Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Freddy Grey, Philando Castillo and far too many more. Say their names. Remember them. Fight for them. These are the lives who have been taken from us at the hands of law enforcement. The major similarity they each have in common? Their skin color. These are just a few black lives out of so many that have died while in police custody.
Black Lives Matter is one of the greatest social justice movements of our time. We say Black Lives Matter, because since the creation of this country and even long before black lives have never mattered. From 1789 when the United States constitution was written, up until 1865 black people were not even considered people. They were property. Enslaved physically and emotionally to the ideology of white supremacy and white nationalism.
In 1865, slavery was abolished. Black people were so called "free" but for 100 years, up until 1964, and 1965 a wave of segregation and degradation took place. Colored restrooms, colored seating, if you had any other skin color besides white you were held lower on the social spectrum. It took 100 years to get the United States to nationally recognize that black people were in fact people, with rights just like their white counterparts. With the commencement of the Voting Right Act of 1965 and the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, black people finally were beginning to achieve some illusion or level of at the very least, being considered a human being.
Fast forward to 2008, the first black president, Barak Obama! Racism truly came out of the wood works and took full flight. When President Obama was elected, the back lash and open blatant racism he encountered then and now has been extraordinary. The birther movement lead by the beloved Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump caught life in early 2011 and lead an insanity train that has continued to argue that a black man leading the free world could never have a birth certificate from his home country, the United States. He must have been born in an African country based on his skin color. This form of prejudice amazingly and sadly takes place in our modern day.
We continue to see black people killed again and again by police. The counter arguments of all lives, and blue lives matter is a disgusting and disingenuous distraction from this movement. "Blue lives" continue to use excessive and aggressive unnecessary forces against black people. When it comes time for them to face lady justice, our criminal justice system lets them walk a majority of the time with absolutely no form of repercussion
What we cannot do for this issue is write a national dialogue, similar to every time a mass shooting occurs. For us to do the same thing, say the same things, then forget as another black man or women are killed by law enforcement is unacceptable.
