As President Obama said, “When people say 'Black Lives Matter,' it doesn’t mean blue lives [or] all lives don’t matter, but right now the big concern is the fact that the data shows black folks are more vulnerable to these kinds of incidents." And he's right.
According to dosomething.org, "studies show that police are more likely to pull over and frisk blacks or Latinos than whites. In New York City, 80 percent of the stops made were blacks and Latinos, and 85 percent of those people were frisked, compared to a mere 8 percent of white people stopped." Also, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10 percent longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes. And of course, in 2012, 51 percent of Americans expressed anti-black sentiments in a poll; a 3 percent increase from 2008.
Obviously, there's a very serious problem. And it's spiraling out of control regarding African American deaths at the hands of white police officers.
One of the most recent tragedies is the incident of Alton Sterling. He was selling CDs outside of a convenience store when two police officers slammed him into the ground and fatally shot him.
Violence, unfortunately, isn't isolated. Thursday night, police officers were shot in Dallas, Texas as retribution for the deaths of Sterling and Castile.
Why is this happening? Why must we fight fire with fire? And why is no one even noticing the flames anymore? We've become so accustomed to seeing another hashtag trending. It's a norm. It's made us emotionless. Finding out that another black life was taken too early is unsurprising ... expected even. We need to change that.
Get mad. Be angry. Inform the public.
It's up to us to raise our voices in unison. I am sick and tired of hearing about death after death of African Americans. And I know you are too. So do not be quiet. Do not get used to injustice.
We may not be powerful as individuals, but when we all work towards a common goal, we can achieve a feat.
