Last Sunday was a great day. Last Sunday was the day that many citizens in this country celebrated the birthday of the nation that we live in on a day known as July 4th, Independence Day. The following day was peaceful until I began to scroll down Twitter and saw a graphic video. This was the saddening video of Alton Sterling being tackled to the ground and shot in the chest by police officers as he was doing his everyday business, selling CDs. Sterling left behind a 15-year-old son who loved his dad dearly. I had tears in my eyes watching this because of its graphic content, and because I just witnessed an innocent man's life taken from him way too early by men who are trained to protect and serve. Later this week, another video was shown of Philando Castile being shot in the car with a small child in the backseat, and his girlfriend had to watch this happening while videotaping. Yesterday, a tweet went viral of a picture of a KKK handout asking people to join in Piedmont Park. That same night a black man was found hanging from a tree in the same park. This was ruled a suicide with no investigation. Meanwhile, police officers were shot and killed in Dallas during a protest. All this violence is terrible, and the Black Twitter community is outraged. The black community is sick and tired of men blessed with melanin being racially profiled and their lives being taken in the second it takes for a trigger to be pulled. As a black woman, I am also saddened that now I have to worry even more than before for the safety of my brother and the care of my father.
Although these tragic moments have happened, one would expect people to be sympathetic. The tags #BlackLivesMatter and #AllLivesMatter are trending on Twitter. Although all lives matter, we need to focus and help the group of the people that are being oppressed. Non people of color think that you have to be "either or". No, just because you believe that all lives matter does not mean you cannot voice your support for the black community. Just because you believe that not all cops are bad does not mean that you cannot rise up and voice your opinion when a cop murders an innocent man and is then given paid vacation.
The hatred that is seen through these events just shows that America's scar will always be seen.
