Words
of a Black Father
Tragedy comes to arrest
the hope of many Americans, yet again. I strolled through the morning news and
was very hesitant about watching the video of Mr. Alton Sterling. This is the
young man that was killed in Louisiana. Usually my blog deals with black on
black violence, but this time, it’s too unnerving to remain silent. Why?
Because Mr. Sterling could have been any of our sons. It seems that those of
minority descent are murdered at higher rates than other ethnic groups. Better yet, according to Thinkprogress.org, “young
black men are 21 times more likely to be killed by cops than young white men.”
This was taken from a ProPublica analysis.
The video is very clear. What’s not clear
is the reason that Mr. Sterling was shot several times while on the ground. As
the news continue to circulate, many people will dissect everything that went
on based upon the video. The tragic part is this. Once Mr. Sterling was thrown
to the ground, we are able to see a weapon placed to his head. My question is,
why place a loaded gun to his head? Also, prior to being rushed and thrown to
the ground, was not his rights infringed upon at that time? Was Mr. Sterling
asked to raise his hands, get on the ground, or was he just rushed and thrown
to the ground by a hypervigilant police officer?
Although all of these are important
questions to consider, the most important problem is that, Mr. Sterling was shot
and killed. Not only was he shot once, but multiple times. Now, for those who
may have a hard time trying to figure out whether or not the policeman was
right, consider this. What if your son was in this video was the one being
killed? That is the only way to fairly
judge this whole scenario. If we are to understand love and self value,
sometimes we have to place those we love dearly within such similar situations
in order to arrive at fair justice.
The reason is secondary to how human
dignity should be viewed regardless of his background, race or religious
beliefs. In other words, this video clearly shows that the policemen were in
control of Mr. Sterling. After control had been established, a number of shots
were fired and still I ask, did he have
to be killed?
