Blue lives matter?

16th May 2016   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund Lewis
Editor

So let me get this straight: Over the past few years — and throughout the course of U.S. history — cops have gotten away with murdering unarmed Black and Brown people for everything from Driving While Black (or Brown), Shopping While Black (or Brown), Breathing While Black (or Brown), Walking While Black (or Brown) or Simply Being Black (or Brown). Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Raymond Robair, Henry Glover, Ronald Madison, James Brissette, Wendell Allen, Justin Sipp, Adolph Grimes III and many others can attest to the fact that in the 21st century people of color still have no constitutional or human rights that law enforcement officers who took an oath to protect and serve civilians are bound by law, custom or tradition to respect. It’s that simple.

Why, then, do we need a bill in Louisiana to drive home the point that Blue Lives Matter. Throughout the course of history, Blue Lives and the lives of the wealthy Blue-Blood families they make it a priority to keep safe, have been the only lives that matter.

We, the people who have been on the receiving end of unconstitutional policing, unequal protection under the law, excessive force, police brutality, racial profiling, economic injustice and educational apartheid for as long as anyone can remember — get that.

Do we really need to waste precious time during the legislative session coming up with new ways to let cops know that they matter? Blue lives matter? How about Authentic Police Who Don’t Go Around Killing and Terrorizing Innocent People and Planting Evidence Matter?

We don’t hate cops for being cops. We hate crooked, corrupt and abusive cops for being an occupying, terrorizing force in communities of color. We abhor officers of the law who believe they are above the law and have the right to deprive people of color and the poor of their constitutional and/or human rights because they feel like it. We condemn trigger-happy, criminal-minded cops who really do think they have the right to vilify, criminalize, harass and racially profile Black and Brown people.

We detest excessive force, police brutality and unconstitutional policing.

We love cops who take their jobs seriously and carry out their duties with a sense of integrity and purpose. We love justice, fairness and equal protection under the law.

If the police are not happy about the way they are viewed in communities of color, they have only their crooked, abusive colleagues and bad apples and asses on the police force to blame — not we, the people on the receiving end of these injustices and indignities.

Enough about the police already. I got some questions for y’all. Here we go:

• As they continue to struggle to balance the state budget, what aren’t Louisiana lawmakers telling the public about pet projects that could be eliminated but aren’t because that might upset the proverbial apple cart or ruffle the feathers of the status quo?

• Why do we continue to allow state boards and others outside of our community to make decisions that negatively impact the lives of our children and sentence them to future lives as second- and third-class citizens?

• Who thinks the white business community and the state-run Recovery School District would ever voluntarily relinquish control of the tens of millions of dollars in the local public school budget?

• How many times does an elected official have to completely ignore your needs, interests and concerns before you get smart and vote his or her canister out of office?

• Do you remember when second-lines were a Black thing?

• How many of us love the children in our community more than we fear them?

• When was the last time you performed a random act of kindness or compassion for someone outside of your family or social circle?
• What would happen if we were as committed to liberation and justice as we are to partying, watching reality TV, second-lining and Saints football games?

• When did Black people get too busy, distracted and/or self-absorbed to raise and discipline our children?

• How much has public safety improved since New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu took office in 2010?

• Why can’t local elected officials admit or acknowledge that it is impossible to fight crime and violence without better public education, job training, improved mental health care services, better employment opportunities, justice and hope?

• Have you noticed any difference in the way Black and white murder victims are treated and covered by local media organizations?

• Are you as excited as I am about finally getting a new mayor and police chief in two years?

• When do you suppose Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro might make a decision about whether to indict former NOPD Officer David Warren for the murder of Henry Glover less than a week after Hurricane Katrina?

• Why is the state’s Department of Environmental Quality concerned about asbestos at an eastern New Orleans school but has had very little to say about the state-run Recovery School District’s plans to build a new school for Black children atop a toxic landfill that contains dangerous levels of at least eight deadly metals including mercury, lead and zinc?

• What’s the difference between genocide and knowingly building a school for Black children in a majority-Black city atop a toxic landfill?

• How many of the top elected officials in the majority-Black City of New Orleans — including members of the majority-Black City Council and Black state legislators — have lifted a finger to prevent the construction of a school for Black children atop the toxic landfill at the former site of Booker T. Washington Senior High School?

• If exposure to lead impedes brain development and may be a significant factor in the violence one often sees in areas like Central City, why would anyone who cares about the children of this city even consider putting a school there?

• If prolonged exposure to lead can lead to cognitive issues that trigger academic underachievement and violence, how much sense does it make to wage a war against Black-on-Black violence without also waging a war on environmental racism?

• How does Donald Trump expect to build a wall around the United States to prevent Americans from all walks of life from escaping to Canada and Mexico if Trump is elected president?

• Why are so many people with critical information about the myriad of attacks being launched by elected and appointed officials, non-profit groups, business leaders and government agencies afraid to name the names of the people we need to keep an eye on and devise strategies to neutralize?

• Why do we continue to allow “Black, Brown and Beige” double agents to continue to infiltrate and undermine efforts to bring liberation, justice, democracy and equity to the Black masses in New Orleans?

This article originally published in the May 16, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.