When will black Americans experience the same rights and freedoms as the top tier of society? When will we have the right to drive, walk down the street, and even stand in one's own backyard safely? When will we be able to live without the fear of being murdered by the police?
On March 18th, a 22-year-old man named Stephon Zoe Clark was relaxing in his backyard in South Sacramento when the police began to chase him through the neighboorhood. The police then opened fire on Stephon shooting him over 20 times because it appeared as if he had a weapon when in reality he was completely unarmed and holding only his cellphone.
Stephon Zoe Clark did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG. He was just trying to enjoy an evening outside. Yet, because he "fit the description", he was executed and his family is left without a son, a brother, a father, a grandchild. Aside from the intense rage that I feel over the overt mission of the police to exterminate people of color, some questions come to mind when I think of this case.
First of all, the suspect they were looking for was someone seen breaking into car windows near the house. Why would trained law enforcement respond to a call for someone breaking into windows ready to shoot to kill? Law enforcement has taken down domestic terrorists (aka mass shooters), cannibalistic college students, and other individuals who should have made them actually fear for their lives without killing those suspects. But blackness is so innately frightening that 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot down for holding a pellet gun but Dylan Roof was gifted with Burger King after slaughtering 9 people. Blackness is so innately terrifying that Stephon Zoe Clark was shot down for having his cell phone in his hand but a college student from Florida was seen EATING SOMEONE ELSE'S FACE and every method was used to stop the cannibal without killing him. Why is it that even the most innocent of black people will induce such a drastic response from the police that multiple rounds are fired, but white people who may as well be Satan's minions are treated like disobedient children? I refuse to believe the rhetoric of "fear"; The police do not "fear" us, they hate us. The police are intentionally using every excuse they can find to kill us.
If there is any "fear", it exists because the police are trained to fear us. They use every call, every traffic stop, every opportunity they can find to murder one more black person. And they will continue to do this as long as they can get away with it.
The list of names is getting too long. The families at loss. The constant mourning. The constant fear that a loved one could wake up in the morning and not go to bed at night all because of how much melanin we have. I am tired of it. This needs to stop.
