What's going on world! This is BK and normally you know me as the hip-hop connoisseur and wrestling guru. However, there's also a more serious side of me as well and this is the start of another weekly blog series entitled "What's On My Mind." Anyone that really knows me is aware of the fact tat I have a LOT on my mind concerning different things. Just to forewarn you, some of my views could be considered controversial and I may even lose some "family" and "friends", but if that's the case, then I didn't deserve you in the first place. Otherwise, these topics are meant to provoke and cause HEALTHY conversations and even debates if need be. I'll still be posting my weekly hip-hop and weekly wrestling views, but now you can add this as well. Now with all that being said, let's begin with this initial blog.
This has been a very volatile and tragic week. Aside from the very, very unfortunate passing of comedic genius and icon Robin Williams, the nation got hit in the face again with a jolt of reality concerning police. While still trying to recover from the senseless death of Eric Garner (thanks to the NYPD), we now got hit with another crippling blow with the uncalled for execution of eighteen-year-old college prospect Michael Brown. Michael Brown was walking along a street in his small hometown of Ferguson, MO when he had an encounter with police officer Darren Wilson. What followed was hideous and atrocious. While unarmed and defenseless, Brown was gunned down in broad daylight. The accusation: a POSSIBLE suspect in a nearby robbery that ended up being proven that it was unrelated and Brown was "walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic", according to police chief Thomas Jackson. The most pitiful excuse I've heard...since the whole Eric Garner ordeal, and that was recent.
Tired, angry, and full of confusion, the residents of Ferguson protested the police department and demanded answers. Instead all the community got were more questions and little to no information. What followed was simple and pure madness. Soon the protests turned into looting and rioting. It was the community's way of an answer to the injustice that was being presented to them for the shooting of an unarmed Black kid. While it didn't resemble anything like the Watts Riots of 1965 or the L.A. Riots of 1992, the unrest was becoming more and more apparent. The small city of Ferguson started to look like a city under siege, with militarization in place. From riot control devices to tear gas being used and even armored tanks and vehicles, it was clear the community had reached a new level and that the city was on the verge of Anarchy-like conditions.
Who can blame these people for how they're feeling? It's becoming more and more obvious there's a hunt on for our people. Young Black men and women have been murdered by the people that are sworn to protect and serve us. While I'm not at all discounting my Latino and Hispanic brothers and sisters and their issues with the police, I haven't seen nearly as many have fatal encounters with police departments as I've seen my Black people. Now we all know the media is known for making us look like idiots and buffoons, much less criminals and thugs (we've known that for many, many years) so it's very possible that my Hispanic and Latino communities could be just as target but the media may not be showing any examples. At this point in time, now it's an issue of 'who do you trust?' I myself have had experiences with the police where I wasn't even acting suspicious. However, that doesn't matter whatsoever.
The sad part is there are some truly upstanding police officers, and black eyes get put on them automatically because of these power-hungry, racist bullies that mess everything up for them. To those officers, you guys and girls need to stand up and not tolerate these types of actions that make you all look bad. To hell with "defending your code". If not, you'll instead be the ones of being guilty by association if retaliation occurs from these families and friends of the ones that have been killed by your colleagues actions. This is not a threat or anything of that nature, but be aware that stuff like this does not go unpunished.
While protests are good ways of showing the police what we will and won't tolerate, what are they REALLY doing? Is anybody being held accountable and actions getting followed through with? You can't change racial and prejudiced attitudes. All you can do is defend yourselves against them, get educated on your rights, and by all means let your local police department know that, should there be any injustice or things of this nature, their actions will not be tolerated or excused. I don't condone rioting or providing civil unrest, but I can completely understand their rage and hatred towards their police department. We've seen other unfortunate cases such as Jordan Davis, Trayvon Martin, Jonathon Ferrell, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant and Amadou Diallo where police (or those that THOUGHT they were authority figures) mercilessly gunned down and were unarmed. When will this mess end??
In 1988, N.W.A. put the police departments of America on blast with the anthemic "F**k The Police", which became a source of gasoline on an already flaming fire within the Black community concerning especially the LAPD. Some at the time criticized them for being so vicious on wax concerning the police, however once the Rodney King-inspired L.A. riots happened, these same people were singing different tunes. With the inexcusable killings of these and others, many are blaring the song out of their windows in rebellious, and slightly nihilistic, fashion. It wasn't just a ghetto, inner-city cry, but it became a nationwide epidemic of police brutality and injustice. Now, times are almost identical with how police treated our parents and grandparents in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Let's also not forget about the vengeful and sadistic "Cop Killer" by Ice-T and his metal group Body Count. There needs to be an answer to all of this madness.
That's all for now. Trust me I could go on and on about this, and honestly my first topic wasn't quite as heavy as this, but was still a serious matter nonetheless that I may touch on next week. Until then, here are a couple of cuts that exemplify today's conditions with the police. To my residents of Ferguson, hold your heads and stay strong!
Note: these cuts are very explicit but guess what?? Who cares!
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