Saving Our Sons Posted

Trayvon Martin, Eric Gardner, Oscar Grant, and now Michael Brown; before them there was Emmett Till. These men are our sons, fathers, nephews, uncles, and friends-people. Lives taken: no hesitation, no reason, and no apologies. Every day it becomes more and more difficult to send our sons out into the world without the looming fear that they will not return home. Unarmed and black has evolved into “may be armed and definitely dangerous”. We live in a society filled with catch 22’s; what applies to one person doesn’t necessarily apply to another. A society where the punishments never fit the crimes, a society where the criminals walk free and the innocent are killed or locked away, a society where the more melanin you have in your skin, the less likely it is that you will live to tell your story.

An 18 year old shot 8 times[unarmed], a father choked to death for being an innocent passerby, a 17 year old shot and killed for walking home from the store at “the wrong time”. Our black men are being targeted, our black men are being stereotyped, but more importantly, our black men are being killed senselessly! #whypd #dontshootus #justicefortrayvon we hash tag to preserve the memories they so desperately want us to forget. We march to show we have not given up, and then we riot and loot to show what? To preserve what memory? To prove to the police that we can be just as senseless as they can? To show that what they may think about Black America is true? To show our loyalty to the fallen martyrs? Regardless of the reason we are not making any progress. We are adding fuel to the ever burning fire that these killings were and will always be justified because Black America is unruly and rebellious. In spite of the good we may think we are doing, we are defiling the very names we memorialize. We are setting ourselves back further than most are willing to regain, WE ARE KILLING OURSELVES OFF slowly, but surely. Regrettably, in this day and age respect is earned and not given; and we are expected to follow suit. If we want results we must be willing to take the appropriate steps in order to attain them. More can be achieved with our mouths and our intelligence than all of the looting and rioting combined. The police have this notion that if we can turn a blind eye and glorify black on black crimes (Chiraq), then they too can do the exact same and should not have any reprimands for it.

Believe it or not WE are leading by example, and if we do it they will follow suit. Our children, family, and friends are dying every day and if we cannot have faith in the very own who are supposed to “protect and serve” we must take all necessary steps in order to do so. We must save our sons, save our daughters, and most importantly save ourselves. I mean, if we don’t, who will? Xoxo

Today a college freshman will not have a chance to attend the first day of classes. A future and a dream have been deferred. A life has been taken in vain. A mother has to bury a child. Please visit www.gofundme.com/cvbmic to donate $1, $2 anything you may have. No one saves to bury a child, because no one imagines burying their child. Please help Michael’s mother Lesley McSpadden bury her child. What you do if it were your child?

**This is part 1 of a 3 part series. Saving Our Sons, Saving Our Daughters, Saving Ourselves.