We Must Protect Black Women!
I’ve been off for a month or so, but for my first article, I really wanted to speak about something that has been on my mind since all of this has started to happen:
Black Women
I understand the situation at hand. Black men are being killed at an exorbitant rate by law enforcement officers, who are supposed to be protecting people, but are instead choosing to attack and kill black men for less than acceptable reasons (look at the difference in George Floyd’s story and the story of Adam Zaborowski, and tell me that there isn’t racism.)
But, there are worse situations than even Mr. Floyd, who was murdered on camera: Breona Taylor, and how black women are treated as a whole.
Let’s take Breona Taylor’s case as a microcosm for black women.
There is a reason why black people are so outraged at the Breona Taylor’s situation: her assailants have not been arrested, nor charged yet. She was a 26 year black woman working as a overnight emergency room technician. First point: many of our black women often search out careers where they are in service to others, which is in their nature, as there are the women through which life originally came from. Mrs Taylor and her boyfriend were in bed at the time, when they heard a loud bang at the door, and they both jumped up. Her boyfriend, as men do, went to confront the noise, and saw people inside the house, which caused him to discharge his weapon. Police did so in return, and hit Breona several times.
This is where this shit gets real.
From that point, she received no medical attention.
Why not?
Records indicate that she probably died within a minute of being hit by bullets, meaning they shot to kill.
Here’s the important part: they already had the suspect in custody across town, and had no reason to storm her house. They found no drugs, and no evidence of wrongdoing in her apartment at all.
Funny, because remember that name I mentioned earlier in this post, Adam Zaborowski? Here’s why this is important: he was at a cigar shop, and the owner of the store asked him to put on a mask to patron his store, and the owner even offered to serve the man from his car if he didn’t have a mask, or didn’t want to wear one. His response: He pulled out a handgun and shot at the owner. The next day, the police waited at his home to arrest him for his transgression at the cigar shop.
He pulled out an AK-47, and engaged in a shootout with seven (7!) police officers. He survived, was arrested, and is now in the hospital with leg and ass injuries, and his bond was set at $1 million.
But, he’s alive. After shooting at a store owner, who apparently didn’t have a gun. After having a shootout with the police with an AK. He was only shot in the ass and leg, which means they weren’t shooting to kill him, but only to subdue him, which is what we KNOW they’re taught. They exercised the same restraint we ask them for every time we encounter them, even though the black people killed are FAR less hostile than this white man was. He’s alive.
Let’s compare his story to Latasha Harlins, a black girl who was killed by a Korean store owner’s wife, Soon Ja Du. Video and eyewitness testimony state that Du was overly aggressive towards the young girl for putting an orange juice in her book bag, even though Latasha (through video and eyewitness testimony, again) had every intention of of paying for the orange juice that she had in her possession. The video further showed that Du grabbed Harlins by her sweater and snatched her backpack. Harlins then struck Du with her fist twice, knocking Du to the ground. After Harlins backed away, Du threw a stool at her. Harlins then picked up the orange juice bottle that dropped during the scuffle, Du snatched the bottle from her, and Harlins turned to leave. Du reached under the counter, retrieved a revolver, and fired at Harlins from behind at a distance of about three feet (one meter). The gunshot struck Harlins in the back of the head, killing her instantly. Du’s husband rushed in when he heard the gunshot, spoke to his wife before she passed out, and called 911 and reported an attempted robbery, which was a lie. Du testified for herself, saying that she believed her life was in danger, even though Latasha Harlins was shot in the back of the head, proving she was fleeing the scene, not attempting to harm Du, further proved by the video evidence. Du’s gun was also augmented to fire with much less pressure on the trigger, as opposed to other guns. She was convicted of manslaughter, and the jury recommended the maximum sentence of 16 years in prison. Didn’t happen, as the judge, who’s name is Joyce Karlin, decided to give her time served, only gave her probation, a $500 fine, made her pay for the funeral, and 400 hours of community service. For taking someone’s life. On purpose. And trying to lie about her intentions.
Sounds familiar, right?
BLACK WOMEN ARE THE MOST OPPRESSED PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!
The point is, when our black men are killed, we purposely step up and get to work, advocating for justice and equality, and black women stand with us every step of the way, even when we don’t deserve their loyalty. There are far too many instances of black women championing causes for black men, standing beside us, protesting for us, and you’ll have people like Stephon Clark, who tweeted, “I don’t want nothin’ black but a Xbox. Dark bitches bring dark days.”
Hard to support and protest for someone who says that, and it’s just as hard to try and convince black women that they should still protest over the way he passed, when he clearly spelled out how he felt about black women.
We as black men have a responsibility to protect the women in our own race, not those outside of it. The other women are being protected by their men, but our black women are often left to fend for themselves, whether it is the fight for justice, equality, or ending discrimination, black women are often on the front lines of these fights, without black men adequately backing and supporting them. They experience much of the same plight as black men, yet we hardly hear about their stories, and do little to spotlight their existences and their perils at the same hands. Sometimes, we even lend a hand, whether inadvertent or purposefully, in continuing the cycle of oppression and stereotypical behavior against our women, and we have to stop it. Men were made by God to be protectors and providers, and it feels as though a lot of men, especially our black men, are prone to ducking that responsibility, and it does not bode well for our community. The government and society at large does have a hand in disrupting the black nuclear family, but we have the power to mend those wounds, and regain our standing in our households, with our women, and with God. We have an obligation to do right by the women who made us, the women who support us, and the women who care for us enough to fight the system with us. Stop hurting them, stop disrespecting them, and stop driving them away from us, because they are the support we need. No other race of women will support us like the women who went through the atrocities with us, no matter what you think, and they deserve the same support that they give us.