The most recent acts of police brutality on the turmoil ridden soils of America have left Alton Sterling, age 37, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile, age 32, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, dead in cold blood. These fatalities, both captured using video technology, have caused uproar within the African American community. It is this same uproar that has propelled through the gates of this community, outward and onto the streets of America. Are we, America, possibly on the brink of a modern-day civil war? Has the purging of the black man and woman caused enough outrage for this? In the 2000 American film "Cast Away," actor Tom Hanks stated, “Let’s not commit the sin of turning our back on time,” a rather pertinent claim for the tragedies that hang over our heads and heavy within our hearts today.
Following the emotion-filled rallies and protests that spiraled from the most recent police brutality cases, violence has become a reciprocated force as police officers, too, have dropped dead. While five officers were fatally shot during a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas on July 7, this week has brought another strand of violence with it.
On July 17, police responded to a scene where a suspect left three officers dead and three others wounded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We reverted to violence, fighting fire with fire. And for these reasons, many believe we are on the cusp of another American civil war.
The tragedies we witness daily are horrors we learn(ed) about in school. They are the stories our grandparents and ancestors lived to tell. They are the foundations that our American soil exists upon. These very horrors gave us our freedoms, yet these are the very freedoms being relinquished from our grasp daily. With every 24 hour time period, we confirm that the modern day War on Blacks is in fact in full effect. It is strategic. As we are robbed of our culture, we are stripped of our ability to contribute entirely to this social arrangement we call America. Anger, sadness and grief are fair emotions, but these emotions alone are not enough. It is our God-given, political right to seek the change we wish to see; nothing shall move forward without being properly propelled. Mass communication is merely the first step to the solution. Keep talking, do not let America forget the blood seeping into its soils. But we must, too, understand that this is no longer solely a Black problem; it is a people problem. The modern day War on Blacks is prevalent and widespread and the melanin purge is in full effects as our streets are becoming painted in the very beautiful shades of brown that are our culture.
