six decades ago Ella Baker said
these notable words: until the killing of
Black men, Black mother's sons
becomes as important to the rest of the
country
as the killing of a white mother's son
we who believe in freedom cannot rest
until this happens today
on the eve of the 57th anniversary of
the march on washington mrs baker's
words
still hold true for black moms who are
growing weary
of marching for justice fighting against
racism
and sexism from slavery until now
the non-stop police killings of black
people
have been triggering and traumatizing
for much of the african diaspora
for me these shootings and ensuing
protests has stirred up feelings
stemming from 2014 from august of 2014.
it was the tragic death of michael brown
the unarmed 18 year old
african-american male killed by darren
wilson
a white ferguson police officer after a
routine pedestrian stopped
violently escalated
at the time of brown's death i was
four months into motherhood and beaming
with purpose
as a proud mother of a beautiful black
baby boy
it was heartbreaking to see brown's dead
bodies strewn
across the pavement as though he were
animal carcass for nearly five hours
almost as long as it had taken me
to give birth to my son but as a social
justice
advocate i was compelled to take action
for me brown's death and the countless
other black
victims of police brutality including
jacob blake magnified disparities in
communities across
america besieged by institutional racism
in these communities disproportionately
poor
people of color are over disciplined
over represented in jails and
under represented in all levels of
government leadership
including among elected prosecutors
judges and police chiefs
six years since the ferguson protest i
am still
haunted by michael brown's death and the
lack of justice for
every black and brown family that has
lost a loved one
under similar circumstances a u.s
department of justice probe
found that the ferguson police
department's racially
discriminatory policing practices
routinely violates the constitution and
federal
law yet a majority white
grand jury decided not to indict the
officer
who killed brown thanks to a widely
unknown doctrine called qualified
immunity
qualified immunity was established
during the reconstruction era
to allow enforcement of the 14th
amendment
this doctrine shields police officers
from being held
legally accountable when they break the
law
so long as their unlawful action wasn't
sufficiently obvious
this outdated doctrine nullifies a very
important civil rights statute
that allows individuals to sue officers
for violating
their civil rights thereby rendering
justice
impossible in fact i
am actually more likely to win the
lottery then see impunity
for bad white police officers
conditioned to shoot first
ask questions later
ferguson shined a spotlight in the
policy space on how little was known
through empirical data the extent to
which
over-policing incurs in black and brown
communities
including the frequency of traffic stops
excessive use of force
and officer-involved shootings at the
time
there were few think tanks tracking data
on officer-involved
shootings so the washington post
launched an ongoing investigation
on this matter in 2015 and found
that the fbi under-documented
fatal police shootings by more than half
well this is because reporting by police
departments
is voluntary and many departments fail
to do so according to the washington
post
since 2015 there have been more than
5 000 fatal shootings involved
involving on-duty police officers with
over 1 000
incidents happening in 2020
while the data shows that half the
people shot and killed by police are
white
the rate at which black people are
killed by police
is more than twice as high as the rate
for white people
over 95 percent are young males between
20 to 40 years old and of course there
are outliers
tamir rice who was just 10 years old
playing with a toy gun
at a playground when a police officer
shot and killed him
our flawed criminal justice system is
just one example
of an institution peppered with
individuals
blinded by privilege lacking cultural
competencies and multi-disciplinary
backgrounds
in social justice the criminal justice
issues
the criminal justice system especially
must be diversified particularly
because power dynamics overly favor
police
prosecutors and judges who seemingly
impugn communities of color
for black families children are taught
early
right along with learning multiplication
on how to navigate
encounters with law enforcement officers
i have already prac giving my son
who is six the talk no fast movement
always show your hands keep copies of
your driver's license
proof of registration and insurance in
your sun visor
always get a receipt
do not travel by yourself late at night
do not travel in a pack
a drunk girl cannot consent
and always say yes sir yes ma'am
don't worry about trying to tape or
record the encounter
just get home to me safely and alive
we will sort everything out later
the truth is we live in two worlds
with two separate justice systems
with two standards of scrutiny
i pray i'll never have to give the talk
but once my son who is projected to
reach six
feet tall hits a growth spurt in the
next three years
and god forbid he encounters the wrong
police officer
out of my watchful protection
there are no guarantees that he will
come home to me
alive none
but the sad reality is people of color
are still treated as strangers in a
country
that never fully embraced us as kin folk
it's a misnomer to believe that race is
real
race is a false social construct
designed to promote the supremacy of
whiteness the murders of michael brown
george floyd and others including the
deaths
of brown immigrants in u.s detention
facilities
is a manifestation at the highest levels
of this false doctrine similar to the
lynchings during slavery and jim crow
today's killings of black and brown
people while
in police custody continue to send a
clear message
black lives don't matter
the presumption the presumption that
people of color
are somehow threatening when unarmed
regardless of age mental health
educational
or social status is truly demoralizing
undoubtedly hearts and minds cannot be
legislated
but laws are needed at the federal state
and local level to mandate police
accountability
and force investigations prosecutions
and win convictions congress can show
true conviction by passing the justice
and policing
act a comprehensive police
accountability bill
passed by the house in june but is
currently stalled
in the senate this bill would
outlaw choke hold no knock warrants
train law enforcement on de-escalation
methods
limit the use of military equipment and
finally end impunity for police officers
by holding them liable for breaking the
law
our nation's top cop former attorney
general loretta lynch
said the conscience of this country
cannot rest until this country's laws
protects all of its citizens
beyond passing the justice and policing
act
we must root out every manner in which
this country
has systemically and intentionally
devalued black lives this includes
closing gaps in wealth income health
care
voting representative democracy
affordable housing and opportunity
we all must be as outraged as the
mothers of the movement
by this pernicious and unrelenting acts
of racial inequity
and injustice a feeble pursuit of
justice
is no justice at all thank you
