Eric Garner. Walter Scott. Michael Brown. Yvette Smith. John Crawford III. Tamir Rice. Rekia Boyd. Akai Gurely. Sandra Bland. Freddie Gray. Mansur Ball Bey. Kajieme Powell. Laquan MacDonald. Anthony Hill. And more recently, Korryn Gaines, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Tawon Boyd, Tyre King, Terence Crutcher, and Keith Lamont Scott. What do all these names have in common?
Each name represents an individual that had family, friends, goals, and dreams—and each one had their life taken away by the hands of the police.
It is important that we say their names out loud so that we do not forget the lives cut short; the families shattered; the dreams extinguished. We have to raise our voices to advocate for those silenced by the systemic racism that enables police brutality to exist and thrive in our country. We must tell local, state and federal legislators that Black lives do, in fact, matter.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and former lead actor in Broadway’s hit musical ‘Hamilton,’ tweeted out Wednesday morning, “Keith Lamont Scott. Terence Crutcher. Never coming home. Black lives matter. God help us, Black lives matter.”
Lin’s plea is no different than the millions of tweets, posts, articles and chants that the African American community has put out over the past two years. Social media has enabled a new era civil rights movement to unfold with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Reporters love to use hot-button words such as “thugs” and “riots” to make the Black Lives Matter movement seem like a gang war rather than a fight for human rights. However, it is important to remember that the movement is inherently peaceful: protests only turn into riots when there is a catalyst, such as the police employing tear gas in a crowd that was previously not causing harm.
I want to make two critical points. One: to say that Black lives matter is not to say that “all lives” don’t matter. “All Lives Matter” implies that all people—all races, all sexualities, all genders—are being oppressed; they are not. Black, Hispanic, Muslim, and Native American lives are among the most oppressed and marginalized in the United States. To say “All Lives Matter” includes white people, and let’s be honest—white people are not oppressed. White people run this country. We have for centuries. The Constitution was written by white people, for white people. To say that white lives matter is like saying that there should be a white history month—we simply don’t need any more representation.
Secondly, the Black Lives Matter movement is not anti-police, it is anti-police brutality. There is a stark difference, one that is crucial to understanding the issue at hand. The movement is not asking for a decrease in police officers, or for police departments to be shut down. We are asking for the police to be held accountable for their actions, for minority and oppressed communities to be represented within police departments, and for the use of excessive force to be limited. Police should not be aiming to kill. A bullet to the head should not be the first response. If an armed, mass shooter like James Holmes, who attacked a movie theater in Aurora, CO in 2012, can be taken into custody without incident; if Dylann Roof, who killed nine African American churchgoers in Charleston, SC in 2015, can be apprehended and given a bullet proof vest for protection—is it really too much to ask that a twelve-year-old African American boy with an Airsoft gun be granted the same privileges?
Black lives matter. The unjust killing of people based on the color of their skin must stop; their murderers must be held accountable—regardless of whether or not they have a badge. At a peaceful sit-in at Siena College on Friday afternoon, one student said passionately amidst his call for justice: “Black skin is not a weapon.”
We must raise our voices for those whose voices have been silenced far too soon. To keep quiet is to let police brutality continue to exist in its current state.
So say their names. Remember their humanity. Educate yourself and others on the issue of police brutality. Stand up; make your voice heard. Be a part of the change that stops us from crying out, “God help us, Black lives matter."
