Welcome To Being Black For A Day

Let me be clear, not one tear will be shed over Justine Damond, not by me, not by anyone like me. When news broke of a woman killed by the police, I instantly thought another black person was slain. I honestly didn’t even bother to read it at first.

Why? Because it’s the same script.

Cop detains man or woman of color
Cop sees fear as aggression
Person of color does nothing wrong
Cop draws a weapon
Person of color is shot and dies
Cop gets off
Black people march and beg for us to stopped being killed
Nothing changes.

Rinse, wash, repeat. But then I found out it involved a black cop and a white woman. So my search began. I searched and searched and searched, but could not find anywhere where the #bluelivesmatter organization had given a statement, or called a press conference. I checked Facebook. I even checked Twitter, and the alt right sector of the internet was silent. But I thought we were backing the blue? I thought our soul was filled with the shield? I always knew that was code between White supremacist, but the silence almost made it look as if it was an omission and validation of what people of color have known since day one.

Tariq Nasheed, with Hidden Color Films has come out and said “If you have been silent about, or tried to justify the police killings dozens of innocent Black people, but are outraged over the killing of Justine Damond. Her blood is on your hands.”

A phenomenal point made and well said, as I’m sure the Shea Butter brigade and the alt right YouTube sector will try to vilify Mr. Nasheed for this occurrence. Although, the evidence is embarrassing at this point. So, I ask you after a police shooting of an unarmed Black person;

1. When has an Officers name been immediately released?
2. After a black person has been shot, when does the narrative by the media shift blame to the Police department itself?
3. Why hasn’t her criminal background been pulled?
4. Was she on drugs?

It’s odd to me to see black people go through such media scrutiny when it involves law enforcement only to see Justine Damond get what can only be called a proper send off as it pertains to media coverage. Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Mike Brown, Charleena Lyles, Darnisha Harris, and Sandra Bland didn’t get that proper send off.

They weren’t given the respect, the condolences, or the “respect their privacy” treatment. Instead, their criminal backgrounds were brought up, and every single aspect of their life was put under a microscope and spit on. They were discarded by the Justice system and the people who support that system. The same system who asked us, and is asking you to respect the dead want us to remain silent….again.

As of today, the Minneapolis police chief has resigned. I guess nothing says change like white outrage. Mr. Mohamed Noor went on record saying she came towards the car and he feared for him and his partners lives.

Per other police shootings involving unarmed citizens, if that reasoning is good enough for the #bluelivesmatter crowd then it should be good enough now. We don’t really know her motivation for leaving her house and approaching a police car. I’ve even seen Philando Castile’s mom reaching out to Justine Dumond’s fiance.

Real talk, I wish Black people would stop doing that. Because in the end I wont cry or feel bad over this situation. This isn’t an outlier of why law enforcement needs to be put under a microscope. This is another indictment of the war being waged against black people. And today I’m telling the world what they have been telling us for centuries.

Hold your own.

-Orrin

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