Racism
Justice or Just Us
Is justice really for all?
Everyone deserves fair treatment. For whatever reason, it seems that Blacks always have to fight for justice, and rarely receive it. Is justice for everyone, or just for certain people? It’s been years, decades, even a century, and we’re still fighting for justice. Why is it that we have to spend countless days, weeks, and months protesting for justice for tragic events that happened earlier this year?
It’s been several months since the untimely and unnecessary death of Breonna Taylor. Did most of us know Breonna personally? No, but most of us feel the pain and anguish for her, as she didn’t deserve to die. Her job, as an EMT, was to help save lives, but her life was taken away, and we’re forced to believe it was a mistake. We’re tired of being forced, and we’re tired of mistakes. Also, we’re tired of waiting for justice for Breonna.
Awareness has been raised and will continue to be raised for Breonna. We want more than just a new law, honoring her name…we want full justice for Breonna.
Unfortunately, it took at least two months for two men to be taken into custody for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Without any doubt, it was painful to watch that short video of Ahmaud fighting for his life, and then his life tragically, and senselessly, taken. To add fuel to the fire, a third person associated with this murder was taken into custody weeks after the other two were in custody.
Many of us wonder, if the tables were turned, and Ahmaud was the one that shot those men, would he have been taken into custody months later? More than likely, the answer is “no”.
It’s terribly sad to know that both Breonna and Ahmaud were young adults in their twenties. Both innocent, and gone too soon.
As for another senseless killing, George Floyd was murdered in broad daylight, all captured on video. That’s another video that was difficult to watch. To hear a grown man cry out for his mother, as he’s on the ground and under the knee of a police officer, is disheartening. It hurt the heart of so many, not only in this country but around the world. Continuously, George said he couldn’t breathe and, shockingly, many of us couldn’t breathe as we watched that tragic video.
Regardless, if George had counterfeit money, or not, it didn’t warrant his death. To see other officers in that video failing to intervene to stop that heinous act, which led to George’s demise, is even more disheartening.
We are so thankful for modern technology because cell phone videos are helping us in this fight for justice. If it wasn’t for those videos, we’d probably never get justice.
Despite COVID issues, and/or whatever other health-related issues we are facing, there needs to be justice brought swiftly in these cases. There are so many to pray for, in addition to Taylor, Arbery, and Floyd. We must continue to support, pray, and act on behalf of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, and so many more.
© Tony Young, Jr. 7/20
