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I Can’t Breathe
Prejudice – one of the most awful words our language still holds, and perhaps one of the most overlooked. It should cause *far* more offense than it does, but there is such a heritage which comes with it: racisim is not only inherited and passed on from generation to generation, but so too is the apathy which allows it to flourish. And today’s guest has had enough. Joy is one of those wonderful people who CARES, so very deeply, about the social issues our world faces. She writes ‘funny’ as a matter of course, but when she writes from her passion for us all to get along; for the human race to stop hurting one another and realise that we’re all in it together, WATCH OUT!
The pen is mightier than the sword, but no match for a gun. Riots have started and it’s time to stop the shooting. So Joy wrote, and she is MIGHTY. I hope you love her words and her soul as much as I do. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you JOY – Lizzi
The United States is in a tough place at the moment. Horrible stories of violence and brutality are driving us apart, forcing us to take sides. Forcing me to want to shut down from reality. From society. I don’t want to get into many the specifics of any of the cases. That’s not really what the reaction (and the reaction to the reactions) is about. If you don’t know what I mean; recently we have seen civil unrest, a number of peaceful protests, and some mob-mentality reactions filled with angry, violent rage. The response to that public outcry was typical from certain people in my social media feed:
Victim-blaming and bashing the people who are confused, angry, at the end of their rope.
One instance that sparked the fire was the publication of the court judgement of a policeman who shot and killed an unarmed black teen. (Michael Brown, if you want to look up the facts of the case.)
People kept pointing out that he was a large teen, as if that justifies his death. He was walking in the middle of the street, as if that justified the weaponized response. He may have resisted arrest, as if being shot 6 times from 150 feet away, WHILE HE WAS HOLDING HIS HANDS UP IN THE AIR is an appropriate reaction. A video was released of the boy taking cigarillos from a store, as if the law states that should be met with an immediate death by Firing Squad.
I know that people mistakes, all people. Teens; adults; trained professionals; everyone. I maintain this is kind of our thing – to err is human. The difference between the officer’s mistake (overreaction if you prefer) and the teen’s mistake, is that the officer is still alive to tell his side of the story. To move on, to learn, to live and thrive off the many donations he received for his defense. The teen is not. He’s dead just after graduating high school.
This officer lives in an area of the world where people still see the mistakes and the stereotypes of race, more than any individual person or action. The officer was found not guilty, even after autopsy reports provided evidence that negated his original story. The former officer also received so from many donations from like-minded people and groups that he didn’t have to pay a penny for his legal defense, and he actually retired.
This case sparked local outrage that some simply cannot relate to. A lot of people only focus on the violent unrest that resulted from this case. As if the result is the focus, not the many reasons for that rage to exist in the first place. Angry people rioted, burned down businesses and did some damage. Opportunists looted. That is what so many people chose to focus on. Not the horrible injustice. Not the boy killed (in addition to other ‘justifications’) for the color of his skin.
Many people asked “What about peaceful protests”, unaware, I guess, that non-violent protests have been taking place on these issues for decades.
Then when we saw support from some NFL players, who simply raised their hands in support of Michael Brown and were met with complete and utter disgust. Demands that those players be fined, punished and removed from the game. For HOLDING THEIR HANDS UP during a freaking football game.
The civil outrage in Ferguson was not over this one officer, this one unarmed boy who isn’t here to tell his side of the story. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
This is far from the only case of police brutality. A man was recently choked to death ON CAMERA, unarmed and unresisting. We later learned he was selling loose cigarettes on the street. That was his crime, and it was deemed sufficient to warrant being held down in a choke-hold, leading to his death. Cell phone video shows he was forced onto the ground and began gasping for breath, telling the officer ELEVEN times through jumbled gasps “I can’t breathe.”
Those words became a cry of protest around the nation, trending on Twitter, signs and shirts being worn during protests of this brutality. The officer who killed this man faced no punishment.
A Chicago NBA player wore a shirt in warm-up reading “I Can’t Breathe” in protest, and a white reporter tweeted that he was inarticulate and didn’t understand what he was doing.
I can’t even get into the details of the children; like when a 12-year old boy was shot to death by police as he played on a playground, from within their car, before it had even come to a halt, because he was playing with a gun which looked real; like when a young girl was killed in an alley filled with police fire; like when another young girl was killed in her home by police fire; like when an unarmed teen was was killed by a citizen because he was wearing a hoodie. What do these kids have in common? The color of their skin.
These are only the most widely-reported examples. There are more we forget, or that we don’t even hear about because they happen on a day when a snowstorm, or elections, or a possible shortage in chocolate, takes precedent.
What am I very concerned about is the public reaction to these tragedies.
The first thing I hear people say is “What were they doing?”
No reaction to the tragedy of loss of an innocent life – they just need to know if there was a reason for the officer’s actions, as if that makes it alright.
As if a victim can only be a victim as long as they weren’t ‘up to something’ at the time of their death.
The media seem determined to find a picture of the victim from the past, looking scary, or in Mike Brown’s case, holding up a gun. People actually posted that picture and said things like “Here is the boy you’re rioting about.”
Seriously?!
As if being photographed holding a gun means that it’s justifiable that he was shot to death, unarmed, with his hands up?
Would these people feel that is acceptable if their child were shot to death? Do they think people deserve to die because during their teen years they were photographed looking menacing, or with a weapon? How very dare they!
The rage and sorrow which must be felt by the families of the victims when faced with such a callous reaction is unimaginable.
We cannot possibly understand the hurt that comes from hearing these stories, again and again and again, each time with the same unjustified death sentence. We cannot comprehend explaining to our children and young adults that they have to be extra careful, because people are afraid of the way they look. We cannot internalize what it must be like to live in a world where negative assumptions are stacked against you every day, from all quarters, or to exist in the knowledge that a face-value judgement could cost you your life.
I don’t want to say that all of our police are bad, they’re absolutely not. Their jobs are dangerous and their lives are often at stake. They have to make snap judgement calls, and sometimes they make mistakes. Everyone does.
But just looking at the 1000-yard overview of the stories and their effects, tells you some things about human nature. I see so many people immediately defend the police officers in these stories before they know the facts.
They look instead at the victims: “What was he doing?”
You can’t tell me that reaction isn’t about skin color: in past cases, we have had similar young people who shot up schools, or a movie theater, actually killing multiple people. But those kids are white, and they get arrested, alive, and brought to court to determine their guilt or innocence.
The public reaction then is, “What went wrong with this kid?” “Was he mentally ill?”, “Did she need help she never got?”, “That’s so sad.” And it is. But the difference is staggering.
I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with the police. When I was around 18 or 19, I was pulled over and told to get out of the car. An officer immediately grabbed my arms, pulled them roughly behind my back, and put me in the back of a police car. He asked for ID, where I was, what I had been doing, where I was going. I was on my way home. No one would answer my questions, talk to me or tell me what was going on. About a half an hour later (one of the longest ½ hours of my life) I was told someone in a car that looked like mine had fled the scene of a crime and I could go.
I was still terrified by the experience, and for a couple years every time I saw a police officer I was immediately scared. But even whilst it was all going on, I never once considered that my very LIFE might be in danger! Because I’m white.
Once an officer pulled over a friend of mine while I was in the car. He said he thought the driver was on a cell phone. I was the one on the phone – the passenger. He wouldn’t listen to anything I said, or even look at me. This officer seemed hell-bent on searching our car. For what? He never said. We were just driving and I was trying to use the phone to get directions to our destination.
He treated us like criminals. He had no reason to search our car, but he did it anyway. He slammed my friend down on the hood of the car and told us not to speak. I shudder to think what he would have done if we had resisted.
But again, I had no fear of injury or assault. It was still a scary feeling knowing that this officer, with his big stick, his gun and his bad attitude, could pretty much do whatever he wanted, but I never for a second worried for my life.
These experiences made me think a different way about the ‘good ole boys’.
I still respect police officers, even after these experiences. Some are pleasant to deal with, others less so, and some are just rotten to the core, but that’s just the diverse nature of humanity. I get that theirs is a tough job I will never fully understand. I appreciate them putting their lives on the line to serve and protect. That doesn’t give them the right to abuse people. And nothing justifies murder.
Even if certain factions want to pretend this isn’t an issue of race, even if they cannot even handle that level of humanity and want to continue life under the protection of fantasy, this is still a matter of police brutality: it should never become socially acceptable for law enforcement officers to start deciding who lives and dies in the moment.
Courts of Law decide innocence or guilt. Police are trained to stop, to arrest, to fire warning shots. I understand that it’s not an exact science. No one is going to hit a moving target 100% of the time. There are things like adrenaline, past experiences, human reaction, that can’t be measured. Courts do their best to determine long after the fact what was just and what was not, and it is their responsibility to weigh up the evidence and pass an appropriate sentence.
In rare, extreme occasions, this sentence may be one which intends to end someone’s life as a consequence of the severity of their crime. Such a sentence is not taken lightly and always creates a public stir.
However.
The public at large isn’t going to look at the facts of each case; we’re not given them. We get a media overview, which usually contains some kind of agenda. But looking at these race-related events from this viewpoint, and taking into account the public reaction to them, the recurring message, backed up by the disparity between the majority of instances of ‘method of dealing with’ and ‘public reaction to’ police and white people, versus police and black people, is clear:
Don’t ever, ever, ever do anything wrong, or make any kind of mistake, or even look like you’re doing something wrong, if you’re black.
I was having a brief talk about this disparity of treatment and public reaction with my son and his friend, and I just wanted to cry. To apologize for all of humanity and our flaws and prejudices. I can’t even imagine how other parents have that same discussion. I can’t begin to conceive of the pain of seeing each hauntingly similar case unfold in the media, and see the repeated, bigoted response from the ignorant masses.
I cannot find a way to look into the faces of my son and his friends, and have a conversation with him which prepares them for the world yet doesn’t cause them to lose hope. I can’t begin to think how much harder that task would be if my son and I were black. Seriously – if you have the words to do it, please let me know! I’ll pass them on!
I can’t even think about it for too long, because it’s too much. It makes me feel so defeated. How do we get past this? How do we prepare today’s youth for tomorrow’s future? How do we combat the inherited ignorance and prejudice of past generations?
The only thing I keep thinking over and over and over, is:
“I Can’t Breathe.”
Joy Christi writes ComfytownChronicles.com and when she’s not bitching about her neighbors, her family, areas of technology, social media and the world at large that piss her off, she is posting light-hearted silliness.
Read her snarky tweets on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ComfyTownChroni
Recipes of her binge eating on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/comfytownchron/
See a tiny portion of her Facebook posts at: https://www.facebook.com/ComfytownChronicles
Watch her overeat and daydrink on Instagram: http://instagram.com/comfytownchronicles
See mostly copied Instagram pictures on Tumblr: http://comfytownchronicles.tumblr.com/
The SisterWives 
I’m sorry but I fundamentally disagree with your premise that asking what the victim was doing is about skin color. Asking what the victim was doing also does not mean that the person asking the question does not have sympathy for the person killed by the police. Instead, asking what he was doing is about trying to understand what happened. I would ask the question regardless of the victim’s race because I want to know the context before I reach any conclusions regarding blame, regarding the “victim,” regarding any of the incident’s outcome. It’s a tragedy when anybody loses their life. It’s even more of a tragedy to avoid asking questions so that we as a society can hopefully learn from it and do what can be done to avoid such mistakes in the future.
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I agree about finding the information, I was commenting on the vast difference in the reactions of people that I saw to these stories. When a white teen commits a crime, I see sympathy for the teen, when a black teen committed a crime, and in this case killed while unarmed, there is no sympathy for an unarmed person immediately shot to death. The difference that I’m seeing is huge. And in my humble opinion, not fair. Thanks for reading and for your input.
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I agree with you, up to a point. When we’re told about something that engages us, good or bad, we want as much detail as possible. Reminds me of the time (years ago, when I still lived in South Africa), when a friend of mine came in, very rattled, because he’d stopped on his way over to help a woman who had just been raped. As he talked about it, I asked questions. I was as horrified as he was, and something in me needed to SEE it, to comprehend what had happened. So I asked where it had happened, were there streetlights, was she young or old, did she live in the neighborhood, etc etc. He answered all my questions until I asked, “Was she black or white?” and then he blew up in my face. “What difference does it make?” I remember feeling so ashamed, because of course it made NO difference, it was just information, just part of understanding. But there was no way to say it. Somehow, that has become an unaskable question.
On the other hand, with regard to the incidents Joy talks about, what has struck me over and over again has been the number of people who say, “Well, if he hadn’t been doing anything wrong / resisted / mouthed off / run away / disobeyed the policeman, it wouldn’t have happened.” And this may OR MAY NOT be true, depending on the cop, and how panicked he was, and various other factors. I mean, the kid who was shot for playing with a toy gun, after the neighbor who called SAID it was probably a toy – he didn’t even have time to resist, mouth off, run away, or disobey, and he wasn’t doing anything wrong. But the message, over and over again, is “Just obey the cops and everything will be fine.”
So is that what America has become? A nation of people who unthinkingly and unquestioningly obey The Man With The Badge? I hope not. That idea is just plain frightening.
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All I’m going to say is that the unreasonable assumptions and conclusions exist on all sides of the debate. I’ll give just one example … Every time a minority is killed, roughed up, or treated poorly by white cops it is because of racism. That is just as wrong as blaming the victims of police abuse/violence. The simple reality is that these are issues that the vast majority of people enter with predetermined conclusions. To point out the error of that on only one side of the debate is to do nothing that will drive the debate towards a solution. This is the problem with humans and America today — the inability to see the weaknesses in their arguments and the contradictions in their conclusions. It is why I am trying to step away from discussions like this. Not very successfully apparently. 😉
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You don’t have to take my opinion for it, do some research on your own. Here is one such article:
http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white
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These are all very good points. It is in our nature to want the whole story, to set the scene and sometimes setting that scene, those questions seem to upset people, when that was not the intention at all. It is a very sensitive subject. I’m sorry that happened to you. I know that race is so sensitive a subject, most people will not even comment on posts of this nature at all, just in fear of saying the wrong thing. That makes me sad. Open dialogue is the best way we learn from each others’ experiences. I see so many people commenting because they don’t have experience with a subject, and if we could find a way to communicate honestly without offense, we would learn a lot more about our sometimes crazy/confusing world.
I also agree that we shouldn’t live in absolute fear of the police, whatever the age/race/location. Some areas have different protocols, but when we get to the point where we’re not allowed to speak, how far are we from robot police? At least they wouldn’t have human faults ? Kidding, that’s terrible. Thanks for reading, and for your comments.
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Such a tough subject to tackle, Joy. I hear your frustration, anger and fear, and I think it echoes within so many of us. It’s difficult not to want to find someone to blame. It’s horrible to have to reconcile an unnecessary death. There are so many angles to this it’s like the funhouse maze at the fair. I know most police are just doing the best they can at the time, and I have tremendous respect and sympathy for them. On the other hand, I’d be an idiot to assume no racism exists anywhere. There are definitely double standards, and whether they’re consciously placed or not, they’re inherent in our culture. That’s why I think it’s particularly difficult for the “good” cops.
*hugs* my friend.
(p.s. I just re-read this and I can totally tell I’m doped up on cold medicine….so please no one judge my ramble!)
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Thanks, Beth. I definitely mean no disrespect to good cops, and again theirs is a job I cannot begin to understand. I just think we can do better.
I also want people to think about their reaction. So many people complaining about the protests would have a much different opinion if their children were killed.
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In my young and crazy days, I had… uh… an extensive history with the police. I have even been arrested for… well, never mind, I never got arrested for anything that hurt anybody else… but now that I have kids, I realize that these same cops, who are also fathers and brothers and husbands and sons, are going to be the guys who run into my daughters school and risk their own lives if some asshole maniac with a gun shows up there. I don’t want to give them a free pass… I know there are bad cops, and that even good ones can make a mistake in the heat of the moment. It is a hard job. And there is always more of a story behind any police shooting than is easy to tell. Try watching a few episodes of ‘Cops’ on TV.
The truth is, there are countless reasons that a trained officer might have to shoot an unarmed individual. A huge number of cops who get shot are shot with their own gun during a struggle. Most of you here know from experience that you can be in fear for your life from an unarmed man if he is mad or stoned or crazy enough.
I am not making excuses. I am not saying we shouldn’t look into every shooting. I just worry that there might be a time when cops refuse to go into the bad parts of towns and cities. When they refuse to try to pull over cars at all.
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All good points. No one would want to see any areas not protected.
There are definitely many times one could feel their life were in danger from an unarmed person, one of the things that sparked the outrage on this Ferguson case (thought that wasn’t JUST about that one case) was how much the facts of the case kept changing. The distance from the officer to the deceased, the number of shots fired. Why was the information not reported correctly? The Department of Defense has now done a THIRD autopsy and we find out there were actually EIGHT bullets in this unarmed boy, the number keeps going up from the initial evidence reported.
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I totally agree. There is a lot to this case that we might never know. And I am certainly not saying the cop was faultless. But sometimes a grand jury comes out with a verdict that people don’t like, and we can’t all riot every time that happens. I hate it when the frustration of any one group is used as an excuse to create mayhem. And I hated it when the O. J. Simpson trial jury was more or less told: it doesn’t matter if he did it, find him innocent to send a message about equality. I am just in a struggle with myself. My Berkeley liberal mindset is struggling with my getting older attitudes, I guess. I just see both sides of this. I have no answers.
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We all hated that, the Simpson trial and OH, Berkeley. I can’t even get started.
I don’t have any answers either. Riots are never anyone’s first choice. Martin Luther King Jr. said riots are the language of the unheard. If we look at history, so many HUGE events came about after riots. We love that we know have a 5-day work week, usually, with a weekend off but for that to happen? There were riots.
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I just wrote a post about this (although yours is so eloquent and beautifully written). My 16 yo is struggling with this. He watched the video of the man in the choke hold and he’s having trouble sleeping now because he feels so much rage and frustration. I don’t want him to have to process this. I don’t want these things to happen.
Pointing fingers and breaking off into camps accomplishes nothing. Dialogue. Listening. Accepting that some mistakes can no longer be called mistakes and are criminal acts. Accountability. Just as criminals who aren’t law enforcement are held accountable for their actions (sometimes with their lives) then law enforcement who use excessive or deadly force when the situation does NOT warrant it need to be held accountable.
That being said..I’ve heard from people who work in law enforcement or who have family who are in law enforcement who have reminded me that mostly, they are trying to do good. We all need that reminder…
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That is a given to me, that Law Enforcement has a mounting job and most of them are trying to do good. I know it’s not a given to all, it’s probably hard for some people to remind themselves of that.
That’s one thing I also wanted to discuss though this was already a novella.
A lot of people in my timeline felt like they couldn’t say anything b/c they have family/friends in law enforcement. I don’t feel you HAVE to pick a side. Agreeing about ONE CASE being an injustice doesn’t mean you are AGAINST Law Enforcement. I don’t know why people think that. I worked in Marketing and there are many evil corporations who bait & switch and outright lie to try to trick the public. That doesn’t make all marketers liars. People in any job are still PEOPLE.
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Joy, I’m so glad you shared your thoughts on this. You have such a good heart, and in the end I feel that you (like me) just wish we could all get along.
I am intensely uncomfortable with *anyone* having guns. And the gun-culture is one of the things which really does scare me about the US.
I would be ignorant to suggest that racism doesn’t happen over here, but I get the impression it’s mostly less … intense. If that makes sense. That it exists at all is disgusting, but I don’t think I get the same exposure to these events and the public reactions to them.
Thanks for writing it so that I can understand a little more about what everyone’s on about.
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You know you’re the main reason this piece was started, much less finished. Thank you again for the motivation, support and help. I NEED IT.
I can’t even explain how much I hate having to write anything serious, especially at this time in my life. I feel like I’m ill equipped to write any coherent thoughts and give any subject it’s proper attention. This subject NEEDS white supporters. #BlackLivesMatter and some people need to take a teensy step out of their comfort zone and at least educate themselves to all of the things that are happening. Especially the stories that don’t get all the media coverage. There are so many, it’s overwhelming. It’s heart-breaking.
Thanks again for helping me get this out. I would’ve been upset with myself, more than usual, if I couldn’t get SOMETHING out.
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Well, yaknow what, I like what you did. I really, REALLY want to weigh in, but I’ve no idea how! I wish, wish, wish that I had a clue. Because really, in the same way that I championed #YesALL, when that was going on, I really want to come back at this with #ALLlivesmatter…but I know that’s slightly beside the point, but there STILL SHOULDN’T NEED TO BE DISTINCTION!
I’m glad you wrote, and SO glad you let me share it here.
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You’re absolutely right there should NOT be a distinction, and it’s sad there has to be. I hear people saying things like “You don’t see a Straight Parade or a White Pride Parade.” Just be glad we don’t NEED one to bring out pride. Thank your lucky stars.
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I feel the same. Defeated. I keep thinking of the mothers of the kids who were killed at the hands of the police. I look at my children and think one of them was the same age as my son. How do you go on after your child is killed like that? I get depressed just hearing about it. It’s not going to change overnight, but talking about it, writing about it, is a start – I hope. Well done Joy.
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Thank you. I needed to. My son and his friends are this age. They make mistakes and EVERYONE makes mistakes. They don’t deserve to be shot down for mistakes.
It really makes me want to cry to see someone, especially a parent, respond with something like, “He shouldn’t have….” Whatever it is, the law doesn’t call for an immediate death by Firing Squad. For anyone.
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Well, Joy I agree with you 100%, and I think you know that. I think you covered the topic thoroughly and fairly.
The one point I would add is to be careful about saying that people in a certain geographical area believe… or are… I’m from Texas originallly, and Texas gets painted with a wide, wide brush, and it infuriates me. Not all Texans are GWB supporters and/or racists. Not all (heaven forgive those who did) voted for Rick Perry. Obviously, that’s a side issue, and my personal pet peeve. You know I love you to pieces. (I said love, Lizzi.)
My husband works in a leadership position (hard for me to write this clearly without giving too much away) which is historically been heavily white. Yet, the clientele is predominantly African-American. Now the leadership is changing, becoming more diverse, and there is a lot of thought and study going on about the presence of unintended prejudice within the system. Am I being clear about that? That my husband, a white man, (and others) might possibly be biased in some of his (their) work simply because of our culture and history.
It’s amazing; it’s so forward-thinking, and it’s so potentially devoid of ego to delve deeply into such a study. One of the facts it has revealed to us is that his coworkers: Ivy-league educated, privileged-neighborhood-living, African-American parents continue to teach their children to beware of white people. To guard their behavior carefully in the presence of white people.
What does this say about our culture?
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I agree not all people in a certain area think/act in a certain way. Texas has so many different kinds of people, not just in Austin! But I do love me some Austin.
It’s that fine line between PREPARING young people for reality, but not setting the bar of expectations so low that they give up hope. THAT is the struggle.
Thanks for reading and for your comments.
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Yeah, Austin. That’s where I lived last (though not where I grew up). I miss it, but not the heat.
I think that’s a good point you have–not setting the bar low. It’s just that I was so struck that these people consider this part of their parental duty. And it’s so, so foreign to me.
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I saw. You’re braver than I am 🙂
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Am not.
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I *just* saw you…
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Amycakes…I just wanted to say hi. And use your nickname.
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This is a really tough topic to handle.
Joy, I have a lot I want to say here. A LOT. But I’m not, because I don’t want to stir up a lot of controversy. And not because I’m afraid of controversy – but because this is not MY blog post to do that in.
I applaud you for articulating your feelings so clearly, and urging us to see things from many points of view. Ultimately, though, the evidence indicates that there are too many injustices in what is supposed to be an evolved society. And I can’t breathe, either.
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THANK YOU, Sister. I hear you, sometimes it’s hard not to send rage across a keyboard. I mean at the end of the day that’s not going to help, but sometimes it feels like it might.
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So I’m not going to say much because well for a lot of reasons. But I will say that this entire case is one I can almost barely follow and also cannot stay away from because I am so sickened by the image of that skinny white dickhead choking him, and that there’s no indictment?? NONE??? It makes me sick. Sad. Disgusted with so much about our society that I’m not even sure I know how to process it. That people are saying that it’s almost his fault that he died because he’s fat??? Fragile???? Would that have happened to a big fatass white dude? No. And that just is fucking pure evil and horrible and OMG.
You’re awesome for writing this Joy. I don’t think I’d have been able to keep an unbiased mindset to do so…
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I hear you. It’s terrible enough, but the RESPONSE from some people is what really moved me to put some of thoughts down. Thanks, Kristi.
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Beautifully stated Joy, thank you. I have been writing on these issues since the murder of Trayvon Martin. I am both enraged and heartbroken at our nation and our indifference.
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Thank you. I feel that pain. I wish I had a plan of action, or something in the way of hope. The responses from some people make me feel even worse.
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This is an absolutely awesome read, Joy, and I’m proud of you for accomplishing this amazing feat of a statement. I highly respect law enforcement and if you would like to talk more about this offline over email I would welcome that 🙂
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Thank you so much, Mike. Writing about serious subjects, especially those close to my heart, is difficult for me. Especially trying to sound like I have any idea what I’m talking about. I also have tremendous respect for law enforcement, and just like ANY other job, agree that respecting and supporting any profession doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be held to higher standards.
I welcome any dialogue/feedback, my email address is:
comfytown@gmail.com
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Joy, wow. You took my breath away with this one for sure. I am not brave enough to tackle this subject. I applaud you for doing so (and also apologize that I’m showing up so late).
I am white. I feel like I’ve had to apologize for that a lot lately, and I’m not even a little bit upset about that. What upsets me is that this world where we live still sees the difference. My contribution to the world is to raise my children to not see a difference.
My children don’t seem to care about skin color, and I never want that to change. Once my son asked me why his friend (who is black) had darker skin. I said it was because he has more melanin in his skin that basically he just has a better tan.The truth. Isn’t that really the difference? More melanin?
I have so much respect for police officers who risk their lives to keep me safe. I don’t know how hard their jobs are. I don’t know what I would do in their shoes. I want to but can’t really empathize with them because it scares me. I do know that blacks are targeted more frequently and that’s an injustice in itself. Nobody should be choked to death for selling cigarettes. That could have been me in college. When I waitressed and bartended, I always kept a pack of cigs in my apron, and often times, I gave one to nice customers, but when they were dicks, I made them pay. I guess I should be in jail.
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You’re doing the right things. At least we are acknowledging what is happening. Unlike so many people who are just pretending it doesn’t exist, because they don’t want to deal with it. That won’t solve anything. I HAD to write about this. It affects me. Black lives matter and we shouldn’t HAVE to remind people, but unfortunately we do and this fight needs white voices more than ever. Thanks for reading Mandi!
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Thanks for writing this. The police can scare us all, but you are so right. As a white person, you are not afraid for your life. Bias and prejudice goes so much deeper than black/white. Old people, fat people, people with an accent, people from a certain geographical area, but rarely is the bias played out with violence. Thanks, again for writing this – it takes my breath away.
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Thank you. You’re right, we may never get past some prejuding, as humans, but we should make an effort to stop the senseless violence. It’s crazy and it’s not acceptable. Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
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