By Warren Ballentine
Syndicated Radio Talkshow Host
Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot in under 2 seconds because officers allegedly believed he had a gun.
People blamed him and his parents.
Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, was fatally shot by police after they stormed into her house.
People blamed her parents.
Mike Brown was fatally shot many feet away from a cop who claimed he felt threatened.
People blamed him and his parents.
Eric Garner choked to death by cops on the corner.
People blamed him.
Akai Gurley was walking in a dark stairwell, fatally shot by a cop who was scared of the dark.
People didn’t blame him, even though they still reported his criminal record. And members of the trigger-happy cop’s community took to the streets to support his fatal negligence.
Rekia Boyd was in the park. She was fatally shot by a cop who fired over his shoulder because he could.
Laquan McDonald…executed on a public street by cops.
And
And
And
Where were the media’s tears then? Where were the mourners? Where were the strangers declaring their innocence? Where were all the white people pilgrimaging to Cincinnati when Sam Dubose was executed by a cop while trying to put his car in park?
But they shoot a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo to protect a child and people are
protesting. People are sobbing. People are blaming the child’s parents because,
“Why, oh why, did this beautiful animal have to die?”
*PEOPLE* Magazine did a feature on Harambe with no mention of the child’s condition (he’s fine, for those who care) nor that his family is reportedly receiving death threats.
(Some) white people look at Harambe with his black coat and a child in his grasp and feel compassion for him; they look at that Black child’s Black mother’s brown skin and feel contempt. They look at his Black father and see a criminal. If the child had died, they would have said he deserved it.
Despite this, (some) Black people are casting stones, for what? Points? Gold stars? Brownies? Newsflash: They put your Black children in cages and throw away the key…if they don’t gun them down before they get there. But now you’re flailing about over the sanctity of life and how animals need to be free like that’s new information.
We have to add caveats about the gorilla not deserving to die to prove our humanity. We have to say his name when these same people sobbing over him don’t even know the names of Black women killed/raped by police and if they do, they don’t care enough to say them.
I’ve been on FB hiatus (for reasons), but let me just say that it is more obvious than ever that some folks care more about African animals than they do African American children.
We see you. We always have.
Warren Ballentine can be heard weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on 1620 KYIZ and online at twins.com
