No Justice, No Peace: When Will Black Bodies Matter?
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I am heartbroken 💔
Wednesday it hit me hard and it was uncomfortable.
While the guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd felt like a moment of Justice, the system of Supremacy continued to operate as it’s designed to do when a Columbus police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’khia Bryant.
This. One. Hit. Hard.
And, took my breath away…
As soon as Ma’khia’s TikTok videos began populating on my IG feed, my mind went to my 6-year-old daughter, and all I wanted to do was show Jaylin Ma’khia’s amazing hair videos 💔
When I do, so begins the conversation I don’t want to have with a 6-years-old. Yet, this is not our reality as Black girls and women in America. Jaylin will be Ma’khia’s age in a decade. And so, I shared with Jaylin why mama was sad.
The conversation is still in progress because I only shared the how and not the who of the situation. However, what I want to explicitly say is that if this makes you uncomfortable then you have work to do.
And so do I, because it’s gut-wrenching to find the words to tell another Black girl that those who have vowed to “serve and protect us” snatched a Black girl’s magic by shooting her when Ma’khia was asking for help.
This is what we teach our kids — the police will protect and help you. However, the lethal reality for Black girls and womxn is that we are seen as a threat.
And so, we are not given the space nor time (one report I read was that the police had only been on the scene for all of 22 seconds) to be seen in our full humanity. That a Black girl could be seeking protection in a situation she doesn’t know how to get herself out of. A situation that could have been deescalated.
Again, I am heartbroken because I know and dream that another way is possible.
Sitting with the reality of what felt like one form of Justice (finally in the judicial system) on Tuesday, which led to grieving on Wednesday is now a call for…
