It’s Time For a Revolution

It’s 2020. Murders and riots line the streets, and the call for justice for our fallen brothers and sisters have never been louder nor clearer. The United States in America is in social turmoil. It’s been 109 years since the Black Suffrage movements started and 66 years since segregation was outlawed due to Brown v. Board of Education, yet after so much suffering, we don’t have much to show for it. 

For many of us, in light of the recent murders via police brutality across the nation, we have the ability and capability to understand that not all cops are racist and discriminative. 

But the very fact that we can recognize this is a sign of our privilege. 

The real victims in America learn early that no police force can be trusted and no system of protection can truly serve its purpose because of deep rooted systematic oppression against our African American brothers and sisters. 

No matter what social status, economic status, or moral standings of the victim, the racist white cop always sees an innocent black person as a high level offender just from the color of their skin. Because such pre-existing stereotypes exist, we don’t live in a world where our innocent fallen get the justice they deserve. 

To the youth of America: it’s up to us to avenge the innocent. We are standing at the peak of a revolution, and it’s time the tide changes in our favor. 

Police brutality has and always will be an act of unaccounted aggression that has no justification nor accountability for its offenders.  99% of killings by police from 2013-2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime, and out of the 1%, even fewer are actually convicted. In 2019, police alone killed 1,099 people; 24% of those killed were black despite making up only 13% of the population. 

African Americans are 3 times more likely to be killed by police than white people, 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed in comparison to white people, and 100 in 100,000 black men and boys are statistically shown to die at the hands of police brutality. To be killed by police officers is the 6th leading cause of death for young black men, and if that’s not an issue worth accounting for, then what is?

Police brutality is not about crime. It’s not about “we don’t know the whole story.” It’s not about “they were a threat.” It’s about the unjust racist profiling and unfair prejudiced stereotypes towards our African American community. There is absolutely no justification for this kind of behavior from a police force meant to protect and serve, definitely not when there exists proven solutions to battle police brutality.

With this information, our first step to further this movement is accountability. It’s high time we hold offending officers accountable for their repulsive, racist actions, and it’s important that we see it through to the end. The government governs for the people, by the people, and with the people, but never above the people. With public support and protest for the right moral action, the government has the ability to become judge, jury, and executioner for these officers and hold them responsible for their actions. 

There is no such thing as “making too big of a deal” of the situation. There is no such thing as “talking too much” about the situation. We must use our voices and scream for justice, because without making police brutality a national matter, we won’t have retribution for our fallen. 

Without protests and rallies, we won’t be able to hold racist offenders accountable. Without action now, we won’t be able to save our future generations.

In 2020, we are making history. We are living history. It’s time we contribute to it.

Donate or sign to organizations like the Police Use of Force Project, Color of Change, Black Women’s Blueprint, Black Youth Project 100, or your local NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Chapter to directly contribute to the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the movement to terminate police brutality. 

Spread information using social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. and reach a wider audience. Utilize talent and create art, music, articles, etc. that inspires others who have the ability and method to make direct and real change. 

But above all, remember who you’re fighting for. 

Remember their names. 

Remember their stories. 

George Floyd.

Breonna Taylor.

Trayvon Martin.

Tamir Rice.

Oscar Grant.

Eric Garner.

Ahmaud Arbery.

Thousands more whose lives were cut short from murder and injustice.

No matter who you are, where you are, or what you do, you have absolutely every capability to make change. No matter how insignificant your assistance may seem, it’s valued far more in the long run.

We are one step closer to justice. No matter how far offenders push us back, two steps back one step forward is still one step forward. Let us use our platform of privilege to fight for those who can’t.

This is history. Let’s be on the right side of it. 

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” - Desmond Tutu.