As we grow up, we are taught that police officers are supposed to protect us from the ‘bad guys’ and keep the world safe. If there is something wrong or we need help, we were told they are the people to go to.
Well, what happens when the police officer is the bad guy? This has been the case for black people in America, thanks to racial profiling that assumes they are more dangerous than the average civilian, even when unarmed.
Sure, maybe it’s only a few bad eggs in a group of brave men and women keeping the majority of us safe. That does not change the fact that I, a white woman, will never have to fear law enforcement the way people of color do because of the harm these ‘few bad eggs’ have inflicted.
If I sound angry and frustrated, it is because I am. More than seven years out from the murder of Trayvon Marin that sparked protests across the countries, it feels like there is a new shooting of an unarmed black citizen by police at least once a month.
Just this month, Atatiana Jefferson was sitting in her own home playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew this Saturday when Officer Aaron Dean shot her through her window, according to CNN. Her neighbor had called a non-emergency number after he had noticed her doors were open and wanted someone to check on her safety.
The person that had been called to make sure she was safe murdered her.
Dean saw her standing near her window, probably because she noticed someone creeping around her house, and he yelled at her to put her hands up. He shot and killed her two seconds later without even identifying himself as a police officer.
She died because she was a black person existing in her own home and Officer Dean perceived that as a threat.
This comes just a few weeks after Amber Guyger, an off-duty police officer, was found guilty for murdering Botham Jean, an unarmed black man, in his own apartment in Dallas, Texas, according to The New York Times.
Guyger claims she thought she was walking into her own apartment, which is directly below Jean’s. He was watching TV and eating ice cream when she shot and killed him, believing him to be an intruder in her home.
Jean had even told his mother that as a black man in America he was careful to avoid routine encounters with the police, but he still ended up murdered by one.
Even if Guyger did think she was in her own apartment and there was an intruder, the image of a man sitting comfortably watching TV and eating ice cream should have clued her in that this wasn’t exactly a burglary.
Clearly Guyger gave the situation little thought before she pulled the trigger and took a life. In both of these cases, the police officer saw a black person and shot a gun before they could consider the consequences of their actions.
This past June, the Center of Investigative Reporting identified hundreds of police officers who were members of racist Facebook groups. Since then, nothing has happened, and it is incredibly demonstrative of how racism in law enforcement is both tolerated and widespread.
It came as no surprise to me that hundreds of cops turned out to be raging racists considering how many unarmed black people have been killed in the past few years.
It is, however, incredibly discouraging that even still no one does anything about it when these are the exact reasons the Black Lives Matter movement exists and yet are still widely criticized. They dare to have the “controversial” opinion that black people should matter in America and have the right to live without a target on their heads.
I do not pretend to understand what any person of color in this country goes through as a white woman. But I will continue to fight for their right to exist the same way I do and I will be angry until we stop murdering black people for existing.
