Hi. I am Darius Taylor Lee, a young black male, and I fit the description. Or maybe resisted arrest. I could have had a gun in my possession. My tail light could have been out, or maybe I just looked threatening. Whether we would like to admit it or not, any of these scenarios could end with my death. Regardless of the fact that I have not committed a single crime in my entire life. If the situation arises and tensions are high, an officer of the law can decide if I deserve the right to live. And if the past few years are any indicator, that right can be swiftly revoked.
Say what you will about the recent deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, whether they were resisting arrest, in possession of firearms or violating any other laws that would authorize deadly force from the police officers, murder should not have been the punishment. But we've seen time and again that the penalty for even the smallest of offenses for black people in America is often death. Whether it be selling cigarettes, small theft, vehicle issues, playing with a toy gun or simply walking home late at night. You name it, a black person has been killed because of it. And no matter how much faith you have in policing in America, you must admit that no law can justify this much senseless killing.
For anyone who wants to protect the police on this latest shooting and try to point out how both men had criminal records to justify the incidents, let me give out a few facts. James Holmes, the shooter in Aurora Colorado in 2012, is still alive. Brock Turner raped a young woman last month and he'll probably get out of prison before the end of the year. Dylan Roof, who shot nine children of God in a house of the Lord just last year, is still alive. Hell, even Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is still alive. You know, one of the people responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. A convicted terrorist has more of a right to life than any black person living in America today. Think about that before you defend any police officer who draws their weapon on any black person who is unarmed.
After we are done with grieving and placing blame, the next part in this all too familiar script is to argue over hash tags. We'll spend countless days on wondering whether or not #BlackLivesMatter is racist and condemning #AllLivesMatter as the real racist term. I myself find this argument completely worthless. Are we really going to argue over which lives matter more? In my opinion, it just distracts us from more important conversations that need to happen between all Americans. So do all lives matter? Of course they do. Are all lives policed the same? No. Are all lives judged the same? No. Do all lives have to worry about being killed by the police? No. In these aspects, black lives are affected the most. It is because of these reasons that #BlackLivesMatter exists. It doesn't mean that black lives are more important than others. It's just a reminder that these lives matter just as much as the others do. And at this point, black lives have to matter to someone, because they damn sure don't matter to America.
So where do we go from here? Protests that ultimately don't invoke change, investigations that ultimately don't yield results and murderers that ultimately don't receive charges if history is any indicator. And while I would love to try and put a positive spin on this tragedy, the truth of the matter is that I don't know how or when this will get better. All we can do for now is to keep our heads up. But to everyone ignoring this issue or refusing to see that the system of America is broken, I will say this; The system will fail you as well. It's only a matter of time before it becomes open season on all lives. Maybe then things will change. Until then, all we can do is keep enduring. To black people, keep your families close and tell them how much you love them often. And in case you are pulled over or approached by any police officers, invest in HD cameras, body armor and/or a white best friend. We're a little harder to kill with one of these in tow.
Thanks for reading.
