On December 5th, a black Oklahoma musician and father of eight was fatally shot by police. He will be badly missed by his community, who lost him due to his race. He made people laugh, cheered them up when they were in a bad mood and was cherished in his community. I always say that when people take a black life, they don’t care that the person they killed might have been loved. We all had to come somewhere; we did not just appear out of thin air. If we did, we would probably have magical powers. The two police officers involved in the incident have since been charged with his death. Adding to the tragedy is the fact that law enforcement officers shot him without any reason. The man put his hands up, and they shot him four times. The man put his hands up again, and they shot him again. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. 

This incident has not been uncommon in history. It occurred about 10 years ago, when an African American male named Trayvon Martin was shot 20 times by a Hispanic American named George Zimmerman. In 2019, Zimmerman sued the family for 100 million dollars. Trayvon Martin was going to his grandmother’s house when he was fatally put down. He had a phone, and the officer mistakenly thought it was a gun. Martin put his hands up and the police shot him 20 times in the back. The 10 year anniversary of his death was honored recently.

I have the internal fear that I will be in the crosshairs of police brutality. Most African Americans obey the authorities. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that we can do everything right and still end up with a bullet in our back or torso. Usually, the scenario is that if you’re black, you look suspicious and that is why the police get called. But, there seems to be little to no evidence explaining why the police came. The report stated that one officer came and when he put his hands up, he got shot 4 times. Then, the other police officer came, leading to the man being shot again. It is one thing to get killed because of a call. However, it is another for the police to go to the scene without any evidence or call. It was unfair to shoot an unarmed black American. It is unfair to sue a family for the damage and pain that you have caused. They have been through enough, we all have. It is a new generation and the government should reopen all officer related shootings of police brutality.

“I’ve seen it happen over and over again: a black person gets killed just for being black, and all hell breaks loose. I’ve tweeted RIP hashtags, reblogged pictures on Tumblr, and signed every petition out there. I always said that if I saw it happen to somebody, I would have the loudest voice, making sure the world knew what went down.

Now I am that person, and I’m too afraid to speak.”

― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give