This country definitely has its warts and even when trying to do good, our government has a tendency to make people of color suffer for all of the wrongs that are inflicted.
The Parkland Florida shooting was a huge tragedy. People across the nation — outside of sick, heartless NRA supporters who refuse to feel bad for the massacred as to suggest that they support gun control in this country which would be blasphemous to right-wing conservatives and the like –sympathized with the families of the victims and supported the national groundswell for gun reform which led to the 200,000 people attending the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington D.C. on Saturday.
Most of the 17 victims were white and black folks can’t help but feel that all of the attention and urgency the massacre commanded would have been different if the school was in the hood.
Splinter on Twitter
I know you guys are going through the exact same thing. You just don’t have the platform. People aren’t listening to you.” Parkland students visited a DC high school to speak out for-and with-students of color: https://t.co/uLIYdybFVc
In the aftermath of the violence, local police naturally heightened its presence around the school, which has of course, led to Black students feeling uncomfortable because when you put police on school grounds to keep the public safe the systematic racism that exists in our country somehow distorts the situation into one where the African-American kids the police are supposed to be protecting feel anything but safe in the presence of law enforcement and thats very disheartening.
Nadege C. Green on Twitter
A group of Black students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High called a press conference today to say they have concerns that may not mirror those of their white peers. And that the media should listen. #MSDStrong
Students, in particular, Black male students are concerned that the police presence will create a predatorial atmosphere for students of color who statistics show are historically targets of police violence and an extreme indifference by law enforcement towards their well being.
Nadege C. Green on Twitter
Kai says while some might feel comfort to have more police officers at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, he does not. He says it’s intimidating & that black students will face most of the consequences of an overmilitarized predominantly white school.
The students have organized and are expressing their concerns in a civil manner, stressing that any conversation about gun control should also include police violence and the use of guns against innocent black people.
Nadege C. Green on Twitter
Tyah-Amoy a Marjorie Stoneman Douglas student said conversations about gun violence have to include police violence. She asked, the same people who showed up for #MarchForOurLives–will they show up for #StephonClark? #AltonSterling? #SandraBland? https://t.co/QIhvy9gYHD
The students have a legit gripe, especially in light of another traumatizing video of unarmed black Stephon Clark getting shot 20 times and killed in his grandparents’ backyard because police thought his cell phone was a weapon. The horrible video been spread all over the internet, causing more mental and psychological damage to children of color in this country and compounding the fear that most Black have of law enforcement and white authority in this country.
The Shadow League on Twitter
Stoneman Douglas teacher: “It seems to me like we’re more worried in this country about whether or not athletes take a knee at a sporting event than whether or not we protect our kids in a school.” https://t.co/Ji83T5FWh3
The children of color who attend Parkland want to make sure that their rights are protected the same as the other kids who attend the predominantly white school. Gun control issues are important in protecting kids of all races, including the disenfranchised and the poor and as eloquently and passionately as the Parkland students spoke out against gun control, the African-Americans in the school want to make sure that their interests aren’t being ignored before the police presence creates other potentially dangerous issues for the students of color they are supposed to be protecting.
