Freedom | Tiffany M. Arnold

But Really Its About ‘For The People’

I know I usually do reviews on Thursday, so let me take a moment to say, this is coming out in the middle of the night, before I go to bed, so technically….

Yeah its Friday. So what?

I have been watching a few of the new shows that have come out and I am impressed with the show ‘For The People’, it has hit a couple of big issues, and shows how the justice system has their hands tied as well. I just watched the latest episode, where the judge did not want to sentence this man to the minimum 10 years for the crime he did commit. He had drugs that he was the carrier for, literally the size of a cell phone. He had priors but nothing that had ever landed him in jail.

To make matter worse, someone else another case that he didn’t like the sentencing of, the person was murdered in prison. The judge says himself, “he shouldn’t have been there.” This judge apologized to this guy because his back was against the wall and his legacy would be destroyed because they were coming after his job.

So it makes me think further, when is it time to stand up when you know your job is morally wrong? Should you continue or fight for what you know is correct? I cant imagine being in a situation where I can’t do what I feel is right, maybe thats the activist in me. I feel like thats whats wrong with the US right now, we are to busy doing things by the book, that we are forgetting to have compassion and realize that every case is different. This man did not deserve 10 years in prison, and the judge knew it, the prosecutor knew it, but nothing was done to stop it.

He was still cuffed and taken to prison. The words the judge said won’t do anything for that man when he gets in a situation in prison thats uncomfortable.

I feel like this is extended to the media and what they are portraying in this world. There are millions of black children missing, dying, being abducted but there is nothing on the news, but let a cop kill one of us. Do you see the problem? Brandy Odom is proof of this. Her body was found in a active park in New York. She was beaten, and dismembered and her body was scattered around the park miles apart.

The statistics say that most predators that don’t want to be caught prey on minority women, because they are not blasted on the news. We have come so far, but are we fighting hard for the right things? The media wants us to focus on police brutality but leaving out the most important facts, that not all victims are black. There are just as many white victims of police brutality and murder, the problem is the training has changed from shoot to disarm to shoot to kill. Most police officers don’t go through the training they used to, neither does the Correctional Officers, because there is a shortage. Neither get paid enough, nor do they have enough time to train anymore because they need them in the field.

I wonder how many of the police brutality cases were by newbies with the shorter training, than the seasoned ones. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that racism exists, its in every thing we see in daily life. In how the poor schools that are mostly black or hispanic have no money, no books and no teachers. There are no really background checks so there are pedophiles and criminals teaching the children who go there.

The richer schools, have high technology and duel attendance options. They are given more scholarships and opportunities to make their college application look good. Yeah minorities from bad areas get into colleges like Yale and Princeton, but they work twice as hard as the ones who get in from good schools.

I know this was supposed to be a review, but it has become a word dump of all the things I think need fixing, and to think it all started with a tv show. Which means the show must be pretty freaking awesome, because it made me think of all these things. Watch it! Its pretty dope! If it makes me think beyond the fact that I have blamed only the justice system and not the laws that they are barred to. Something has to change and we have to change it.

I am a black woman, an activist for LGBT rights, women’s rights, and black lives. I stand for equality for everyone, although many of those people I fight for do not find a reason to fight for me.

“I didn’t learn to be quiet when I had an opinion. The reason they knew who I was is because I told them.” ~Ursula Burns

As a black woman, I go through several forms of disrespect a day, whether its a man and his obnoxious cat calls or inappropriate inbox messages, a white woman who grabs her purse if I reach for something near her in a store, or looked upon by a cashier as an annoyance when I pay for groceries for my family with a government given card.

I remember as a child I had a teacher tell me that I had three strikes against me. I was black, a woman and some other reason which I cannot remember now, but that third reason now, is because I am a part of the LGBT community.

I stand in protest with everyone and as an extra body I am welcomed but when I ask for respect I am ignored. I read an article from another black blogger who stated why she would not attend another Women’s March and she was not the first I have heard this before. According to many, not just by word of mouth, but also by videos posted to YouTube and Facebook, when black woman are in attendance to the woman’s movement, they are acted like they don’t belong. Like our issues are not their issues.

“Black girls loving themselves will always offend people who don’t see a reason for a black girl to be loved.” @onlyrickjames (Twitter)

I have seen many whitesplaining that mention us putting aside our difference for the “Women issues”, but as a black woman, our issues are doubled, if not tripled. We are told to be quiet, to not complain, to accept what is and keep moving. We have carried the world on our shoulders for centuries. We breast-fed white babies during slavery to be beaten by those same children who drank from us, we were the head of our households and the backbones of our families when black men were forced to leave and when they started leaving on their own. We have been behind many powerhouse moves, like the defeat of Roy Moore. Yet we are ignored until they need us.

A high percentage of white women who are protesting Trump voted for him, and now they look at us like we should forget the racist comments he has made and only focus on the sexual abuse scandals and belligerent disrespect he has for women. No we cannot. We need to focus on ALL the issues.

Imagine a world with no labels. No one boxed for being a man, woman, child, adult, senior, LGBT, black, white, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, no religion, disabled, veteran, employed and not. Imagine that we looked at disrespect and realized its a character flaw no matter who its against. See the funny thing is we all want respect and to be able to sleep at night comfortably, surrounded by the things and people we love. We all want to make a name for ourselves, or fulfill our purpose. Imagine if we all worked together instead of working against each other? Why does one set of people have to be miserable for the next to be happy?

As J.Cole said if we take down our leaders, the next to get on top will take advantage of their new found power. But what if we eliminate power and lead with compassion. Lead with making life easier for everyone?

http://luvthatart.com/african-american-art/salaam-muhammad

Black women have been kept silent and given reasons like they would hurt our families, our reputation and our name. As outspoken we are called angry black women, which causes many of us to lose our voices or to be silenced.

A black woman’s cry is everyones cry, because we fight beside all of you, but who turns around and pulls us up? Listen to the black woman’s cry, because our cries and our strength is what is holding up this country, despite if you believe in us. Don’t support us when we are on top and then take our credit and push us aside. We are importance to history, a legacy in our own and a power to be reckoned with.

Tiffany M. Arnold

Tag Archives: Freedom

Review Of All Things Wrong

But Really Its About ‘For The People’

The Black Woman’s Cry

I said what I said.