THINKING WHILE BLACK

95 Black people have been killed by North American cops in the past six months. In other words, almost 16 Black lives are taken every single month. Over the span of May’s thirty-one days, an unarmed Black woman was murdered by Toronto cops and 25 Black people were murdered by U.S. cops. But when mass media only extends its scope to one of these injustices, dozens of families are made to feel as if their suffering isn’t important enough.

While George Floyd’s death at the hands of historically-racist Minneapolis police officers has captivated almost every news headline for the past two weeks, a number of the equivalently controversial police shootings which claimed Black lives that same month went under the radar. If we as a society do not put the same energy into every case, we will do a disservice to the many Black families whose pleas would not end up on the news without it. And, do we really want to be a part of a society that only seeks justice for those who make it to the big screen (and, thus, cannot be ignored)? If you don’t, click here to find out more about each of the Black lives that were taken by cops across the continent last month. 

Statistics show that African Americans are underrepresented as victims, receiving less than ten percent of media coverage offered to missing persons of other races. Prior to high-profile cases like that of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin, hundreds of thousands of Black lives taken by police officers around the world went undocumented as often as they went unacknowledged. Even today, a vast majority of Black deaths do not receive any media coverage. To wake up everyday in a world where the seizure and onslaught of your people goes without acknowledgement or concern from the masses, is to wake up feeling like your life isn’t important. This is the first installment to an ongoing series meant to remind Black people all over the world that they are important, that their lives matter, and that someone cares. Most of all, this series will serve as a reminder to never forget; because to forget where you come from, is to be blind to where you are going.

Signed,

A simple breakdown of what it means, and why we mean it.

jus·tice 

/ˈjəstəs/

noun

1. just behavior or treatment.

a. the quality of being fair and reasonable.

b. the administration of the law or authority in maintaining this.

“There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth, unless someone rises up to tell you the truth.”

 - Louis Farrakhan

Black people around the world have had to beg for civility since the early 1500s; and, for the most part, our pleas go in vain. As our awareness increases and Black people take more action against the injustice that has consumed our realities, things only seem to get worse. In more ways than a few, today’s America is grossly similar to the one leaders like Medgar Evers and Lamar Smith died trying to change. And that brings us to the point: one cannot expect peace in an environment where justice does not exist.

May 6, 2020: BLM protesters in Brunswick, Ga. peacefully protesting in response to Ahmaud Arbery’s murder. (Photo by Facing South, North Carolina)

Sit-ins. Marches. The Montgomery bus boycott. The BLM movement. Botham Jean’s graceful family. From the early ‘50s to as recently as a few weeks ago, there are a number of examples that depict just how peaceful Black Americans have been in their fight for justice. The problem does not lie in the Black community’s inability to remain peaceful. Rather, it lies within the fact that no act of kindness, no exhibition of forgiveness, and no representation of assimilation has proven enough to protect Black people from fear, guilt, or hatred. The Black community has already employed every gentle approach possible in its fight for civil rights… Nothing has worked.

So why are some of you so surprised now that (some) Black people are hanging up their Nice Guy hats?

Three months in, and 2020 is already on some BS.

It’s only March, and we’ve already had to shake our heads at Snoop Dogg, Roddy Ricch, Tory Lanez, 50 Cent, and so many more Black “men” in the industry. But today, we’re talking about Da Baby.

Let me start off by saying that Da Baby is an undeniably crusty ass excuse of a man. The fact that he had to parade around in a diaper to get the attention he manages today, should say enough about how little character he has. Still, Da Baby rapped his big headed way into the hearts of thousands last year; so much so that his mostly-women fans paid no mind once he’d gotten comfortable enough to showcase his truly toxic nature. Before I could even decide whether the man was ugly or cute, I was hearing about Da Baby shooting people (which was fair, in this case), slapping and punching fans, and more.

Like many Black women who’ve been desensitized to overly aggressive men, I wasn’t even bothered by this behavior at first. I found myself making excuses for Da Baby, or simply not saying anything when I couldn’t defend his actions. I don’t like people too close to me either, I’d say whenever my mom would tell me about his latest violent act in awe. At one point, she forbade me from listening to his music altogether because he was so violent--- and I was like, you’re doing too much. See, I’m the kind of “fan” that doesn’t care too much what artists do outside of their art. I generally don’t care about who celebrities are as people or what they do in their lives, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact whatever creativity they offer the world.  So, I didn’t care if Da Baby had a bad attitude or if he was a grown ass man fighting like a teenager or whatever else people were saying about him. All I cared about was whether the songs had some bop in ‘em, and if Stunna was getting a verse. But there comes a time when one’s personal life starts to bleed into their artistry, and that time for Da Baby came this morning.

I don’t tune into gossip pages, so I only heard about Da Baby’s newest travesty through my mother. She couldn’t wait to show me the now-viral video of him that was posted on The Shade Room, showing the rapper straight up punching a woman at a concert. A little background: anyone with eyes can see that the shuffling of the eager crowd resulted in someone pushing said woman. The force of the push caused her to bump into Da Baby, making her already-raised cell phone brush against his face. Instead of just pushing the woman away or moving her hand out of the way like a normal person would, my mans proceeded to hit this woman like somebody off of the street. And this wasn’t just any woman, y’all, or I probably wouldn’t be writing this.

It was a Black woman.

And did I mention that he drew back and punched this woman with every bit of his strength?

Like… what?