The United States of America: Land of the…Free? Sure, as long as you’re white and wealthy. Here’s the breakdown—the movement for racial justice and equality in this country should not be a political debate. Black rights are human rights. Black lives are human lives. Being black is not a crime. But in the United States of AmeriKKKa, blackness is criminalized and punished by corrupt, racist white police officers and their devout supporters. Systemic racism has been plaguing this country for centuries. Many Americans would like to believe that the system is just “broken” and needs some simple “fixing.” Unfortunately, the ugly truth is that the system is not broken because it is working exactly the way it was designed to—victimize and criminalize people of color, low-income, and minorities. All the while making a profit off of them.
The fact that there are even “sides” to this is shameful and inexcusable. Let me be very clear—I am not insinuating that all cops are bad. I absolutely acknowledge the existence of strong, brave officers who do their jobs without abusing their power or letting their own personal biases influence their actions at work. But the good cops cannot make up for the concentration or actions of the corrupt cops. It is the lack of consequences and accountability that not only allows, but empowers these corrupt officers to stand proudly by their unacceptable actions. It is more common that an officer would be relieved of their duties for attempting to stop a coworker from using excessive force than it is for the officer who used excessive force to be held accountable and punished accordingly. It is this egregiously flawed structure that gives way to an endless cycle of racial inequity.
Many will argue that, “Blue Lives Matter,” and “All Lives Matter.” Well by now, I’m sure most people have seen the analogy comparing the statement that, “All Lives Matter” to a burning house. If you aren’t familiar, the idea is that yes, all of the houses in the neighborhood do matter. But if your house isn’t the one on fire, maybe the firehose should first be used on the house that is on fire. In this case, the burning house represents the lives of black people in America. Regarding “Blue Lives,” they simply do not exist. Being a police officer is a job. A job is a choice. Being black is not a choice. “Blue lives” do not exist.
Now, allow me to break this issue down even further; boil racism down to just the mere principle and the whole idea is that a given race (in this case, white people) are just born naturally superior to any/all other races (in this case, black and brown—and frankly anything except white— people). Okay, now stop and read that part again. Now that we’ve all let that sink in, we should be able to agree that it is absurd and baseless. Truthfully, there is absolutely no logic or reasoning that can excuse or rationalize the utter ignorance that it would take for someone to believe something so preposterous.
Now, we must identify this phenomenon for what it is. Corrupt officers with white supremacy complexes continuing to hunt, brutalize, and murder innocent black people is nothing other than organized domestic terrorism. Don’t sugarcoat it and don’t minimize it. We cannot. This is textbook terrorism, and it is long past the time for drastic change in this country. There is no freedom to be celebrated until we are all free. White freedom is not an acceptable compromise. Black lives matter. Be sure that you stand on the right side of history.
The Progress Pages 