On July 6, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Alton B. Sterling, a
37-year-old African American man was arrested by two white police officers.
They wrestled him to the ground. While he was pinned to the ground at least one
of the officers pulled his service weapon and shot him several times. Mr.
Sterling died. The event was captured on cell phone video and broadcast to the
world on social media.
The following day, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old African American
man was driving his car in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. Riding with
him was his girlfriend. Her 4-year-old daughter was riding in the back seat.
Police officers pulled him over. According to his girlfriend, Mr.
Castile informed the officer that he had a license to carry a firearm and that
it was in the car. The officer shot him as he sat in the car. Mr.
Castile died. His girlfriend used her cell phone to record the scene, including
the haunting image of the officer’s weapon pointed menacingly inside the car.
The video was broadcast around the world on social media.
On July 19, 2015, a Cincinnati police officer shot and killed Samuel
Dubose in the head while he was sitting in his car. Mr. Dubose was not
obstinate or belligerent, he was not threatening. He was stopped for not having
a license tag on the front of his car. America and the world saw and heard it
all.
On July 10, 2015, a Texas State Trooper stopped Sandra Bland.
Her mistake was changing lanes without turning on her turn signal. The trooper
got angry when she refused to put out a cigarette, threatened her with a stun
gun, ordered her out of the car, wrestled her to the ground, handcuffed her and
took her to jail. A few days later she was found dead in her jail cell.
The officer’s dash-cam and a bystander’s cell phone recorded it all.
On June 5, 2015, McKinney, Texas police were called to a pool
party attended by Black teenagers in a gated community. Cell phone video
captured one of the police officers pointing a gun at several of the teenagers before grabbing
a Black girl in a bathing suit, tackling her, and shoving her face into the
ground.
On April 12, 2015, cell phone video allowed the world to see Freddie
Gray being arrested and dragged into a Baltimore police van. He was in obvious
pain. His legs were not moving. He would die of a spinal injury a week later
after being tossed around without a seat belt in that van before arriving at
the police station.
On April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, a
bystander with a cell phone recorded video of a white police officer shooting
Walter L. Scott eight times in the back as he ran away. Scott was not a
suspect in any crime. He was unarmed. He had been pulled over for a traffic
violation. He died on the scene.
On November 22, 2014, In Cleveland, Ohio, 12 year old Tamir Rice
was playing with a toy gun in a public park. A white police officer arrived, got out of
his cruiser and immediately shot the Black boy twice from point blank range,
killing him. Surveillance video captured it all.
On August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, cell phone video shows
Michael Brown, an 18 year old Black teenager lying in the middle of the street
for hours after he was shot and killed by a white police officer. He
was unarmed.
On July 17, 2014, in Staten Island, New York, several police
officers tried to arrest Eric Garner for selling illegal cigarettes. Mr.
Garner was wrestled to the ground, placed in a chokehold, and strangled to
death. A friend’s cell phone recorded it all.
According to the Washington Post, Black people are seven times more
likely to be killed by police than white people. In 2015, 259 were killed. In
2016, 233 were killed. So far in 2017, 165 have been killed.
My father
was a minister. Since I was old enough to remember anything, I have been taught
to kneel to pray. I kneel as a sign of reverence and respect for the God that I
pray to. I was taught that Jesus Christ took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee
to the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion, fell to his
knees, and prayed. If kneeling before God or even a pagan king is a sign of reverence and
respect, how in the hell is kneeling during the playing of the national anthem
a sign of disrespect?
There are
several definitions of the word “bitch”. They include; “The female of a dog”, “a
lewd or immoral woman”, “a malicious, spiteful or overbearing woman”, etc. On
Friday, September 22, 2017 in Huntsville, Alabama the President of the United
States referred to any National Football League Player that kneels during the
playing of the national anthem as a “son
of a bitch”. He also said they should be fired, repeating the “fired” for
emphasis. The crowd roared, and America sank even lower into the cesspool of
bigotry.
As an
educator, I have spent most of my life trying to help young people understand
that the foundation of our country is the right to peacefully protest. Freedom
itself is the right to disagree. The very first amendment to the Constitution,
the first thing enumerated in the Bill of Rights guarantees the American people
freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to
assemble, and the right to petition the government to address our grievances.
That son of a bi….got in the White House won’t stop us.
