ crime. Yes, ‘black on black’ crime is terrible but that has nothing to do with what’s going on in this situation. At the end of the day Mike Brown was targeted because he was a man of color and this is something that happens every day.
I feel like all I can do is pray and tell people to keep their heads up. Remember that violence is not the answer, it’s okay to be angry about what’s going on but don’t let that anger lead you to make a bad situation worse.
