These Three Words Author’s Preamble: Generally, it is the goal of an expository writer to give enough details on a topic, present the facts, and let the reader come to her own conclusion. However, as you may know, or may come to see, this special topic is viewed very differently given one’s frame of reference. Therefore, I openly admit, I am very biased. For the majority of my thirty-year marriage, I have lived with three black males under my roof. When my younger son was 18, a police car turned on its spiraling lights, beckoning him to pull over. Rather than stop, though, since he was six blocks from home, my son maintained his speed but continued to drive to our home. Upon my son’s arriving home, my
Black Lives Matter Justice for All. Throughout the existence of the United States of America, and even before this land was so designated, the presence of black people on this soil has accompanied friction and contradiction. As their use within this piece suggests, there have been many three-word phrases that describe and proscribe life and the emotions connected with it since “We the People” was written by putting quill to parchment in the 18th century. Yet in the 21st century, in hindsight, we know that those three words did not mean ALL people. Perhaps if they had, we would 10 San Antonio Lawyer® | sabar.org
by ileta! A. Sumner
husband and a minimum of seven of our neighbors stepped outside to assess the situation. Thankfully, everything was resolved peacefully. Nevertheless, a mere six months later, a similar occurrence took place down the road in Schertz, Texas, and instead of a mannerly conversation like that among the police, my son, and my husband, something else happened. That 18-year-old was tasered for failure to follow a police command; a large woman officer kneed the “adult” in the back as he screamed in pain, cradled in the fetal position, whimpering for his father all the while. The incident made the national news. There but for the Grace of God . . . .
Hence, I am not only biased, but I am extremely moved by this topic. It is personal and grabs me emotionally. Thus, it has been incredibly difficult to research and has taken an extremely long time for me to put pen to paper, so to speak. While it is not my intention to persuade anyone to adopt my viewpoint, I do hope to educate my readers about how this topic can be viewed so differently by people who may even have a lot in common. At the very least, I hope to enlighten our community about why this topic has moved the world to action, and it is my hope that this series of articles introduces at least one new fact to you, the readers, in this divided country, for:
not be experiencing the polarizing effect that the term “Black Lives Matter” elicits among many Americans. Rarely have three words universally caused as much division and derision while being uplifting and a catalyst for change. Consequently, no three-word phrase seems to have been so misunderstood. Black Lives Matter. These three words should not have to be said. Nonetheless, in 2021 they must be said, for nearly daily news breaks about another person of color being shockingly beaten—or even killed—in an unbelievable manner. As a result, these occurrences have had a radically adverse effect on the black community.
On May 25, 2020, something changed. A 17-year-old-girl named Darnella Frazier filmed an almost ten-minute video of a thenunknown police officer, Derek Chauvin, as he knelt, not in prayer, but in what appeared to be the exhibition of pure hatred, until his suspect, George Floyd, whispered his last utterance. The world watched it in abject shock. With the Floyd case, the scab was ripped off the wound of racism, and many were reminded of the anomaly that those who have fought and died for national rights in every war since the American Revolution have ironically struggled to obtain and retain these same rights for their own sector of the population.
