just one week ago, i posted a status saying that i would repeat some of eric garners last words (it stops today) every day. dozens of people liked that status and many continued to like the ensuing daily posts. today, in light of the horrific killing of two police officers in NYC, some of those same folks are silent, remixing the hashtag to all lives matter, or posting pictures or statements in support of the NYPD -- the same organization that was exposed for violating the constitutional rights of hundreds of thousands of black and latino men through the discriminatory stop-and-frisk policy just a year ago. the same police department whose supporters mocked garners last words with t-shirts reading i can breathe just two days ago. the same organization that insisted no law was broken -- or that there was even a need to examine the issue -- when eric garner was choked to death on the city street. among the many problems here is that there is a false dichotomy at work: it doesnt have to be true that *either* black peoples lives or the lives of cops matter. if, in fact, you truly believe that *all* lives matter, you would see all of these brutal killings in the same light, as equal parts of the same problem. but too many are quick to abandon the plight of the citizen for the protection of the state -- a state acting in its own best interest that now blatantly considers us enemy combatants (many see the declaration that the NYPD is now at war as belated). the police union in NY immediately played the death of these two officers to its advantage, preying on those who dont need much convincing that black people are actually the problem and the lives of police officers are more valuable than those that they are charged to protect and serve. if you are seeing this drama unfold and think that cop killers are worse than killer cops, if you understand and believe that violence begets violence but see yesterdays actions as disconnected from years of violence against our communities (or worse, related to largely peaceful protests) and any retaliatory act as warranted/inevitable/justifiable, if you automatically think that someone who kills a cop is a monster while a cop who kills an unarmed citizen can still be considered a hero, or if you expect all black people to condemn police killings while you remain silent on police brutality, we have even more work to do than any of us realize. the enormity of the challenge makes the prospect of change overwhelmingly bleak sometimes. yet as the saying goes, its always darkest before the dawn; how appropriate for this to be happening just as we are heading into the longest night of the year. i am not the praying type, but this is my hope as we emerge from the night: may the days that follow be brighter for us all.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 23:34:06 +0000
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