If 'All Lives Matter,' Why Are Some Treated So Much Worse Than Others?
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If 'All Lives Matter,' Why Are Some Treated So Much Worse Than Others?

Everyone in the world matters. Everyone should be treated with kindness, dignity, and respect.

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If 'All Lives Matter,' Why Are Some Treated So Much Worse Than Others?
vpickering / Flickr

Dear America,

When I wrote “Being Pro-Black Lives Matters Doesn’t Mean Being Anti-White Lives Matters,” the piece was given so much hatred and disgust. I was called a scumbag, racist (I’m rolling my eyes on that one) and unintelligent for expressing a viewpoint I share with many people. Let me break something down for you America: I said it once I will say it again – yes, of course "all lives matter" but currently, black lives are being attacked all over America.

Every person in this world matters.

Every person should be treated with respect, kindness, and dignity wherever and whoever they are no matter what.

With that being said, this is not the America we live in.

I am not sure if this will ever be the America we live in and I accepted that. But it doesn’t change the fact that I still treat those whom I encounter with dignity and respect. Every life does matter, which is exactly why we want black lives to be treated equally.

Tatyana who is 19 years old from Bakersfield, California was attacked by police officers. Let’s recap the whole situation, shall we?

While riding her bike to the Wooden Nickel to get her father something for Father’s Day she discovered they were closed and started to head back. The weather was 103 degrees making it horribly hot so Taytana decided to stop to grab a bottle of water out of her backpack and drink it and put it back. When she turned around there were three cop cars and one officer already had a gun drawn and pointed at her. One officer asked her was she in the nearby grocery store and Tatyana answered calmly and said no. The officer asked again, saying "Are you sure?" to Tatyana and she once again answered calmly and said "Yeah." Tatyana asked another officer, Officer Vasquez what was going on and he simply replied, asking her to give her backpack up. Tatyana asked if he had a warrant, and the officer pointed to the K-9 behind Taytana which forced her to give up her backpack to the officer.

The officer grabbed Tatyana's wrist pulling her towards him, then grabbed her neck with one arm and punched her with the other. The officer then proceeded to throw Tatyana to the ground and allowing the K-9 to start biting at her leg. Officer Vasquez then proceeded to roll Tatyana on her stomach and put his knee on her upper back. Tatyana told the officer she couldn’t breathe, but he proceeded to put his other knee on her head. Ignoring her pleas and cries that she can’t breathe and yells for help. The officer finally lets her up and cuffs her hands behind her back and tied her feet up and threw her into the car. Officer Vasquez ignored the patron yelling, “It wasn’t her, it wasn’t her.” The officer allowed Tatyana to call her mother and tell her that she was in the hospital. When Tatyana’s father asked to speak to the officer he asked if she was okay, the officer’s response was, “Well, she’s alive.” The suspect they were looking for was a black, bald male with a goatee that stood at 5’10 and weighs 160. With a baggy t-shirt and gray pants. Tatyana is a women, 5’2, 115 pounds, and had on a blue t-shirt and black basketball shorts.

To add insult to injury they wrote a police report stating that she shoved an officer and flipped him onto his back. But the eye witness (the manager from the store) said that didn’t even happen. The officers then took Tatyana, her belongings, the pain medicine and prescriptions the Doctors gave her and then took her to jail. They charged her with resisting or delaying an officer and aggravated assault on an officer and held her for 16 hours before allowing her parents to bail her out for a crime she didn’t commit. When released, her pain medicine and her script for it miraculously disappeared, leaving her parents no choice but to take her to the urgent care unit for the pain after being in pain for 7 hours.

I know a lot of people would say that Tatyana should have just given up her book bag, end of story. But shall we talk about rights for a minute? According to the American Civil Liberties, we have the right to refuse to speak to the police if you are stopped on the street. You have the right to say “I do not feel comfortable talking to you” and walk away or just simply ask if you are being arrested and if you're free to go. If they decide to detain you, they are only allowed to pat down the outside of your clothing and nothing else. If they try to search your belongings without probable cause you have the right to say “I do not consent to be searched” and if they try further you have the right to not answer any of their questions besides your name.

Questioning the police for stopping you is not a crime. Saying you did nothing wrong is not a crime. Not consenting to have your things searched is not a crime.

The Bakersfield Police Department officers have refused to wear body camera and have been under allegations of using excessive force.

Yes, all lives matters but does it look like this young lady life mattered to those who assaulted her for riding her bike in her attempt to get her father a Father’s Day Gift? Instead of dismissing the outcry for equality and help, how about asking why we feel the way we do?

Of course "all lives matter," but how come Tatyana, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Jonathan Ferrell – and so many more – lives' didn’t matter?

So tell me, America: if every life matters, why do some get treated as less valuable than others?

Sincerely,

Someone who hopes her life matters.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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