This past week has truly been detrimental to the Black Community. Yet again, we have lost several of our people to senseless acts of police brutality. Now, this is not anything foreign to us. We have been suffering from the oppressiveness of society, dealing with the unjustly harsh treatment of our people, and being systematically snuffed out for decades. This type of treatment of our kind is what every great Black leader has fought to end. Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, the NAACP, the Black Panthers, and more have all fought for an equality that we have yet to achieve. Let me put this into perspective for you…Frederick Douglass died in 1895. That was 121 years ago and nothing has changed except that slavery is not legal anymore. But, just because slavery is not legal anymore, that has not stopped the racism, prejudices, stereotyping, and executions from happening to our people. We are being punished for being Black, for having darker skin and coarser hair. Therefore, I ask, when will enough be enough? When will I be able to walk the streets of my city and not feel like a target? When will I be able to turn on the news and not hear about another one of my black brothers and sisters being murdered in cold blood for no reason at all? When will I be able to go into a store and not get followed around by the white man because he thinks that I am going to steal something meanwhile, that white woman in aisle 13 is stuffing her purse? We are being executed for driving while black, walking while black, talking while black and living while black. Since when did skin color constitute a crime? Were we not all created equally by the same God? Are we not all citizens of the same United States under the same Constitution? So why do certain laws only apply to black people? Why does a white woman get off easy for committing the same crime that a black woman serving 10 years did? These are all questions with no real answers except that we are black and therefore we have no real rights.
I have watched the protests and rallies happening around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is truly heartwarming to see many people of different races and ethnicities coming together to support us, to fight for us, and to protect us. On behalf of the Black community, I want to thank you. We hear you, we see you, and we feel the outpouring of love coming from all of you. The images of different races uniting for a cause are powerful and they evoke fear because they display a resistance that only a unity that strong can have. We are showing the cops that we are not going down without a fight and that we will fight for the equality that we deserve. We have a right to live just like everyone else. Our lives matter too. However, listen closely, the Black Lives Matter movement is not about superiority or hate for other races. It simply is about acknowledging that we have a voice as well and we would like to be heard. So, for everyone counter-arguing the #BlackLivesMatter with the #AllLivesMatter, just remember, “All Lives can not matter until Black Lives do.”
To my people: Continue to fight, do not back down, know your rights, and hold onto your black pride.
Peace and Blessings,
C.Pryor