Justified: (Merriam Webster) To provide or be a good reason for (something): to prove or show (something) to be just, right, or reasonable.
(Urban Dictionary) What somebody is referred to as they perform a stupid act.
This past week has been an emotional rollercoaster. It all began when Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police officers in Baton Rouge while selling CDs in front of a local convenience store. If THAT wasn’t enough, the very next day Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer in front of his girlfriend and 4- year-old daughter after being asked by the officer to show his driver’s license and carry and conceal permit. Two days after that, five police officers were killed and six others were wounded during a protest in Dallas after a man “had enough” of all the recent police killings and decided to take matters into his own hands.
Well, we all know how the first part of this story goes, “Those cops were justified in shooting those black ghetto THUGS.” “That’s what those n***ers get.” and so on and so forth. And the second part of the story? “The man who shot those cops is a TERRORIST!” Really? I’m sure I speak for a lot of people in this country right now when I saw that I’m tired and have had enough of this shit.
What really gets to me is the double standard this country has. Let’s take Mr. Castile for example. Here you have a young Black man driving along with his daughter and girlfriend. He’s minding his own business, being a law abiding citizen, when he is pulled over by an officer for “a broken tail light”. When the officer approaches the vehicle to explain to Mr. Castile why he is being pulled over, he asks Mr. Castile to produce his driver’s license and vehicle registration. Mr. Castile informs the officer that he is carrying a weapon but has a carry and conceal permit in his wallet. As Mr. Castile goes to reach for his wallet to produce the documents the officer requested, the officer gets spooked and lets off 4 rounds, hitting Mr. Castile and subsequently killing him in front of his child and girlfriend. While people may argue that the cop had every right to be scared after Mr. Castile told him that he was armed, the real double standard is the fact that Mr. Castile was in possession of his weapon LEGALLY. Why is it that “certain people” in this country can carry a weapon with a permit and have no issues while a Black man instantly gets shot for being upfront and honest. Does Mr. Castile’s 2nd Amendment right not matter? Is he not allowed to carry a gun because it makes “certain people” nervous? Why is this? I can only speculate, but I have enough evidence to assume that, if Mr. Castile had been Caucasian he would NOT have been shot after informing the officer that he was in possession of a legal weapon.
Why is there still such a double standard in this country when POC and Whites are, “according to the Constitution”, all supposed to be equal? Maybe because some people in this country still uphold the Dred Scott decision to be law. What was the Dred Scott decision you ask? Well, long story short, Dred Scott was a slave who attempted to by his family’s freedom. When the slave master refused to free the Scott’s, Dred Scott took his master to court. The final decision of this case basically stated that a Black man has no rights that a White man in this country is bound to respect. However, this decision was overturned when the 13th and 14th Amendments were added, but a lot of people in this country still don’t abide by those either.
What makes one ethnic group of people more superior than another? What makes Blacks in this country less than any other group of people in this country? If we were all created the same, then why can’t we all be treated the same? WHY IS THIS? How can we get this to stop? When will this end? Why should we mourn one group of people and not the other? I could really go on forever about this, but these were the most pressing things I had to get off of my chest.
Please stay safe out there. Things only seem as though they are going to get worse before they get better. #BlackLivesMatter
tell 'em why you mad son 