First, let me set the tone of this piece by saying I am angry. Well, perhaps that is an understatement. I am furious and it is not about the pandemic or the government closing States. That is something we can live through and each do our part to change. However, somethings like hatred just does not change regardless of the number of marches, protest, or time lapse. No State stay at home order will change this hateful situation. There is no flattening of this curve.
I started this blog almost two years ago during which time many historical facts were posted. Some were disputed and others alleged to be in the past. Things were said to be much better today. However, I know that is not true because of recent events.
Ahmaud Arbery is dead and today would have been his 26th birthday. He was murdered by an armed white man claiming he felt threatened by an unarmed black man. He was jogging and minding his own business all while being judged by two white men in a pickup truck that decided to follow him with their loaded weapons.
Does this sound familiar to you? Let me refresh your memory. Trayvon Martin is dead. He was murdered by an armed white man that felt threatened by an unarmed black man. He was simply minding his own business while walking home from a convenience store after buying snacks. A white man felt it was right to follow him with a loaded weapon.
These murderers are not policemen or any other type of law enforcement officials. They simply decided to mess with people that did not look like them.
I look at the picture of Ahmaud and Trayvon and I see two young men that were the same age. Trayvon’s birthday was February 5, 1995 and Ahmaud was May 8, 1994 making both men the same age at the time of Trayvon’s death. These two men lost their lives with in three days on a calendar. Ahmaud was murdered on Sunday, February 23rd and Trayvon on Sunday, February 26th.
The similarities go on. Both murderers remained free for about two months after the confessions were made because the murders were deemed legit and explainable. One police officer said that it was perfect because of the stand your ground law. Same stand your ground law in Georgia that freed George Zimmerman, Trayvon’s killer, in Florida. Ahmaud’s killers are now arrested for second degree murder, same charges that George Zimmerman faced. Will it end in the same way? Will Ahmaud’s killers go free as well? Will the same injustice continue to happen while people make “thug” suggestions and imply that the victim was somehow guilty of their own murder?
The answer to that questions is clearly white privilege. If you do not believe that there is such a thing as white privilege it is because you have it. White privilege lets a bunch of armed men in Michigan storm the State Capital Building without resistance or arrests. Try that while being black, I triple dog dare you.
Perhaps a gun is not necessary for black men to scare white men. To quote a line from the movie “The Hate U Give”, “How can we be unarmed when it is our skin color they see as a weapon”.
Before you say anything, YES, I am using the race card! There was no other reason for these young men to be dead. There was no other reason for those white men to follow those young black men. There was no other reason for each to be carrying a loaded weapon while doing so. NONE. NADA. ZIP. ZERO. Trayvon and Ahmaud would still be alive if these white men simply did not get in or out of their car. Justice must be done. It is too late for Trayvon to have justice but not to late for Ahmaud. These men must pay for their crime and the whole country needs to wake up to the injustice that is being done. No more black men or women should die of this hatred.