Breonna

by with One Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

Blank.

Injuries: None

Forced Entry: No

Blank

Blank

A black woman was murdered by a team of police officers in Louisville, KY while she was asleep over 90 days ago. What you have just read is the sum of the police report filed by the precinct after that incident. 

We now know that, according to Breonna’s mother, the boyfriend called her at some point during or after the ordeal, afraid to tell her Breonna was dead while the apartment was hit with a hail of bullets by unannounced officers trying to serve a search warrant, not realizing they were in the wrong apartment. Her mom rushed to the apartment complex in the middle of the night and recalls she was sent to the hospital by an officer on the scene telling her that “the ambulance with the girl” was already on its way. 

She waited… 2 hours… to be told that there was no record of anybody by that name at said hospital. When she returned and was able to speak to a detective who, after waiting a few more hours, asked her if Breonna had any enemies, or if she and her boyfriend did drugs, or were having any relationship problems – ya know, typical “black issues” that could later become an alibi for the police. They. Tried. To frame. A sleeping. Woman. For her own. Death. 

Sidebar: The past couple of months have caused me to personally reassess several areas of my life and the world around me. Where do I go from here and how do I address this “new normal” during a worldwide pandemic that is snatching the lives of black and brown people at astonishing rates because research is never done on how pain and diseases affect OUR bodies. While the higher-profile deaths of more black men AND women at the hands of officers, and those pretending to be law enforcement have made me feel inept in other ways. The perceived value and worth of a black body in 2020 seems to be less than the ⅗ of a human being that we were once offered. I was feeling like I needed to crawl deeper into my safe space in order to preserve my own existence. And then a friend, a black man in my community offered these words of unsolicited encouragement that became the elevator and awakening that I didn’t know I needed to hear: “thank you to you, and all women of color, who have always taken on the black man’s issues without even batting an eye. And we as black men haven’t always been there to protect you and say thank you. So for all men let me say thank you. You and the rest of black women don’t have to do what you do.” This diatribe, this tribute, though mere words over a quarantined distance, is what all black women need to hear from black men daily- if not several times a day- to begin filling the ditches dug in our souls. Beginning with the watery graves of the revolting slaves, who preferred to jump to their deaths in the Atlantic Ocean rather than be a slave in the new world. 

As we stand at the time of this article being published, the officers have yet to be arrested or held accountable for Breonna Taylor’s death, as if she was just collateral damage on a call-gone-wrong. A bullet hole in a wall, or door broken down, furniture flipped over. As a black woman, I am left literally speechless and in shock. What am I to make of any of this? How can anyone justify an ambush- a murder- in this way? Thank you, king, for delivering a statement that reminds me of my priceless contribution to this earth, because some days I truly wonder… Is it that, in this big, wide world, to some people black women are just…

Blank?

Similar Read: Are We Surprised?

Dear Black Man

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedRace Relations

[New Contributor]

Dear Black man,

I’m writing this letter to you from a place of mental nostalgia. From a time and place when you valued yourself as much as you expect others to value you. I’m writing this letter to ensure you you have not been forgotten.

You are built to endure. You are built to lead. Don’t be mistaken for one second and don’t ever lose your sense of self-worth in a world where you’re told you don’t matter. Your life matters contrary to what this world and society continues to show you and portray to you as truth. You are important. For years your parents said walk with your head held high with pride. Now it seems as if you must walk on eggshells to return home at night. And even when you have seemingly done nothing wrong, being a Black man is automatically a sin punishable by death.

I am writing you this letter to let you know we understand your frustrations and concerns. We hear you loud and clear even when you say nothing.  They tell you rioting doesn’t work – it isn’t the answer. They say marching and protesting doesn’t work – it isn’t the answer. Asking doesn’t work. So you’re wondering your next best move. We understand you are baffled at the fact that you are asking for basic human rights.

Dear Black man, my tears fall & my heart bleeds and my soul mourns because my understanding of your fears are all too real.

I feel you because I AM YOU. 

– David

Similar Read: Black Man in America

DEAR WHITE FOLKS: BRING SUNSCREEN

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

I have a diverse group of friends. Over the years, I’ve had great conversations with my White friends about what my experience is as a Black American. Often in those various conversations, a few statements have recurred:

“I won’t ever know what it’s like to walk in your shoes”

“I don’t see color”

“I don’t know what I can do to help”

Generally speaking, all of these statements were said with good intent. So I’ve come up with a simple but impactful analogy that might help shift one’s thinking from apathy to care. 

In my travels and most summers, I love to go to the beach. Growing up in Brooklyn, I never felt that I had a connection or access to picturesque beaches but there is calming quality in listening to the waves crash under the sunshine. I find that the beach is a great place to read a book, listen to music, have few drinks, and/or connect with friends. When I take out my beach bag to leave for the beach there is always something inside the bag that I don’t really need; sunscreen.

Now before you get all preachy on me about the dangers of skin cancer hear me out. First, my doctor tells me every year that I have a vitamin D deficiency. Second, my dark skin can absorb the sun’s rays and I’ve never gotten sunburned in America. Third, my skin looks radiant and I look great with a tan.

So why do I buy sunscreen and remember to take it with me to the beach? I know that when I leave the house for the beach that I will likely be going with other people, of lighter skin (i.e. White folks), who will need sunscreen or else they get sunburned.

Now, I’ve never had a bad sunburn but I have been around plenty of White folks who didn’t apply sunscreen properly and have gotten a bad sunburn. To be frank, it looks awful and extremely painful. Because I’m not apathetic, I’ve asked my White friends to share their sunburn experience with me. What does it feel like? When does it go away? What happens when you touch it? How does it heal? Why did you not apply sunscreen more effectively? You really have to go through this entire sunscreen application process before you layout? Why do you want to get a tan anyway? Yes, I know being darker is sexier but is all this worth it? So I’m thoughtful enough to leverage my Black privilege in this instance to bring sunscreen just in case.

Similarly, when I leave my apartment every day there are things that I have to think about that White folks don’t. I’ve previously written about some of the things that I have to think about when I leave the house. While I can’t speak for the 40+ million Black folks in this country, I can tell you that acknowledging our struggles under the metaphorical sun will go a long way to improving the racial discourse in this country.

You see, Black folks are familiar with the White experience in this country because that experience has remained prominently at the forefront of our culture. In an era where access to information is just a few clicks away, I’ve come to feel that some White folks are simply apathetic to our experience and choose to remain ignorant of the full spectrum of the Black experience. Folks choose to remain uninformed and believe, just as our current administration does, that only negative portrayals of our communities are worth highlighting. 

In his usual eloquence, James Baldwin, explains the White apathy towards the Black experience as a segregated wall where there is no desire to peer over the other side of the wall because there is a conscious effort to remain ignorant of the Black experience. 

In short, we want our White brothers and sisters to look over that wall, we want you to understand the complex spectrum of our experiences, we want you to be curious about how we live, we want our struggles under the metaphorical sun to be acknowledged, we want you to join in our interconnected fight against racism. We want you to bring sunscreen, even if you don’t need it.

“Most of the White Americans I have ever encountered really, you know, had a negro friend or a negro maid or somebody in high school. But they never, you know, or rarely after school was over or whatever, you know, came to my kitchen. You know, we were segregated from the schoolhouse door. Therefore, he doesn’t know – he really does not know – what it was like for me to leave my house, you know, leave the school and go back to Harlem. He doesn’t know how negroes live.

And it comes as a great surprise to the Kennedy brothers and to everybody else in the country. I’m certain again, you know, that like – again, like most White Americans I have, you know, encountered, they have no – you know, I’m sure they have nothing whatever against negroes. That is not – that’s really not the question. You know, the question is really a kind of apathy and ignorance which is a price we pay for segregation. That’s what segregation means. It – you don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the wall because you don’t want to know.”

— JAMES BALDWIN, 1963

Are We Surprised?

by with 7 Comments CultureFeaturedGen Z

It’s all over the news. Another black man was murdered. Two white men chased and shot Ahmaud Arbery in broad daylight and they sat peacefully in their home for months, without remorse or conviction for what they had done. Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting comes as no surprise to me but I, like many black and brown people across the nation, am grieving.

Amidst COVID-19, black and brown families are suffering – from physical health problems, hunger, distress, and many ailments brought by a long history of inequalities. However, Ahmaud’s shooting hit me hard. I often would try to stay fit by jogging outside my neighborhood. How do I know I won’t be shot like Ahmaud? My brother, a tall skinny runner who recently took up jogging outside, could have been a younger Ahmaud, a Trayvon Martin or Tamir Rice. The black community has no time to grieve. The black community must deal with the current pandemic AND the threat of white nationalism and violence. We are being hunted at the mercy of others, machismo wrapped in the enjoyment of killing prey and the prey happened to be an innocent man jogging. Words cannot describe the feelings surrounding his death. I am concerned but more so angry at those who turn their cheek to injustices. I am concerned that non-black communities are turning a blind eye to murder, with the same lack of remorse and convictions as the killers.

We live in a day and age where social justice is popular, acknowledging the strife of vulnerable communities is popular, and passively advocating for black and brown communities is popular as well. One post for non-black communities “should” be enough to show support. However, those who post are returning to their everyday lives and environments where black lives do not matter. They don’t have to matter and if they do, they are inconvenient and burdensome. The question is how are non-black and brown communities changing the discourse about black men and women in their own communities? What are they doing to curb negative views of black and brown people? How do they truly see us on a day to day basis? As we can see, perceptions are stronger than reality and black folk are perceived as dangerous.

The lives of individuals in power take precedent over ours. Even more so, is the view that racism only happens in the South and the South is to blame for these incidents. Don’t get me wrong. The South has had a long and complicated history with racism. However, I do not believe that racist acts and murders only happen in the South. If anything, Ahmaud’s murderers possess a white identity that is reflective of white people across the nation. That blacks do not belong, are dangerous, and they are beneath that of white folks. No matter their athletic ability and likeability, we are still animals, and nothing will change that. 

Similar Read: Justice for Ahmaud?

How Many More?

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

I constantly find myself mourning people I’ve never met. The eulogies are the same, but with different names. This time, his name is Ahmaud Arbery, aged 25 and was about to be 26 on May 8th. 

He too fell victim to his skin, the same color as the chocolate that his murderers probably like to eat. Only in the form of candy is Blackness palatable to racism. 

Ahmaud was just out for his daily run. Many people do this; even through this quarantine people are still outside exercising. But isn’t the perception of Black boys and Black men running that they’re ‘usually running from something’? 

On February 23rd in Brunswick, Georgia, Gregory and Travis McMichael were playing vigilante the way George Zimmerman did. Boy and man alike, neither Trayvon nor Ahmaud ‘could have been up to any good’ just running or going to the corner store. 

The McMichaels saw a Black man running in their neighborhood, which couldn’t have been for a reason as innocent and simple as him exercising. 

There had been a series of burglaries in the McMichaels’ neighborhood. I can understand being suspicious of people coming and going that don’t live there. However, would they have pursued him in a truck with trigger happy fingers and guns had he been White instead? 

The way a person runs for leisure and exercise looks entirely different from someone running from a crime, or their death. I suppose it all looked the same to the McMichaels. So yes, Ahmaud was a Black man running from something alright. 

They were the ones armed and dangerous. The McMichaels grabbed a shotgun and a handgun before jumping in their truck to follow Ahmaud. Ahmaud was armed only with the prayer that every Black parent has: that he returns home the same way he left out. Alive. 

What baffles me is how long it took for the McMichaels to be arrested. Two and a half months after the incident, these murderers were just arrested on Thursday, May 7th, and charged with murder and aggravated assault. This only happened because a video of the murder was finally brought to light. 

What baffles me is how William Bryan, the man who took a video of the murder, took this long to turn it over to authorities. He let the McMichaels walk around as free men for two and half months more. He let Ahmaud’s murder almost be waved off as “self-defense.” 

I’m not saying that he and his family deserve the death threats that they’re receiving. I don’t know how I feel about him being charged with murder either. Withholding evidence in an ongoing investigation? That is something I’d charge him with because there is absolutely no reason why he felt it to be better to just hold onto this footage of Ahmaud’s last moments for months. 

I understand that he was afraid in the moment the murder occurred. I would be too. Just taking the video was probably the best he could do because he put his safety and his family’s safety first. But what about Ahmaud’s safety? What about the family that Ahmaud won’t be able to create because he is dead? What about the goals and dreams and aspirations that this man had that cannot be fulfilled? 

We have a right to be outraged. Racial profiling is continuing to cut down Black bodies. How many more need to die before it is safe for us to be Black and American? Will we ever be safe in our Blackness? Will we ever be American?

Similar Read: Ahmaud Murdered… What’s Next? Who’s Next?

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?

Black Families Under Attack?

by with 5 Comments CultureFeatured

Once again, the one and only Dr. Umar Johnson has made headlines; this time is for the exchange he had during an interview on the Roland Martin show. Overall, I felt the interview portion by Roland Martin was the typical question and answer session one would expect of a host and their guest. Roland asked Dr. Johnson a range of tough questions to break down all the backlash Dr. Johnson was receiving from an earlier interview he did with The Breakfast Club. Unfortunately, the Roland Martin interview took a turn for the worse and became more of an attack session on Dr. Johnson when the panelists were brought in. Only A. Scott Bolden was composed and actually tried to listen to Dr. Johnson for understanding, and not just listen to respond. Also, despite Roland questioning Dr. Johnson on a variety of topics, the panelists did not want to talk about anything other than Dr. Johnson’s stance on inter-racial marriage. Dr. Johnson strongly believes in order to save the Black family, Black men must choose to commit to and marry a Black woman.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe a person should love who they want and who makes them feel as if they are the only person that matters on the planet. There is no greater feeling than to find that special someone who you connect with mentally, spiritually, and physically, no matter what ethnic background they come from. However, I also see truth in what Dr. Johnson says. How can you create a Black family if both parents are not Black? Simple, you can’t. Dr. Johnson was not saying anything was wrong with inter-racial couples and families, he was just stating the increased trend of Black men marrying non-Black women is detrimental to the preservation and strengthening of the Black family unit as a whole.

Other ethnic groups marry within their ethnic group all the time without receiving backlash. As for me, I am Black. My mom is Black. My dad is Black. My sister is Black. My aunties, uncles, and cousins are Black. In the words of James Brown, I’m Black and I’m Proud! I have dreams of marrying a nice chocolate Black man and having Black children who we will teach to love the skin they’re in because unfortunately there will be times society will make our future children feel like being Black is a bad thing, when in actuality being Black is truly nothing to be ashamed of. I do not think loving who I am and wanting to marry someone who has similar cultural roots should be viewed as a problem, but I digress.

My main issue with Dr. Johnson is not what he says, but how he says it. Many times I do not like the extremist delivery Dr. Johnson chooses to take in his speeches and videos. Also, when called out for inconsistencies (i.e. lack of financial transparency for the school he’s trying to build), Dr. Johnson tends to become rude and dismissive, which rubs me the wrong way. However, I do believe every movement needs an extremist or someone to be labeled as radical who viciously shakes you out of your comfort zone. Dr. Umar Johnson takes on that role for Pan-Afrikanism. Now as much I am not the biggest fan of Dr. Umar Johnson’s message delivery, I must say I always learn at least one thing from him whenever he speaks. During his interview, Dr. Johnson clarified that Mandarin is taught as a secondary language in the South African School Systems. Knowing that China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and also has one of the world’s largest military, I thought South Africa is on to something. South Africa is being forward thinking and preparing their students, who will be their future leaders, to conduct business with the Chinese. We in America love to excessively dwell in our greatness as “leaders of the free world.” We expect others to adapt and accommodate us when we work and travel overseas, and not put in the effort to figure out the country’s proper customaries and language. For example, how many times have you been on vacation abroad and witnessed arrogance mixed with frustration of fellow Americans who are mad no one around speaks English or does things the ‘American way”? I’ll wait…

Overall, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, even a ‘radial’ thinker like Dr. Johnson. Interviews that are considered good journalism seek to understand the interviewee’s stance rather than attacking and trying to get the interviewee to change their opinion on the subject being discussed. In this regard, Roland Martin and his panelists failed.

Video: Roland Martin Dr. Umar Johnson Interview