My Life Matters

I can’t breathe.

I can’t sleep.

I can’t drive.

I can’t jog.

I can’t stand… anywhere.

I can’t run to the store.

I can’t have a mental episode.

I can’t have my legally acquired gun.

I can’t eat on my couch and watch tv.

I can’t hold my child.

I can’t ride a bicycle.

I can’t have car trouble.

I can’t use my cell phone.

I can’t call for help.

I can’t be Black and do the day-to-day things. Those everyday things. Things that I should be able to do.

It’s a problem.

According to the Mapping Police Violence website (https://mappingpoliceviolence.org) which compiles the details on police shootings, in 2020 there were 1,127 people killed by the police. According to their research, “Black people were more likely to be killed by police, more likely to be unarmed and less likely to be threatening someone when killed.” Oh, and Black people made up 28% of those killed, in 2020, even though we make up only 13% of the population.

Even more hair raising statistics from the site Brookings.edu:

• Black people are 3.5 times more likely than white people to be killed by police when they are not attacking or have a weapon.
• Black teenagers are 21 times more likely than white teenager to be killed by police.
• A Black person is killed every 40 hours by police.
• One in every 1,000 Black people are killed by police.

Consider how much your daily agenda would change if you have to stop and acknowledge all of the ways in which your life could be in danger. Not because you live in a war zone, but because the color of your skin makes you a target. How afraid would you be if you saw flashing lights in your rearview mirror?

When people hear the phrase “Black Lives Matter” it is imperative to understand that those words are not about an organization. They are not about the people who first said it. They are not about the local chapters of an organization. They are not about whatever fortune 500 company slapped it on a website, a building, an email, or a social media post. Finally, they are not about whatever local level politician painted those words on the street.

The words, “Black Lives Matter” are literally about the fact that Black lives are not considered precious enough to stop and consider before they are extinguished. It is about the lack of respect for Black lives. It is about the reality of the statistics I shared earlier.

If you are Black, your life is in danger while doing just about anything. It matters that as a Black person, your life is deemed as unworthy of protecting.

Direct links to the sites noted:

Brookings.edu: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/05/30/bad-apples-come-from-rotten-trees-in-policing/

Mapping Police Violence: https://policeviolencereport.org/