Mike Brown’s death sparked the nation, arousing fear, ignorance and hatred all at once. Many people saw Brown’s death as an excuse to throw shade, hate and the word “racism” into this tragic death, not realizing that that simple word would cause controversy. When officer Darren Wilson wasn’t indicted, the situation just got worse.
But what can we really conclude about his death? Was it on purpose? Did Wilson pull the trigger to a gun that he knew would end the life of Brown? This is the question everyone across America wants to know the answer to. But ignorance and hate have gotten in the way of how some African Americans feel as though they know what happened.
Why is it that, black people kill other black people every day and no one even seems to care, but once a white man kills a young black male, it must be racism? If African Americans don’t put their foot down and create change all across America, we will not be able to beat the system. “The System” was never created to protect us, so we — as black people of this country — will always have to fight for our rights, our beliefs and for our people. But never let that ignorance sleep with you at night, put it to rest and make it become the reason why you work 10 times harder than the next person, because the people of this country show no pity or mercy to those who aren’t about making it “a city on a hill.”
But if we want to create change, we need to be the system. Stop dropping out of school to be on the streets, pull up your pants and pick up your books and get an education. We can become doctors, lawyers, pediatricians, judges and teachers if we put our minds to it. All throughout African-American history, our people have fought to fight oppression and unfairness. In 1954-1968, during the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for our people and created change. How did he do this? With acts of civil disobedience all throughout the south. So instead of rioting and acting out in violence — and blaming white people — when incidents like this occur, we should stand together in peaceful protest. Otherwise, we are just feeding into the stereotypes that many whites assume of us.
