Two Fridays ago, a man named Terence Crutcher was shot down in the middle of a Tulsa road. Officer Betty Shelby has been criminally charged with manslaughter in the first degree and investigations are ongoing. What is important in this case isn't the conflicting interpretations of evidence or the fact that an officer is actually being scrutinized over her actions, but rather the fact that officer shelby and others were casting judgments on Crutcher for indiscernible reasons.
An aerial shot of a man walking slowly to his car is voiced over by two helicopter pilots, “That guy looks like a bad dude too, he could be on something” says one of the men. From the video the only thing that is determinable is the compliance of Mr. Crutcher, but for some reason this pilot felt as if this man posed a threat to the officers below. What other reason for that comment are there besides the color of the man’s skin? This is something all of us, as white people, have grown up being conditioned to believe.
Whether we are aware of it or not, the attitudes that are so perfectly exemplified in that one pilots comment have been projected into our lives and too many have come to allow those attitudes to become their own. I think if every single one of us was honest with ourselves we would be able to admit that these subversive and destructive perceptions exist and that the proof is irrefutable, but beyond their mere existence, their impact on the lives of black men and women is, quite literally, murderous.
These attitudes permeate our entire culture, continued propagation of the idea that blackness presents a threat or lower value than whiteness has led to the systemic deprivation of these people as employees, as citizens and most deplorably as humans. If the the first impression that is had about a black man, with minimal context, is that he is “a bad dude” then why would a cop not be defensive enough to go for her gun before her taser? The helicopter pilots themselves thought that Mr. Crutcher had gotten tasered rather than shot, but for some reason Officer Shelby’s instinct was to reach for her gun. When fatal actions are on the table, destructive and unjust ideas become weapons themselves, and that is something that we as a country have to decide if we want to bear for much longer.
Black lives matter. Saying so does not take away from the privilege that white-folk have, it simply calls out the divide between the amount of privilege that people of color and white people live with during this time in history. Opposing it or distracting from it with sayings like “all live matter” are distasteful because of the history of this country and the current unequal amount of value assigned to the lives of those with dark skin. There is a difference there, black lives matter but society doesn't really think so. Ta-Nehisi Coates in his book “Between the World and Me” described the world of whiteness as being a dream from which no-one wants to awake.
Unfortunately I feel this is the reality of our situation. We want to live in a world where we don't have to acknowledge the current inequality. We want to remain in our privileged bubbles and hold on to the same destructive attitudes that keep the current status quo is place. As long as white-folk keep entertaining the idea that nothing is wrong then no progress will be made in bringing us all together as a stronger united body of people. Until the moment that a black man can be seen first in a positive light as a human rather than with the stigma that comes with his skin, then the unequal privilege will exist. Until that moment, the destruction of black lives will be systemic and not circumstantial. Until then, the adamant and demanding declaration of “Black Lives Matter” will have relevance and weight.
It is my belief and the belief of many that walls should be destroyed and bridges should be built in their place. This one wall is The Wall to build a bridge over. This issue is the one that is as old as this country and the one that is the ultimate divider between us as a people. This obstacle is the concept that we are not all one people, that someone’s life is worth less because of the culture he or she comes from, the clothes he or she wears, or the color of his or her skin.
The Great Wall of America isn't the wall Trump wants to build, it’s the wall that we as a collective people, as Americans, are supposed to knock down and cross over so that we can exemplify to the world and to humanity that we can and will never cease to rise up from the discrimination and deplorability from whence we came. This wall is the past, present and future of this country Attitudes must change and people must be made aware of what is happening. The dream is over, whiteness is dying, and actions must be taken so that something better for all people can come to take its place.
