It’s a typical morning, and I’m casually strolling through Facebook while talking to my mom on the phone. As the world’s worst excuse for a 19-year-old, I fall behind on the news from time to time. It’s been awhile, and I have no idea what’s been happening in the world.
Cute cats, check.
#RIPAltonSterling? Well, that’s sad. Is he a celebrity? Eh, keep scrolling.
Ah, videos - the best part of Facebook.
Only this video isn’t.
I see Sterling standing and looking at two cops. He’s confused as to why the cops are there. He continues to stand uncertainly before being tackled to the ground by one of the cops. “What are you doing?” I hear, and Sterling turns his head to look back at the two. One cop has a knee pressed to Sterling’s left shoulder, while the other cop is pinning down his knees.
“He’s gone a gun!” is the next line.
I tense up, waiting for the inevitable struggle as Sterling tries to grab it; if anything, he lies even more still, but his head hovers tensely above the ground as the cops watch him. I wait for the cop who pinned down Sterling’s knees to grab the gun, but he merely presses his hands on his torso. Sterling’s arms appear to be still; he lies frozen, and I feel less tense. The situation is calming now.
Pop, pop.
My stomach drops, and I instantly feel my skin chill. “Oh, shit!” a man yells from his car as he continues to record the scene.
“Mom, they shot him! They actually really shot him! Twice!"
"I know."
I don’t realize my hands have flown to cover my mouth until a woman in the video starts sobbing. I realize tears have rolled down my own cheeks, hitting my fingers. My head is swimming. I just saw a man get shot, and it wasn’t fake; it wasn’t a movie. Three more shots are heard precisely seven seconds later in the video, and I’m frozen. He lies there, head slowly turning from side to side as he begins to shake. I have to exit out.
Sterling sold CDs and DVDs in front of a store with the owner’s permission. He says Sterling was thrown against a car and tased before getting shot.
These issues go a lot of ways. Many black people are profiled for simply walking down the street with their hood up. The true problem lies with cops who get high on their power. God bless the good cops who are still around, who truly want to protect and provide justice; however, we can’t ignore the bad cops. We can’t pin everything on the shootee and assume the shooter is in the right just because he or she is a law official. I’ve seen every record and bit of dirt dug up on Sterling as if that made it right that he was killed.
I don’t care that a black man was shot, and I don’t care why the cops were called to the scene. Everyone needs to stop race baiting, as if a black life as more value than another life, or vice versa.
We live in a place where we love toting guns but shoot someone the second they have one in their possession.
We live in a place where the second some hopped up cop does something wrong, people still believe he’s in the right.
We live in a place where a man’s records are pulled for being the victim, but a rapist gets his swim times shared.
