...My heart truly goes out to the families of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos for the trauma that they have experienced during this time. No one should ever have to endure what they have. They have had my sincerest prayers and most heartfelt sympathy for the past five days and will continue to have them for a long time to come. However, I am reminded of the fact that while the FBI reported that seventy-six police officers died while on duty in 2013 (with twenty-seven dying as a result of felonious acts and forty-nine dying in accidents) approximately three hundred and twenty African-Americans were extrajudicially executed during that year. I am further reminded that while Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos assailant was actively being pursued to pay for his crimes when he took his life, the murderers of Aaron Campbell, Reginald Doucet, Rahim Brown, Kenneth Harding, Kenneth Chamberlain, Jimmell Cannon, Alonzo Ashley, Wendell Allen, Timothy Russell, Tamon Robinson, Shereese Francios, Sharmel Edwards, Shantel Davis, Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr., Trayvon Martin, Robert Dumas Jr., Reynaldo Cuevas, Rekia Boyd, Raymond Allen, Ramarley Graham, Nehemiah Dillard, Kimani Gray, Michael Brown, Antonio Martin, Eric Garner, John Crawford, Jonathon Ferrell, Deion Fludd, Carlos Alcis, Andy Lopez, Barrington Williams, Kayla Moore, Jordan Baker, Yvette Smith, Tyree Woodson, McKenzie Cochran, Ezell Ford, Kaijeme Powell, Dante Parker, Victor White III, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, and Aiyana Stanley-Jones are still free (If you didnt, go back and Read. Each. Name.) I am also reminded of the fact that our countrys consistent violence against Black female bodies is perpetually ignored when I dishearteningly recognize that the media would have never reported Shaneka Thompsons travail had it not been associated with the murdering of two male police officers. None of these realities have been improved in any tangible institutionalized way. Therefore, we will not stop marching. We will not stop protesting. We will not stop being civilly disobedient. Most of all we will not stop declaring that #Blacklivesmatter. We will not change that cry to #alllivesmatter, #NYPDlivesmatter, #bluelivesmatter or any other diluting derivative. There is no need to. The importance of all other lives is resoundingly declared legally, economically, socially and politically. The only time that we will stop actively opposing the widespread extrajudicial execution of African-Americans is when law enforcement officials stop performing the widespread extrajudicial execution of African-Americans. We are not Black Supremacists, cop killers or hate mongers. We are American Citizens. Treat us as such.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:00:24 +0000
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