Weekly Obsession, August 12, 2014
This week's obsession isn't gonna be fun or lighthearted, it's pretty serious and scary. Typically I use this blog as a means to escape and talk about silly things; I am black and always will be, but here I don't have to always be the only black person in the room and to always be reminded of that. But not today. Today this is about race, specifically black people and the treatment we receive from the police.
Growing up I didn't get what my parents meant when they'd say stuff about being treated differently because of my blackness; I think to a certain extent I wanted to pretend to have the same privilege white people have of not constantly being reminded of their race. I'm am constantly reminded of my blackness, even here in this urban coffee shop, I'm fairly certain I'm the only black person here if not the only person of color. PoC (Person/People of Color) are constantly made aware (and are taught to always be aware) of our brownness, there is never a time in mainstream America that we're not aware of our race. With PoC there are all these stigmas and statistics set against us that we don't want to be true, that are hard to swallow, that we fight against, that we don't want to become, but that are ever present. One of the biggest ones on my mind currently is the amount of police violence against black men and women and children! It's terrifying and this systematic, racist shit needs to stop.
Since July 17th, in less than a month, there have been five reported occurrences of police brutality towards black men, women, and children.
Y'all, this is fucking ridiculous. We have a fucking black president, we could have our first woman president in the next few years and this type of police brutality looks strikingly similar to the time of the Civil Rights Movement.
It might not be well known that the origins of the US Police Force point to keep blacking and other PoC (then not thought of as people) in their place, i.e. with their slave masters or away from all the white people. Unfortunately this mentality of keeping PoC in line and protecting white people at all costs seems to be upheld even over 300 years later.
The most recent occurence (that I'm aware of) is of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old SHOT TEN TIMES by the police. The community of the victim has responded the way many do with signs, with gatherings in memorial of the young man. In these gatherings, these people have been tear gassed! Meanwhile there are (WASPs, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) people protesting the funerals of dead soldiers and they haven't seen any tear gas. Do you see a problem?!
There are literally white people walking around stores with guns hanging from their backs just living their fucking privileged lives while the John Crawfords of the world(number four from above) hold a toy gun and get killed. There are literally white men walking into schools and movie theaters who get better treatment than black kids just walking down a street. There are (white/straight/male) misogynists such as Elliot Rodger who literally had a fucking manifesto about killing women who would not have sex with him that got more sympathy and understanding than Eric Garner (number one from above) whose worst crime was selling untaxed cigarettes and asking the cops to leave him alone for breaking up a fight. Do you see?
It's disgusting, but mostly it's terrifying. I have two younger brothers (who, obviously, are black) and many black and brown cousins who I'm so scared will be harmed or killed by the police simply for being out in public with brown skin. That's a fear that I literally walk around with every fucking day. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't carry this anxiety about whether my brothers and cousins are being treated not just fairly, but like actual human beings. I am always scared to get that call.
There's a lot going on in every corner of the world and for those who like to distance themselves from it, I don't blame you, but just remember that some people can't.
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