Ahmaud Murdered… What’s Next? Who’s Next?

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedRace Relations

[New Contributor]

Over two months ago, Ahmaud Arbery was viciously attacked and murdered in cold blood. In America, where the African-American community has some of the highest rates of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and renal failure, he was doing his part to contribute to lowering the modifiable risks of those diseases by simply exercising. Instead of looking at this young man jog and being inspired to do the same or simply just minding their own business, George and Travis McMichael decided to stalk and murder him. In broad daylight, in the middle of the street, and while being recorded, his life was stolen. His future, his destiny, his goals, all snatched from his grip.

It’s pointless to ask why because we all know the answer to that question. This mentality of hate and discrimination is handed down from generation to generation like a family heirloom.  The feeling of superiority that some are taught comes with simply being born. The delusional concept that they were appointed by God to keep us in line and remind us of our place which is under their feet. What’s even more outrageous is the fact that Ahmaud’s mother was told by investigators that he was attempting to burglarize someone’s home and the owner of the home killed him in an attempt to protect their property.  A blatant lie to cover for their former colleague. The investigators knew there was video, his murderers knew it was being recorded. Yet both proceeded. It was not enough that the story of Ahmaud’s death began to circulate, it took the leaked video of his execution and public outcry to cause the D.A. office to send this to a grand jury. Instead of arresting and charging two callous cold-blooded killers, they sent it to the grand jury to allow them to make the decision.

In the same country where a 16-year-old Kalief Browder was arrested and jailed for three years with no bail hearing, charge, or conviction for allegedly stealing a backpack… this is a disgusting reminder of this country’s history. My people were considered three fifths of a person, seen as nothing more than property. People like George and Travis McMichael are comparable to patty rollers that were paid to hunt slaves and drag them back to their plantation and allowed to have their way with them until they returned. In fact, patty rollers are the precursor of what we now know as police. There’s no possible way for me to articulate my feelings after seeing that video. We’ve prayed, marched, sang, kneeled, and there is no end in sight. As a wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, and friend of Black men I’m not only frightened for them, but I’m exhausted from the worry. The attempted cover up from the D.A.’s office is sickening. The silence of our tweeting president is sickening.

What’s next is my question. However, what I fear most is the question, who’s next?

Similar Read: Justice for Ahmaud?

Justice for Ahmaud?

by with 5 Comments CultureFeaturedRace Relations

[New Contributor]

February 23, 2020 – I don’t remember much about that day for myself. It was a Sunday so I probably went to church, came home and got in some comfortable clothes, and spent the rest of the day on the couch doing much of nothing. Within a couple of weeks, I’d be on lockdown in my home for the foreseeable future, unsure of when my life would get back to normal, if that ever was to exist again. It was on that day that 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery decided to go for a jog in his Brunswick, GA neighborhood. Unbeknownst to him, a father and son would be out on the same road that day looking for trouble. You see, they kept their loaded shotguns in the back of the truck I’m sure just in case they passed some wandering deer, possums, or for the occasional menacing ni**er. Of course, they say that this Black man, jogging down the street trying to tend to his own health, “matched the description” they say of a burglary suspect. According to them, that’s when they grabbed their guns and decided to leave the house in an effort to pursue him on a “citizen’s arrest.” What happens from there is anyone’s guess, and the coward filming appears to be more concerned with catching the action than preserving a life considering that he later shared the video with friends bragging about what had happened.

I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time combing back through all of the details and facts that we can find on every major and minor news outlet. I don’t have the time to contemplate why it’s appropriate for the state of Georgia to allow people to get a haircut during the Covid-19 pandemic, but conveniently can’t find the means to arrest or bring charges against 2 men who have spent the last 2 months at home, alive, believing that they had every right to pursue another human being and kill him without any question. I’m sure that, after a couple of weeks, they assumed they were in the clear and that nothing would be done. The father and son had probably even turned their attention to protesting the loss of their own “freedom” during a time where people were dying, because it wasn’t directly affecting them so they wanted the privilege to move around freely again. After all, it’s their American right to do so!

My questions at this time are many, my anger is at a boiling point and I don’t have enough energy to process frustration. Instead, I find myself asking- 

“Was Ahmaud not allowed to be scared when 2 men rolled up in a pick-up truck pointing guns at him?”

“Is it possible to fight back when strangers come out of nowhere and interrupt your peaceful jog by pointing a long gun at you and screaming at you in a way that must’ve rendered you confused and in shock?”

“Why is a very real threat to people who look like me always laced with questions and doubt, as if it’s some sort of made up, imaginary fantasy?”

“Are we still unable to acknowledge the history of domestic terrorism towards Blacks in this country? The kind that makes sure every Black child is given “the speech” by parents and elders from the time they are able to listen, and doesn’t stop even into adulthood because now a wife is also concerned that her husband may not make it home safely.

“Was my ability to feel pain stripped away when my ancestors had their children stolen from them at an auction block, never to be held or nurtured again? Am I still supposed to be that numb?”

“When do I get to feel what I want to feel- fear, hurt, frustration, pain- and express it without being labeled as “angry” and “black.”

I can’t say for sure what will happen this time. If the District Attorney is suggesting that it is taken to a grand jury, I can’t respectfully thank him for his consideration and walk away expecting justice to be served. What I am sure of, however, is that the courtesy that the Black community has extended to those who have hurt us over the past 400 years is wearing thin and patience is running out. I am educated and experienced, and this weekend will receive a doctorate degree. Yet, I personally will think twice about the vengeance I withhold, and will no longer be polite in my stance when the death Black and Brown people is a movie that can be played over and over again without even a warning label, as if to desensitize us all to the fact that Ahmaud was even human. Ask yourself when was the last time you even saw a video of a dog being killed that didn’t come with a warning or of “graphic violence and animal cruelty”? I’ll wait…

Why Do They Hate Us?

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

The Coronavirus pandemic has completely shut down the world. Way too many lives have been lost globally, yet here in the United States we have a narcissistic president that refuses to own up to his own failures and take responsibility for allowing thousands of Americans to die despite warning after warning. Loved ones are not allowed to say their last goodbyes and people are dying alone in hospitals and being placed in body bags just to be stacked in makeshift coolers. This can’t be how life goes from here on out, or is it?

Recent reports show that Black and Brown people are contracting the virus at a much higher rate, which has ultimately led to higher death rates in their communities as well. Yet again, you have the president of the US (that seeks to be the next dictator) pushing for all states to open up without regards to what medical professionals have suggested, which is for states to not remove their “stay-at-home” orders.

Trump initially stated he wanted to open the country up for Easter but that was walked down by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Then weeks later the report came out about Black and Brown people. Immediately, thereafter the president re-engaged the topic of opening up the economy. My thoughts are, the second the report was released, he saw the opportunity to allow this pandemic to kill off as many Black and Brown people as possible. How ironic knowing that the majority of Black people will vote against him in the upcoming election which could help lead to his demise. He’s gone as far as fueling his base to protest Governors to open up their perspective states, totally disregarding stay-at-home restrictions and social distancing guidelines. His supporters even argue that they allegedly aren’t affected by the virus so the state should be up and running. How is this going to help heal the world and bring people together? It won’t!

To add insult to injury, social media and actual news coverage is reporting that Black people are being banned and denied access into multiple establishments in China. They are saying and believing that Black people are the cause for this virus. How obtuse is that? Especially when all signs have pointed to the Wuhan science lab as the sole bearer of this horrible pandemic. That is baffling to me. This leads to my question of why do they hate us so much… even in a time of crisis?

I Don’t Believe In Voting Blue No Matter Who

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen ZPolitics

The first time I heard the phrase “vote for the lesser of two evils,” was when Hillary Clinton was chosen as the Democratic Nominee for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. I’m sure we all remember that enthusiasm for Hillary was low. She was widely disliked and many people were devastated at having to choose between her and Trump, but criticisms of her were immediately shut down by people claiming “she’s the lesser of two evils.” Basically, no matter how many valid reasons people had for rejecting Hillary, they had no choice but to shut up and vote for her because her evil was easier to swallow than Trump’s. Fast forward to 2020, and I’m hearing the same arguments all over again. Joe Biden is the Democratic frontrunner and his so-called supporters are out in full force, silencing any and all criticisms. They’re saying to “vote blue no matter who” regardless of his many faults because anyone’s better than Trump. I disagree entirely and I’m honestly sick and tired of hearing these arguments. There are many problems with this kind of mindset and I think it’s both harmful and unproductive to promote it, so here are the reasons why I don’t believe in “voting blue no matter who/voting for the lesser of two evils.” 

One reason I’m not okay with these phrases is because they encourage people to settle for candidates that we *know* are unfit to lead us. We deserve better and should demand better from our elected officials, instead of just throwing our hands in the air and accepting a candidate who is proven to be unworthy in every way, shape and form. Progress is what I seek, and I know that settling for the status quo will get us nowhere.

I can’t accept “vote for the lesser of two evils” because in terms of Biden vs Trump, this phrase suggests that Joe Biden is somehow less evil than Donald Trump, which is a lie. In fact, I believe that Trump and Biden are the exact same brand of evil, the only difference being that Biden wears a blue MAGA hat while Trump wears a red one. There are too many similarities between the two, one being that Trump and Biden are both racist. Trump has labeled Mexicans as criminals and rapists, was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for housing discrimination against Black people, proposed a ban against Muslims, and referred to African countries as “shithole countries” (these examples hardly scratch the surface of his history of racism). Biden was good friends with white supremacist James Eastland and gave a eulogy at the funeral of segregationist Strom Thurmond. He opposed desegregating schools because in his own words, he didn’t want his kids going to school in a “racial jungle.” He called Barack Obama “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean,” said that “poor kids are just as bright and talented as White kids” during an Iowa town hall, and helped write the 1994 Crime Bill that expanded mass incarceration in the U.S. 

Other similarities between Trump and Biden? They’ve both been accused of sexual assault/harassment/uncomfortable physical contact by numerous women. Trump has accusations from 20+ women, while Biden has eight, (and has also been seen on video inappropriately touching underaged girls and smelling their hair). Both have disappointing track records on LGBTQ+ rights, both have credible accusations that they’re mentally unfit to be president, both have worked for administrations that put kids in cages, and both are warmongers. Now that I’ve laid out all the reasons why Biden and Trump are horrible in pretty much all the same ways, how exactly is one better than the other? Swapping out one bigot in chief for another is not a win, giving me no reason to rally behind either candidate. I’m a marginalized person and my marginalized community will be harmed by both Trump AND Biden, which is why I cannot just sit down and “vote blue no matter who”—and anyone who tries to bully others into doing so is blatantly choosing their party affiliation over their morals.

It’s time to kill the idea that we should choose a lesser evil over another, and that we have to vote blue no matter who. I need people to realize that politicians work for us, not the other way around, so we shouldn’t give up our power by accepting less than what we deserve and by being afraid to demand what we need from them. I also need people to realize that Donald Trump is not the sole reason for all the evil in this country and that replacing him with Biden will not put an end to it. In reality, Trump is a product of the evil in the U.S. and in order to make real change in this country, we must dismantle the systems that allow him to thrive, not just focus 100% of our energy on him. Since people will always do what they want regardless, I’m not going to end this article by telling anyone who to vote for. But I will tell you not to allow the direction of the 2020 election to make you feel hopeless, because regardless of who’s in office—whether it’s a Democrat or Republican, whether you love them or hate them, there is work that needs to be done. We must stay aware, stay involved, and look out for our fellow community members, because in the words of my good friend and one of the smartest, most passionate activists I know, Brooke Solomon…

“No president is going to save my community.”

While electing a president is important, it is not the only way to create change. The power lies within us. Real change exists outside of electoral politics, and we need to be the ones to create it.

Similar Read: The Coronavirus Pandemic Should Be the Jumpstart to a Revolution?

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Remembering Nipsey Hussle

by with 5 Comments CultureFeatured

One of the biggest stories of 2019… 

On Sunday, March 31, 2019, Ermias Davidson Asghedom aka Nipsey Hussle, was unfortunately shot six times in front of his clothing store, Marathon Clothing, in Los Angeles, California. He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. 

For millions of fans who were familiar with his music, he was more than just a rapper. He was an entrepreneur, business owner, real estate investor, community philanthropist, a husband, a father, and an inspiration to millions of inner-city youth in his Crenshaw neighborhood and other hoods throughout the country. 

Celebrities, rappers, athletes, and other prominent figures took to Twitter to pay their respect and show love for the slain 33-year-old Nipsey. But the majority of people mourning will never be one of the latter, instead, just everyday people who respected his music and mission to make a difference for so many people. The pain is real and he will be missed, forever. 

Here’s what some of them had to say… 

“Man, real tears! I can’t remember the last time I cried this much… smh… I’ve been going to LA since I was 4-years-old… hella different from Detroit, but it was all love. I listened to his music faithfully… every day for the past 10 years. This shit hurts.” – A. Murray, Detroit, MI

“I wasn’t intimately familiar with Nipsey’s artwork as a rapper but I was introduced to his work as an activist and change agent for good a few years ago. We shared similar visions and values so I am saddened to hear of his life being senselessly snuffed out. I am hopeful that the outpouring of grief will drive us to collectively continue his mission.” – Soulful Silverback, NYC

“It seems he was a man ahead of his time. Take away the rapper Nipsey… let’s speak on the influence of the man named Ermias Asghedom. He used his outlet… as well as his knowledge to teach and help us as people do better and build our self-worth. To me, he is now a leader that left us too soon but will always be honored and never forgotten. We’re going to keep your Victory Lap and legacy going until the end because we as the people have to protect the ones that stand for bettering the Black community and the culture of Hip-Hop as a whole.” – L. Benzo, NYC

“We will feel this loss forever. Hussle was a man who practiced what he preached and led his life with honor and respect. He’s planted many seeds along his life and now that he’s gone, it’s up to us to water them and help them grow. Work harder, give more and never forget where you came from. Rest easy Nipsey!” – Center Left HR, Washington, DC

“Nipsey brought an element to rap music that was missing. His energy, swagger, ability to educate and heart was something that isn’t present in today’s music. He made sure you knew where he was from and how he wanted to educate his community on economic empowerment. Gone way too soon but will never be forgotten. This generation’s Tupac Shakur.” – J. Malone, Detroit, MI

“It appears the more “woke” you are and the more you chose to do for the people and not the man, the greater the threat you are to them and bigger the target you become.”  – Professional Athlete, Southeast

“Nipsey’s death is tragic and unexpected. He was a dope artist and more importantly a young Black entrepreneur who was giving back to his community. Many people do not understand how difficult it is to be successful, be a father, and stay alive as a young Black man, particularly those of us from low-income high-crime areas. Nipsey has now become yet another alarming statistic in the midst of success and fatherhood and all I can do as a young Black father and entrepreneur myself is pray and continue to make positive strides and influence those I encounter with the same values. This is a cold world and unfortunately, this “change” we all hope for is very far away when you consider the fact that this incident happened right outside of his own neighborhood business. Sad reality that we all have to swallow.” – J. Hampton, Atlanta, GA

“Nipsey was a once in a generation type artist, but not for his pure lyricism or superior metaphoric wordsmith. Nipsey spoke to the people in ways many legends never could. He spoke to the millennial hip-hop enthusiast that grew up in between the Golden Era and Trap Era of hip-hop. I personally met and discovered Nipsey during his first NYC promo run for his first mixtape in 2008 and I immediately became enamored with his maturity and authenticity. His early rhymes took you on a West Coast journey, placing you in his Lincoln Towncar riding through the streets of Compton. As his music and career grew, I personally felt as a fan that I grew alongside him. Both being born in 85′. I listened to his music less feeling like a super fan but more like a distant peer. Motivating me to go harder, creating my own lanes but embracing vulnerability to acknowledging the many trials and tribulations life brings. These raw emotions most artists cannot tap into. We didn’t just lose a rapper, we lost a new generational leader of hip-hop ready to take the torch and run our marathon.” – D. Faulkner, NYC 

“The Loss of Nipsey Hussle is a huge blow to the Hip-Hop culture. I didn’t know him. I never met him. I loved his music. I loved his message of independence, sustainability, and economic empowerment for HIS community. My condolences to his family, children and loved ones. We lost a true warrior on 3/31/19. May his legacy inspire greatness in each of us. Long live Neighborhood Nip aka Nipsey Hussle born Ermias Asghedom.” – S.B. Webb, Atlanta, GA 

“Success, in a different light. That’s who Nipsey was to me. Finally a version of success that was attainable. Finally a form of success that looked like us, belonged to us, and that talked like us, and that really made a difference. That’s why Nipsey’s death hurts so many of us. He didn’t lose who he was or his principles. He knew success wasn’t his, but of his community. His work provided opportunity to overcome the bad around him, the drugs, the gangs, the violence. He worked to build the community back up even though it was handed it to him broken. For this man to be killed in front of what he built makes it seem like once again the dream of success was close but not achievable and out of reach.” – Center Single Mom, Washington, DC

“It’s difficult losing young Black men who are perfect messengers regarding the positive influences we need in African-American culture. As a young Black man who often speaks to teens about transitioning into adulthood, it’s not easy to get through, so when you have those messengers taken from us before their full impact can be felt, it’s devastating. Hopefully, Nipsey’s words are felt far and wide and folks take it to heart. We need more influential African-Americans in our communities showing what success can and should look like.” – M. Taylor, Detroit, MI 

“Although I was very familiar with Nipsey Hussle, I didn’t know the extent of his knowledge, intellect, and service until recently. Since his death, I have been consumed with getting to know more about him beyond music. There aren’t too many artists who inspire me to be a better human. Tupac was one of them and now Nipsey is on that list. I truly believe he was here on an assignment and fulfilled it. We will be better because he was here.” – E. Williams, Memphis, TN
“I have been following this young man’s music since he started. I’m definitely a fan of West Coast music so of course, you would hear about this young dude from Crenshaw. I thought he might be related to Snoop by blood but they’re related by Cuz (60’s). Funny how the greats have similar blessings with similar fates although some are still with us. I don’t believe in conspiracies but I also don’t believe in coincidence. Either way, we’ve lost a Great Young Man who was for us and mobilizing our people in his community and beyond. He should be memorized as the great man that he lived to be. #RIPNIP” – C. Major, Detroit, MI

This article was originally published on 1 April 2019.

What did Nipsey’s music and life mean to you? Share with us by commenting below or emailing us at info@box5351.temp.domains.

40 Acres & A Mule (Why Reparations Can No Longer Wait)

by with 2 Comments FeaturedGen Z

Reparations are defined as “the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.” Throughout history, numerous wrongs have been committed towards African-Americans, including (but not limited to) unequal education access, medical racism, housing discrimination, mass incarceration, etc., and yet no attempt to make amends has been made.

In 2009, The Senate issued an apology for slavery plus the years of oppression that followed, and expressed commitment to “rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.” However, the apology remains empty since the rectification is nowhere to be found. The United States of America refuses to sufficiently acknowledge its’ long history of oppressing, dehumanizing and exploiting Black folks, and restitution is long overdue. The Compensated Emancipation Act was passed in 1862 to repay slave owners for the income they would lose once their slaves were freed. If reparations could be given to repay slave owners for lost wages, then why is giving reparations to the descendants of slavery for centuries’ worth of lost wages viewed as unthinkable?

Reparations continues to be a pressing issue due “to a series of changes that have occurred in recent years — namely, the increased academic understanding of and public attention to the ways a history of slavery and discrimination has fueled disparities like the racial wealth gap, which shows that the median white household is 10 times wealthier than the median black one.” (The 2020 Democratic Primary Debate Over Reparations, Explained) People are aware of the glaring racial wealth gap, and that slavery, plus the centuries of disenfranchisement that came after, have fueled it. 

Enslaved Black people were denied the opportunity to build wealth. Meanwhile, America gained wealth from their work. The early American economy was built and dependent on slavery. The income from the forced labor of slaves was so lucrative that defenders of slavery went so far as to argue that emancipation would lead to the collapse of the American economy as a whole. “By 1860, there were more millionaires (slaveholders all) living in the lower Mississippi Valley than anywhere else in the United States. In the same year, the nearly 4 million American slaves were worth some $3.5 billion, making them the largest single financial asset in the entire U.S. economy, worth more than all manufacturing and railroads combined.” In addition to plantation slavery, slave labor was used for the development of The White House, The Capitol, Wall Street, JP Morgan Chase, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Washington & Lee University, and The University of Virginia. These institutions profited from slavery in the past and continue to make a profit in the present day. America benefitted greatly from slave labor, while those who were enslaved never received any benefits.

Furthermore, America has never acknowledged that slavery can’t be an issue of the past when it still impacts the present. The harms of slavery didn’t just go away with emancipation. When slavery was abolished, it evolved into other forms of oppression. Black people were denied educational opportunities, adequate housing, good jobs with decent wages, discriminated against by businesses, and their labor was once again exploited through the prison system. Harassment from police and White residents was common, and the subjugation of Black people continued, taking a toll on the entire community. This toll still exists in the present day.

It is not logical to enslave a group of people for over two hundred years, repeatedly railroad them into less than adequate schools and neighborhoods, incarcerate them at unnecessarily high rates as well as repeatedly brutalize them by those who are sworn to “serve and protect”, only to tell them that they are “undeserving” of proper repayment in any form. The United States has done nothing to help Black Americans recover from centuries worth of marginalization, which needs to change. Reparations have proven to be an important issue among Black constituents for the 2020 election, and a hearing was held last month to discuss a bill (H.R.40) that would establish a commission to study and develop reparations proposals. It is obvious that the demand for reparations is not going away anytime soon, nor should it. The impact of slavery is still something that negatively impacts the Black community on the social, political, and economic levels, proving that reparations are long overdue.

Is the Price of Priceless Lives Just 99 Cents?

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

Children are very observant. They can notice subtleties in the atmosphere. They can pick up on the emotions of others. But, they can also have a very blurry line between right and wrong when they are especially young, say, the age of four. ‘I like that Barbie. I want it. It’s mine.’ With a rationale this simple, who would’ve thought that it would have disastrous consequences? 

In Phoenix, Arizona, Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper’s four-year-old daughter picked up a Barbie doll inside a dollar store, put it in her bag, and left with her aunt. No weapons. No threatening behavior. No extensive loss. Just a four-year-old who wanted a Barbie and took one unbeknownst to her parents and aunt.

The police were called, and the first responder was an overzealous and extremely aggressive White male officer, whose name is Christopher Meyer. Although there are more than a few bad apples in the police force as a whole, Harper believed that there were enough good apples to encourage her daughters to depend on the police in dangerous situations. 

Then the two toddlers sat with their mother in the backseat as this officer is screaming and profaning left and right, a locked and loaded gun in his hands. This four-year-old, this one-year-old, sat there and observed the very reason why many Americans of color today cannot bring themselves to trust and depend on the police.

This young Black family was leaving the dollar store to drop the young children off at their babysitter’s apartment. Before the car was even in park, they had to fear for their lives because the officer was surely going to “f—ing put a cap in [their]  f—ing head[s]!”

If you watch the videos on this, you’ll see that these young Black people were unarmed, non-threatening, but most of all, compliant. The Young Turks, a popular talk show and podcast, did a segment on this. They posited that the reason the officers handled this family the way they did is because they weren’t providing the invigorating response of ‘resisting arrest’, therefore they tried to provoke it as seen when the officer kicks Ames’ legs apart. Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, thinks it could also be that they were talking to the family this way because they thought the family, or rather Black people, talked like that. 

The only thing worse than these traumatic events is the aftermath. I say this because, in situations like Black bodies versus White badges, it is almost certain that these instances will be swept under the proverbial rug, buried under hollow apologies, like what the Mayor of Phoenix Kate Gallego had to say on the matter.

“It was completely inappropriate and clearly unprofessional. There is no situation in which this behavior is ever close to acceptable,” said Gallego and quoted by Eric Levenson, et al in an article on CNN.

The people of Arizona, of the United States, don’t want to hear from an echo chamber that this is inexcusable, unacceptable, or whatever other “antiseptic” word, as Cedric L. Alexander, a writer from CNN, mentioned in his article. These half-hearted apologies tell the brutalized family and the rest of beautiful, colored America that nothing will be done. 

Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams addressed this in a video, stating that she will personally spearhead this investigation of the department with the Professional Standards Bureau. For the officers in question, that just means desk duty. Desk duty is not a punishment. It isn’t even a slap on the wrist. It’s a ‘people are raging right now so let’s keep these officers safely employed until the people calm down enough for them to go back out on patrol.’

The family sustained not only physical injuries but also emotional trauma, especially those young children who observed it all but do not have yet the tools to comprehensively express their feelings. The one-year-old got her shoulder injured when the officer yanked her by her arm in an attempt to remove her from her mother. 

To gain some sort of justice, the family is suing the city of Phoenix for $10 million dollars. I pray that justice is served. For me and maybe for you, justice looks like those two officers being fired, arrested, and imprisoned for aggravated assault, as well as counseling for the family.

The money is a bonus that can be used towards keeping the family on their feet as Ames recovers from his injuries that inhibit his ability to work. As seen in the videos, the officers are seen slinging him to the ground and the squad car, kicking his legs apart, and punching him unnecessarily in his back.

Something’s got to give. How many more incidents like this need to happen before change? Ames and his family were lucky to have survived because they, as well as the many bystanders, believed, that they would die right there on the spot for the sake of a 99 cent Barbie doll that the dollar store wasn’t even going to press charges for.

This family, and all the other families who’ve experienced this same brutality in Arizona and across the United States, demand more than an apology. I hope that at least in this case, this family receives more than a mere apology. 

Similar Read: Why is Mental Health Ignored in Schools?

Albert Wilson

by with 2 Comments CultureFeaturedGen Z

“Whatever that is done in darkness will come to light.” This is a saying that I live by to keep myself from harboring hatred and resentment towards the unfairness that runs rampant in the quotidian. This isn’t foolproof by any means, as can be seen of the Albert Wilson rape trial. Did he do anything in darkness that warranted this level of retribution in the light?

The law was created to punish those who did wrong, and protect the ones who did right. How is it that now those who are wrong and who are right now have a certain appearance? How is it that retribution takes different forms depending on what the defendant looks like?

Brock Turner, a White man, raped an unconscious White woman behind a dumpster in 2015 and was convicted in 2016. There was hard evidence that proved these allegations to be facts. There were even witnesses of this assault. His retribution took the form of a six-month sentence. He served only three of those months because prison was detrimental to his young psyche. He was even allowed to have a cellphone during the time he was incarcerated.

Albert Wilson, a Black man, was accused of raping an underage White woman in his apartment in 2016 and was convicted in 2019. There wasn’t even evidence to call circumstantial. Unlike with Turner, semen was not found in or on the victim, and I use that term loosely here. The only DNA found on the victim was on her chest, where he kissed her. Wilson testified to having done sexual acts with the victim but did not have sexual intercourse. Hell, there is surveillance footage of the apartment complex, showing the consensual and mutual exchanges going into the building and coming out of the building five minutes later, not stumbling incoherence that the victim claimed. 

But when the White girl screams rape, it seems that our justice system does not stop to examine the evidence or lack thereof, ask the right questions to the right people, and get to the bottom of what happened. It didn’t matter to the all-White jury, most of whom were women, that there wasn’t any actual evidence to pin the proverbial tail on the donkey. It didn’t matter because the case boiled down to hearsay, and they only listened to the White voice.

The light’s retribution for what was not done in darkness is twelve years, and reportedly the “lightest sentence” issued for rape in Kansas. Wilson was sentenced to twelve years for a crime that there is no actual evidence saying that he committed. Where is the innocent until proven guilty? It seems that this kind of consideration is not colorblind, rather it sees color and discriminates accordingly.

If this case remains closed, Wilson might be on the fast track to joining the statistic of being a Black man wrongfully incarcerated via the lack of due diligence by the people who enforce these laws, meanwhile, White men like Turner are wrongfully freed.

We sweat the same sweat, bleed the same red blood, shed the same tears. While not all of us have melanin or the same amount of melanin, that should not determine how the law is enforced on us. The system is designed to protect, but the judges and the juries, they are the ones who turn it into a weapon. 

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper / And every tongue which rises against you in judgment / You shall condemn,” Isaiah 54:17. While everyone might not have the same faith, I think it can be said unanimously that these weapons are indeed prospering. The voices that rise against us, though we do condemn, we still fall.

What can we do? What we have been doing: raising our own voices. People have taken to Twitter to put out the word and raise awareness. The articles written by news platforms and the website www.freealbertwilson.com had been retweeted several hundreds of thousands of times.

At this time, that is all that we can do besides hope and pray for either an acquittal, like what Michael Rosfeld received, an appeal, a retrial, or complete exoneration. Unfortunately, it seems like our justice system will provide neither. 

Similar Read: Antwon Rose

Beyonce’s Homecoming – For Us, By Us

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

If there’s any artist that’s capable of stopping the world, it’s Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.

In 2018, she delivered her highly anticipated performance at Coachella as the festivals’ first Black female headliner and left observers completely in awe. A year later, on April 17, 2019, her Netflix documentary Homecoming premiered, which chronicles the journey she went on to craft her legendary performance. In the film, Beyoncé says “When I decided to do Coachella, instead of me pulling out my flower crown, it was more important that I brought our culture to Coachella.” Watching Homecoming was very impressive, as it gave me more insight into the hard work, sacrifice and intentionality that went into it. There were many aspects that made Beychella pure excellence, but my favorite aspect was seeing the celebration of Black culture taking center stage. 

Beyoncé mentions in the documentary that she grew up near Prairie View A&M University and spent a lot of time during the early years of her career rehearsing at Texas Southern University. Her father is a graduate of Fisk University and she always dreamed of attending a Historically Black institution of higher learning. Beychella paid homage to the nine Black Greek Letter Organizations and an HBCU Homecoming ceremony, with the inclusion of steppers, majorettes, and a marching band. Although I don’t attend an HBCU, I appreciate and respect the importance and significance that they hold, and have witnessed over the years the way that they’re often undervalued. But in the words of Beyoncé, “There is something incredibly important about the HBCU experience that must be celebrated and protected.” With Beychella, she did just that. 

Beychella also included her own rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”—which the NAACP dubbed the Black National Anthem—which transitioned into her pro-Black anthem, “Formation.” She and her dancers swag surfed, danced to a mix of her hit “Crazy in Love” and Juveniles’ “Back That A** Up”, and included the instrumental to C-Murders “Down For My N*****”. The same day that Homecoming was available for streaming, she released her live album of the same name, which featured her cover of Frankie Beverly and Maze’s “Before I Let Go”, which is a staple at Black functions. Although Coachella’s audience is predominantly White (which made it all the more special that in Homecoming, the camera repeatedly focused on Black audience members), Beyoncé took the opportunity to shine a light on the pure greatness that is Black culture.

While watching Homecoming, one of my greatest sources of joy was that a light was also shone on Black women through voiceovers of icons Nina Simone and Maya Angelou, as well as the many Black women on stage. During Beychella, dancer/choreographer Edidiong Emah was given a solo, and in the film, she says she once felt she was “too short and too thick” and never dreamed she would be there. The space that Black female performers like Edidiong were given onstage was amazing.

In a voiceover, Beyoncé makes a statement that I—and I’m sure many other Black women—could relate to… “As a Black woman, I used to feel like the world wanted me to stay in my little box. And Black women often feel underestimated.” She adds, “I wanted us to be proud of not only the show, but the process and proud of the struggle. Thankful for the beauty that comes with a painful history and rejoice in the pain. Rejoice in the imperfections and the wrongs that are so damn right. And I wanted everyone to feel grateful for their curves, their sass, their honesty. Thankful for the freedom. It was no rules and we were able to create a free, safe space where none of us were marginalized.” Ensuring that her performance made Black women feel prideful, represented, and appreciated was clearly a major priority for her, something that I found very special since the world treats Black women as an afterthought. These women had various skin tones, body types, and skillsets, making Beychella all the more beautiful.

Homecoming provides an insight into the hard work and dedication that was put into Beychella: a stunning display of the beauty that exists in Black culture, Black womanhood, and Black colleges. Black people are the owners of Black culture despite constant attempts to hijack it, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the love of our culture being celebrated by one of its’ actual, rightful owners. Beychella was the embodiment of “for us, by us” and I will forever appreciate it. 

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Antwon Rose

by with 2 Comments CultureFeaturedGen Z

Black bodies, young and old, are being cut down by blue hands. This has become the American Normal, an epidemic that many have been fighting to find a cure for. Black Lives Matter is the largest movement of today, potentially since the Panthers. Their aim is to establish equality in the Land of the Free, to show that freedom belongs to Black people also.

Since the abolition of slavery, our chains aren’t visible, but that doesn’t make them any less present. Our movements are restricted through racial profiling, generalizations, and a fear of police. The police force was formed to protect people from people by people. This force is comprised of people who go above and beyond to make our neighborhoods and cities safer to reside in. Lately, I have begun to question, safe from whom? 

What determines someone is dangerous? Reaching for an ID which is being asked for? For having on a hoodie with the hood up? For demanding to know why they’re being detained? For resisting arrest? For being Black? While the reasons behind these deaths aren’t certain, in the last few years, the number of fallen Black bodies has been on the rise. Unarmed Black bodies. Unarmed Black bodies of young men and women, of fathers and mothers, of brothers and sisters.

People make mistakes of all proportions. We are all imperfectly human. What makes a person worth their salt is their ability and willingness to take responsibility for their mistakes.

We have to hold everyone to the same extent of the law, which includes law enforcement. Simply because they enforce the law does not mean that they are above it. When an officer is killed, the person or persons responsible for it are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. When a civilian is killed, sometimes the officer is fired, maybe they face jail time, but more often than not it feels as if everyone is getting off scot-free, with a slap on the wrist called an acquittal.

Antwon Rose II was seventeen when he and his friend Zaijuan Hester were pulled over for driving a car that fit the description of one that just did a drive by a mile and a half away. Why did they run after being pulled over? What Black boy in this America would sit still when they see the boys in blue in their rearview mirror? And that officer is White, which is, unfortunately, the common scenario for these wrongful deaths? Get away or die trying.

There was footage taken from an apartment window of the shooting. As discussed in court and what can be plainly seen, Rose and Hester were running. All of a sudden ex-Officer Michael Rosfeld was shooting. There was no pursuit, just three rounds echoing in the silence in East Pittsburgh. I watched this video at least twenty times, trying to see anything other than another unarmed Black body hitting the ground with injuries that proved fatal. Each time I jumped as the shots pierced through the air.

There were three people in the car that was seen in surveillance footage that fled from a drive-by shooting. When Rosfeld and his partner pulled the car over, it would make sense to wait for backup since there was no telling how the situation would unfold. It was a choice to engage the teenagers without waiting. It was a choice to not pursue Rose and Hester as they fled. It was a choice to shoot at them, and those three shots landing into Rose’s back. Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide, which includes murder, voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter under Pennsylvania law, according to CNN.

As of March 22nd, 2019, Rosfeld was fully acquitted of all charges that could have been upheld. The nation, and especially Rose’s loved ones, are in uproar over the fact the jury’s deliberations lasted less than four hours. Rosfeld was given the proverbial slap on the wrist for murdering a teenage boy, like many others before him.

Race relations in America gets bleaker by the day. America shouldn’t be a battleground. Lives shouldn’t be lost due to itchy trigger fingers and bad snap judgments. We are losing our young people who will make a better tomorrow. While these lives cannot be revived, we can at least in their own effect positive change so that no more bodies join theirs in the statistic of Black lives lost as a result of police violence. 

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