The Race Is On

You know that eerie feeling that you get when something isn’t right — sort of like you’re daydreaming but you know all too well that you aren’t? I know I can’t be the only one who feels this way especially after these recent police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille.

The police we were raised to trust have gotten more and more out of hand. They have been relentlessly killing our brothers, fathers, sisters, cousins, and friends without any repercussions unless you consider “paid administrative leave” some type of punishment.

Whom do you call when the people who are supposed to protect you are the very ones you need protecting from? Our “saviors” raise their weapons, not to save our lives but to take them. Those new “Blue Lives Matter” laws enacted as a means to protect police who, by the way, are killing innocent African Americans is one of the most audacious concepts I have ever heard. Don’t tell me you are starting to fear for the lives of police. The police aren’t endangered species, and they certainly are not a minority group subjected to hate crimes as the laws suggest. I can assure you that Black Americans have more to worry about during an encounter with police than the cops.

Black mothers and fathers should not have to warn their children about dealing with police officers. Why isn’t it obvious that something is terribly wrong that an entire community is afraid to teach its youth to trust the police? Black people should not have to hope and pray that their children, fathers, cousins, and husbands can come home without being harassed or shot down like wild game.

How is it that a nation can spend more time discussing the shooting of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Harambe the gorilla than decrying the murder of Minnesota’s Philando Castille as his girlfriend and their four year-old daughter watched? America, we have a problem. And, some of you are part of it.

To merely protest against won’t suffice. Talking to our elected officials will most likely yield meager benefits because some will side with the police. If we riot, the cops will use that a reason to kill us. After all, even when we are minding our business, we are targeted.
I have reached a conclusion, though. If you are one of the ones saying “All Lives Matter”, you are right, but quite frankly, you are the problem as well. All lives do matter, but I can assure you that if a cop shoots Robbie, it surely won’t be because of his white skin. If the cop shoots Pookie, you can bet your next meal, Pookie’s complexion figured prominently in the decision to fire.

It seems to be open-season on people of color and that season does not have an apparent end. Our young men and women are becoming more and more afraid to leave their homes because they just aren’t sure if they’ll return.

Jae-Kur Lockhart is a college student at Henderson State University. He’s on the Dean’s List, the campus newspaper staff, and the “Most likely to Succeed” list of those who know him.