I've been doing a lot of thinking the last two days about the senseless killings of two more black men by officers of the law. I have respect for a lot of police officers; one of my oldest and dearest friend's is a police officer, our wedding was officiated by a pastor (and friend) who is also SDPD, and so on.
But, as a white woman married to a black man, I have also seen the "perceived power" behind the badge against the person I love. My husband could EASILY be one of the "statistics." I have seen an angry cop, losing his cool, with a gun pointed at my husband's head. Jamie was a black man shopping and yet he was treated like a dog, handcuffed, and taken to the ground on his belly with a gun to his head...mistaken identity!!! I saw that officer's face turn red, while yelling at my husband to get on the ground, with his finger on the trigger of the gun pointing at Jamie. All that cop saw was a black man assumed to be a criminal. Period. It didn't matter that he was innocent, nothing mattered, except for what HE perceived to be "truth." He was the law and in his mind he could do anything.
The anger and frustration our country is going through is something I get to my soul because I have witnessed it time and time again directed at my spouse; shopping while black, driving while black, living in a nice neighborhood while black...you get the picture. Incident after incident of police questioning an innocent black man for NO reason other than being black in America.
This doesn't happen to white men, they get treated differently; even when they kill 9 people in a church, or 12 people in a movie theater...they don't die! Whether it's an innocent black man or a black man with a record; the white officers who automatically go "there," need to be off the streets and need to re-think why they became officers of law.
If the citizens on the streets aren't looked at and treated equally in THEIR mind, then the citizens on the streets CAN'T and NEVER will be protected by THEM. EVER.
#Blacklivesmatter #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile #enough
But, as a white woman married to a black man, I have also seen the "perceived power" behind the badge against the person I love. My husband could EASILY be one of the "statistics." I have seen an angry cop, losing his cool, with a gun pointed at my husband's head. Jamie was a black man shopping and yet he was treated like a dog, handcuffed, and taken to the ground on his belly with a gun to his head...mistaken identity!!! I saw that officer's face turn red, while yelling at my husband to get on the ground, with his finger on the trigger of the gun pointing at Jamie. All that cop saw was a black man assumed to be a criminal. Period. It didn't matter that he was innocent, nothing mattered, except for what HE perceived to be "truth." He was the law and in his mind he could do anything.
The anger and frustration our country is going through is something I get to my soul because I have witnessed it time and time again directed at my spouse; shopping while black, driving while black, living in a nice neighborhood while black...you get the picture. Incident after incident of police questioning an innocent black man for NO reason other than being black in America.
This doesn't happen to white men, they get treated differently; even when they kill 9 people in a church, or 12 people in a movie theater...they don't die! Whether it's an innocent black man or a black man with a record; the white officers who automatically go "there," need to be off the streets and need to re-think why they became officers of law.
If the citizens on the streets aren't looked at and treated equally in THEIR mind, then the citizens on the streets CAN'T and NEVER will be protected by THEM. EVER.
#Blacklivesmatter #AltonSterling #PhilandoCastile #enough
