The Land of the Free

Home of the land of the free, but are we really free? The state of the black race in America is troubling, every day we are trying to stay alive, praying we don’t get killed while being black today. Black men and black boys are being judged on the color of their skin even though Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated in his famous I Have a Dream speech, that we should be judged by the content of our character.

How did bird watching in central park and asking someone to follow park rules turn into a racist matter? When did dreaming and jogging, coming home after a long day of working as an EMT, and shopping in a convenience store all while black became a crime? How many times do we have to say “I can’t breathe” for a change to happen? Year after year, month after month, state after state, city after city black people are fighting the same injustice.

“Home of the brave and free, free just to murder me,” lyrics from the T.I.’s song New National Anthem was relevant during the release in 2014 and still holds the same relevance in 2020. As a country, we refuse to deal with the issues at hand. When will enough be enough? We live in a society where we have to continuously remind ourselves, our family, and friends of the risk our black bodies constantly face daily. Why do we have to learn to adapt to a different rule every day for a biased justice system? We put our hands up, we don’t resist arrest, we are not a threat but we are still murdered all because we are black. What do we tell our little black girls and little black boys? How are we supposed to handle being black and being stopped by a cop or white neighborhood watch members who can make citizens arrest?

How many more Trayvon’s, Philando’s, Dominique’s, Eric’s, Michael’s, Alton’s, Sandra’s, Breonna’s, Freddie’s, Tamir’s, Ahmaud’s, George’s, have to leave this earth? To protect and serve is a joke. Every day we fear and dread any potential interaction with law enforcement, for fear that we might become the next tragic victims of an anodyne situation gone deadly wrong like the on-going cases we have witnessed over the past few months.

“This shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America. It can’t be ‘normal.’ If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must be better.” - Barack Obama

In New York, avid bird-lover Christian Cooper asked a white woman, Amy Cooper, to follow park rules and put her dog on a leash. When she aggressively refused, he started filming which infuriated her. She then called 911 and lied to authorities stating that “an African American man is threatening my life” while choking her dog.

In Brunswick, Georgia, Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed in February during a confrontation involving three white men as he was jogging through the Satilla Shores neighborhood. The men claimed to make a citizen’s arrest due to a recent report of a string of burglaries in the neighborhood in which they accused Aubrey of committing.

And this week, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who was called to investigate the alleged use of counterfeit currency at a retail establishment. After security video surveillance footage was released Floyd never resisted arrest, he complied. The police officer kneeled on Floyd’s neck as he cried for his mother and gasped, “I can’t breathe.”

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said, “there is no easy prescription to heal our nation, or take away the pain people are experiencing.” Adams tweeted that “it’s a pain I too am experiencing…because I’m black.” The U.S. “must acknowledge & address the impact of racism on health,” he said. “We won’t fix or remove all the obstacles and stressors that are affecting people’s health and wellbeing especially ones like racism overnight. That doesn’t mean we mustn’t try at all,” Adams tweeted.

When will we address the real issues at hand? Something must be done in this country so that someday we can really live free, free of bondage in the home of the brave.

Photo Sources: WGXA, EPA, ABACA, Image via Getty/Anadolu Agency, Dave Schwarz, St. Cloud Time, Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, A. Van Sise/NurPhoto via Getty Images, Sean Rayford/Getty Images, Star Tribune/Getty