Life, Liberty, and the Right Not to Get Shot Down By The Police

BALTIMORE STAND UP!!!!!

Well, Baltimore is standing up, even if people don't agree with how they are standing up.
RIP: #RumainBrisbon #TamirRice #AkaiGurley #KajiemePowell #EzellFord #DanteParker #MichaelBrown #JohnCrawfordIII #TyreeWoodson #EricGarner #VictorWhiteIII #YvetteSmith #McKenzieCochran #JordanBaker #JonathanFerrell #CarlosAlcis #LarryEugeneJacksonJr. #KimaniGray #ReynaldoCuevas #ChavisCarter #ErvinJefferson #KendrecMcDade #WendellAllen #DantePrice #Sgt.ManuelLogginsJr. #RamarleyGraham #DerrickJones #DanroyHenry #AiyanaJones #StevenEugeneWashington #AaronCampbell #OscarGrant #TarikaWilson #DeAuntaTerellFarrow #SeanBell #HenryGlover #TimothyStansbury #AlbertaSpruill #OusmaneZongo #TimothyThomas #PrinceJones #AmadouDiallo #WHO'SNEXT?

Who are these people? People who were unarmed and killed by cops. You want to know why people are rioting and upset? It's because folks are tired of seeing their won people being killed by cops who take it upon themselves to be the judge, jury, and executioner. It is because nothing is being done to the killers. Justice is not being served.

You want to know what people say when the discussion turns to all of the African American people are dying at the hands of trigger-happy cops? Well, check it out:

1. They (the deceased) shouldn't have broken the law! Don't break the law, and nothing will happen to you. Well....blow me over with a feather! I wasn't aware that our Constitution said that cops could become judge, jury and executioner! I thought it was innocent until proven guilty...everyone deserves a trial by jury...apparently, America has rewritten the laws and no one bothered to inform the masses. Breaking a law, doesn't mean that a cop gets to kill you...it means that they get to read you your Miranda Rights and take you to jail.

Well, how about this: Derrick Daniel Thomas (armed and dangerous, even pointed his gun at the cops), Cliven Bundy (8 day armed standoff with police), Joseph Houseman (had a rifle, refused to put it down, said he was exercising his 2nd amendment rights), Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Boston Marathon), Adam Kokesh (loaded gun in Freedom Plaza), Joseph Clifford Reel (rammed his car into the White House Gates, when Miriam Carey did it, she was shot and killed by the Secret Service), and James Holmes (Aurora, CO movie theater killer). Who are these people? Why, they're the folks who have actually shot at police officers and/or killed other people...but were taken in ALIVE!!!! Well, don't that beat all. You mean that people can be armed and dangerous (and breaking the law) and still be taken in alive?! Hmmm...but people who are not armed can be killed...and all is justified because they were breaking the law and threatening law enforcement...even though it has been PROVEN that they were not armed or threatening law enforcement. I'm confused...how is that possible? Yeah, I'll wait for you to come to that conclusion...

2. I don't hear Black folks condemning black on black crime! They just hate the police! Negative. Contrary to popular media coverage belief, African Americans actually do condemn black on black crime! Will wonders never cease! And...did you know that in the cases of black on black crime, the murderer actually goes to jail? Did you know that? So excuse us as we get upset that when our people are being murdered and justice is not being served because people act as if all cops are gods and therefore infallible. The other thing that ticks us off is that cops investigate cops and find themselves to be innocent and justified! An outside entity needs to investigate...not internal affairs.

3. If you want to bash cops and you hate cops, then don't call them when something goes wrong! Again, correction...people don't hate all cops...just the ones who take the law into their own hand and kill people with impunity. Stop making it about us hating all cops. We don't. We just dislike the ones killing unarmed people...and lying about it by saying they felt threatened..because someone with no weapons is way scarier than someone who is carrying a gun. We expect cops to do their jobs. ARREST the wrongdoers, not kill them. Some of the people listed above actually called the cops for HELP and instead were mistaken as the perp and killed. I support cops, just not crooked ones or ones who lie or break the law themselves.


You want to know why Baltimore is burning? It's because people are tired of being sick and tired. We've marched, we've gone to the polls (only to have folks trying to implement voting restrictions designed to keep them from voting), we've all but gotten on TV and BEGGED America to hear our pleas to stop the senseless killings...to no avail. People are still dying. People are fed up. I GET IT!

The media and some African Americans call them thugs and animals. They only show the riots. They don't show the clean up. They don't show the peaceful protests. They only show the bad. They see the gangs and automatically assume that they are banding together to kill police (even going so far to post it nationwide) when in fact, they're banding together to get people to STOP the looting. They show the riots, but not the cops throwing rocks into the peaceful crowds. They show what will incite the masses, and incite them they have done.

Yes, there are rioters and looters. They are in the minority, not the majority. Let's be clear: I DO NOT CONDONE THE LOOTING AND RIOTING. Let me state that before some people begin to try to tar and feather me. It's wrong...but I get it. I really do. The government wants people to just let the justice system handle it. They want us to be meek and mild. They want us to not cause a ruckus. Well, the justice system is failing, and folks are fed up. We're tired of waiting our turn. We're tired of being treated as if we are less than. We are tired of being sick and tired.

When the Colonists threw all of that tea  into the Boston Harbor, dressed like Native Americans, they were called Revolutionaries and Patriots. not terrorists and animals or thugs. They were too cowardly to go as themselves, so they went as minorities...hmm...catch that people.

When the students at Kentucky, West Virginia University, Keene State College, Michigan State University, University of Tennesse, and Arizona (just to name a few) they were college students upset over the outcome of a sporting game or a festival. THAT was perfectly okay...but let people riot over the unfair deaths of their own and they are branded as animals and thugs. I see that double standard is at work and is alive and well.

When the people in Egypt and other countries overseas rioted and rose up against their government they were called revolutionaries. Us? We're called thugs and thieves.

People get mad over animal cruelty and abortions. People get mad for parents spanking their children...but get quiet as a church mouse when it comes to police killings, brutality, and social injustice here in America.

I condemn all the riots and looting, whether it's over a game or a life. Violence should not beget violence. Stealing and rioting will enforce the negative view that many of the uniformed (who think all African Americans are alike) and ignorant have of our community. You are not helping the cause by tearing down your own community. You are not helping the next Trayvon or Tamir when you loot and riot because the next cop or wannabe cop with a complex and no conscious will not see the innocent, they will see the rioters and take action...and we'll be right back where we started.

What's the solution? I do not know. Violent protests and peaceful protests have not worked. I feel like African Americans are the Hebrews of our time....stuck in bondage (not the literal slavery, but the systemic one) and will spend the next 40 years after being freed wondering in the wilderness. We are a hurt people. We are a people who struggle to find our identity because it was ripped away from us. We are a people, whose ancestors helped to build this country that was stolen from the natives, much like their freedom and labor was stolen....but we are also a people who even after our freedom was won has still not been able to be seen as equal or treated as such.

I hurt. I hurt for my people. I hurt for my country. I hurt for all the injustice. I hurt for the confusion. For what is the correct path? What is the right way? Where do we go from here? Understanding is needed from both sides...but people are tired of trying to be understanding. Tired of not knowing that if we walk out the door (even following the law) we could be mistaken for someone else or killed. THAT is one of the things that frustrates African Americans, not knowing the why or even the when...but knowing that those who would harm us have a very good chance of getting away with their injustices.

You want the riots to stop? Treat us like humans. Hold people accountable for killing others and lying. You want us to be understanding, try being understanding yourself. Just because you understand the rioters, doesn't mean you agree with them. I understand, I don't agree. I KNOW change needs to happen, but it can't be just a few here and there who knows that...everyone has to know that and ACT on it.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!! We don't need Baltimore in flames and we don't need any other city in flames. We need unity, and that starts by acknowledging that people (both sides) are doing some things wrong and by working together, and holding people accountable...by not being the judge, jury, and executioner.