#sayhisname

I personally witnessed this type of racist, retaliatory behavior by the Minneapolis police department back in 2016. Philando Castile had just been murdered live on Facebook. The incident was fearlessly broadcasted by his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds. Remember her? I’ll never forget the voice of her four year old daughter in the background of the video, pleading with her mom to cooperate because she didn’t want the cops to shoot her, too. The very next next day I turned a corner in Minneapolis where I happened to be living for the summer. I came upon an unarmed black man sprawled on his stomach in the middle of a vacant parking lot. His arms were raised to the sky, as high as they could possibly go in that vulnerable position, as three cops stood in a circle surrounding him, each with their gun pointed at his head. I froze. The cops’ eyes darted from me to the compliant man laying face down on the ground to each other as I nervously removed my phone from my pocket. I pointed it directly at the cops, who in turn lowered their weapons, detained the man and put him in the backseat of the squad car. The next day I turned a corner in another part of the city. This time I watched a white security guard slam a black man up against a brick wall. He was trying to wrestle a brown paper bag from the mans hand, accusing him of public intoxication. This time I didn’t freeze. I took out my phone and pointed it at the white guard until the situation de-escalated. When the guard removed the bottle from the bag, it was only orange juice. I realized then that I had surely observed this type of behavior throughout my life, that I was raised with reruns of COPS blaring in the background of my white suburban childhood. I had been conditioned to overlook police aggression towards people of color as somehow normal. I could no longer be passive with my privilege if witnessing and documenting these moments might diffuse a lethal situation. Ever since that weekend I have made it a rule to drop whatever I’m doing, pull out my phone, and point it directly at any cop I happen upon who is merely interacting with a black person. There are no videos of these incidents because in the moment I’m always too shaken to switch my camera setting from photo to video or hit record. It is terrifying for anyone to confront a cop, and it is hard to imagine how scared Philando Castile must have felt in his final moments on earth. I’m still amazed that Diamond had the composure to not only film the murder of her boyfriend, but broadcast it live and narrate it for the whole world to see — directly in the face of Philando’s killers. It is heartbreaking to imagine how frightened that little girl in the backseat must still be to this day, how the sound of sirens will haunt her for the rest of her life. I grieve for Minneapolis, for America, for the family of George Floyd. We must all meet this moment and do whatever we can to dismantle a system of white supremacist violence that harms us all.

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

Went out for a jog. Never got home

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

Trying to stay fit, but he fit the description

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

Melanin, a magnet for some bigot’s bullet

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

His murder was filmed - no arrests made

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

Black lives matter - say his name

Ahmaud Arbery went out for a jog

He was a black male in his 20s or 30s

“ … … , .“

Make no mistake, this was a threat issued by THEIR incompetent president himself. I think he made it pretty clear what he wants to be done.

is America

is America

Would you be scared, angry and downright outraged if your son was 4 times more likely to be executed walking down the street than his white counterpart? I would. They are, they should be. #BlackLivesMatter

Two Killed and One Injured on Third Night of Unrest in Kenosha, Wis.