Today, I saw something on Facebook that made me cry. I will now proceed to try to write about it without being over-emotional, yet still speaking from my heart, which is bleeding profusely.
As much as I would love for this article to be about the little girl I saw reciting, “Hey Black Child” or something that made me cry laughing like the “Cash Me Ousside” video. I hate to report that I saw something that disgusted me and made me fear two words: “Stop Resisting.” Those words might not be scary to you, but as a black woman in Southwest Louisiana where the “Blue Lives Matter” Law just passed, I realized that those two words can end my life, now in more ways than one.
This law is designed to do just what the title says: protect blue, or police, lives. I have no problem with that at all. In fact, I believe a law like this should be put in place considering the state of police relations in our society. What I have a problem with is how this law attempts to “protect” blue lives: by persecuting citizen’s (read: black) lives.
This law has upgraded resisting arrest from a misdemeanor to a felony and a hate crime which carries the sentence of life. This wouldn’t be so scary if the two words “Stop Resisting” weren’t heard on every dash cam video featuring police brutality, as police officers can be seen abusing the phrase. Now, I am in no way saying that there aren’t people who truly resist arrest. However, I have observed that police officers will fail to tell a citizen what they have done wrong and the more said citizen asks, the more police in these situations get irate. As soon as said police officer gets irate, those two words: “Stop resisting”, can be heard repeatedly, as the citizen is often shoved to the ground and treated more like an animal than someone these police officers are said to be “protecting”. Police will now feel even more justified in brutally handing citizens when arresting because of this law. If someone is found guilty of “resisting arrest”, they can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison. Police officers no longer have to take our lives physically. This allows them to take our lives mentally and emotionally by making us slaves to the government through the prison system and taking away our right to life as if we haven’t endured enough.
Another reason this law seems so outrageous is because it has been enacted by the state of Louisiana, where Alton Sterling was shot by police. No legislation protecting citizens from police has been passed in the wake of this brutal shooting, yet police lives need more “protection”. I simply cannot agree or sit back and allow this to fly under the radar, especially when this law has been enacted in my home state with police officers in my community saying they have already started charging people with resisting arrest as a hate crime.
This article is not meant to scare anyone. This article is simply to make people aware of what I am sure they have no idea is going on. With all the injustice in the world right now, it deeply troubled me to know that this was going on in my home state. Vigilance is a key part of survival and knowing that laws like this are in place will help me to better prepare for the prejudice and hate I know I will face in my own life. I hope I can do the same for you as well.
