RS Thought Box: How Dangerous Is It To Be Black?

Recently, Huffington Post came out with an article titled "27 Thing Every Black Person Must Learn Before Age 12" following the recent decision to not indict the officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice. America has successfully reminded all black people, that no matter your age and gender, if you are black...your life is expendable. You are not of value, you are not contributing to society, and if you die in an unjust manner there will be no justice for you. The fact that there even needs to be an explanation as to why a 12-year-old child did NOT deserve to be shot by police, says far more about the state of this country than any article ever could. Just this year alone we had 1,125 people die at the hands of police, according to a tracking project by The Washington Post. Blacks are far more likely to die at the hands of police than any other race, followed by Native Americans, with whites being only ⅓ as likely to die in comparison to blacks. There have been actual comments saying the reason blacks have been more likely to die at the hands of police, has something to do with how black people are naturally more violent by nature. Filmmaker Michael Moore has said, "White people have committed some of the WORST crimes in history. But somehow they convinced the world that blacks are a threat." Disregarding the history of this country that was built on the backs and free labor of Africans, the media coverage of these acts of violence against young blacks has a distinctly biased tone. There is absolutely no justification that would make sense in a discussion about why a little boy was gunned down by police. I'll say it one more time for anyone who wants to defend this officer and his actions...a little boy was shot to death. Wait, one more time...a little boy...was killed...by someone who took an oath to serve and protect him. The officer had been a problem in a different department before he killed Tamir, but people are still out here saying we can't expect an officer to wait and see if it is a real gun or not. Video surveillance of Officer Loehmann shows he opened fire within two seconds of exiting his vehicle, and he genuinely feared for his life. I've said this before, and I'll say it again...if a grown ass man with a gun is afraid of a young black boy...he shouldn't be an officer. If you're so scared shitless that you will try to make black males seem like these superhumans, like the officer who killed Michael Brown did, you don't deserve to be armed. The reality is, that being black is already a crime, but being a black male no matter your age makes you a criminal and a superhuman threat. Those who swore an oath to protect and serve you, are the ones gunning down people just like you, your brother, your friend, your mom, your aunt, your cousin, they're gunning down those they swore to protect. You should consider yourself lucky if you approach an officer for help and he doesn't ask you questions in such a way that you feel small and humiliated, and that is profoundly wrong. Swore an oath to help you, but they've shown their ass and people are now more afraid to call the police than ever, because God forbid there is a "misunderstanding" and they shoot you as opposed to the person robbing you. You don't get to feel safe if you're black, you don't get to walk free, you don't get to call the police for help without a second thought as to if you'll make it out alive or not, you are not afforded that luxury. Should you be gunned down by police as a black person, there's no guarantee your family will see justice for your death. If you manage to live out your life without encountering the police in a violent or demeaning manner, then you probably aren't black. By Devon Pyne for RAPstation.com