The chants and protests do not a mean a thing when you’re Black in a country that was built off of racism. America proved, again, that it’s a nation where Black lives truly do not matter.
Because if Black lives mattered, two White police officers would be facing jail time for the brutal murder of Alton Sterling. It’s obvious that if you want to get away with murder, be a White cop and kill an unarmed Black person.
The latest police officers to get away with murder are Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II.
On July 5, 2017, Sterling was approached by Salamoni and Lake and violence erupted. According to reports by WBRZ, an anonymous person called police and said that a man was selling CDs in front of Triple St. Food and had a gun. In Louisiana, gun owners are allowed to carry weapons without a permit as long as they are over 18 and not felons.
However, when Baton Rouge police officers approached Sterling, they were combative. A cellphone video captured two police officers slamming Sterling against a car and tackling him to the ground. They used a taser on Sterling who did not appear to resist arrest. One police officer apparently saw Sterling’s gun and yelled, “He’s got a gun!” Eyewitnesses say that Sterling never reached for his weapon and the police officers never asked to see a gun permit. Instead, the officers began firing gunshots at point blank range. According to initial reports by the coroner, two of the bullets hit Sterling in the back and chest.
Police were initially wearing body cameras, but the devices were some how destroyed during the confrontation and shooting. Police also confiscated the surveillance video from the store that captured the killing.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry concluded that Sterling’s death was “reasonable and justifiable manner.” But it’s clear that it was only justifiable because Sterling was Black.
When a Black Minnesota cop, Mohamed Noor, fatally shot an Australian White woman, Justine Damond, he was charged with murder.
These messages are intentional. You can get away with murdering a Black person, but there will be a price to pay when the shooter is Black and the victim is White.
So maybe it’s time to retire the phrase, “Black Lives Matter.” We yelled it at the top of our lungs to prove a point that was never real in this place we call America. A place where racism is a bottomless pit that will never end.
