Tag Archives: Police the police

The Hate You Give – Angie Thomas

July 31, 2018 tiffanywrites2 Leave a comment

This is More Than A Story – This is Our Life

As I hear the stories and then find out this movie is about to be made into a book, I pull it out my TBR, out of order, and begin to flip the pages. Yes I had the hardback book, and it made it that more important to me as I flipped the pages in reality. I am shaking as I am writing this, because this book is so realistic, so powerful.

Starr is your normal kid, I mean she is living in the hood but has the privilege to go to a private school on the other side of town. Her uncle, a police officer, lives over there. But in the beginning, she was just a girl, in a party in her neighborhood. They were celebrating Spring Break and it was the annual party that the local DJ did every year.

Starr never went to these but her best friend/her brothers other sister invited her. She sees her old best friend Khalil come in and they back and forth like it hasn’t been awhile since they hung out. A fight breaks out, and Khalil grabs her out and takes her to his car to take her home.

andras-vas-455552-unsplash — Photo by Andras Vas on Unsplash

The blue lights pull up behind them, and while she remembers her parents instructions, she wonders if anyone has had the talk with Khalil. You know the talk, speak only when spoken to, keep your hands in sight and don’t make sudden movements. The talk that every Black parent has with their kid about being stopped by the police. He didn’t, he moved and came back to the car to see if Starr was ok, and the cop shot. He shot more than once until Khalil’s bullet ridden body was on the ground leaking his blood into the pavement.

This is Starrs story of being a witness to something horrible and not wanting to be public, to showing not only did she have enemies of the police, but the streets were not all on the side of justice. This shows how hard it is to know whats going on but still have to deal with death everyday.

To deal with the racism that comes with a black boy being a victim of a cop, because of course he has to be a gang banger or a drug dealer. How the victim was put on trail to determine if the police officer would even be charged.

This may be a work of fiction, but its not. Its the reality of being black in America. Being in poverty and feeling like you have no choice in your life decisions. In having white friends who go by everything that the media says, because their comfort is more important than our lives.

This book is a reality, and I cannot wait to see how beautiful the movie is going to be. EVERYONE needs to see this movie, and read this book, because the pain felt behind Angies words, are the pain we felt after each hashtag died.

activism

Unapologetically Black

May 10, 2018 tiffanywrites2 Leave a comment

Lately there has been an attack on black people, we can’t barbecue, fall asleep studying in our dorm common area, wait before ordering coffee, nor ask for plastic ware because the silverware is dirty.

WHAT THE FUCK?

Its like the racist, stereotyping or far left have decided to call the police for every little thing that we do, because perhaps, they will kill us off. What’s worse, is that some of the police think so little of black people that they automatically side with the person who has called and has resulted to them thinking they have the right to put their hands on us.

Continue reading Unapologetically Black →

activism, politics, review

Review Of All Things Wrong

April 13, 2018 tiffanywrites2 Leave a comment

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.

review

7 Seconds – No Justice

March 15, 2018 tiffanywrites2 Leave a comment

A 15-year old black boy in Jersey City killed in a hit and run by a cop. As much as this show is fictional, its reality. This show tells the story of the hashtags in court, how the victim is put on trail, how the politics of the person prosecuting the corrupt cops and how they will stand for each other in the end.

This show displays how many families are left without answers and justice for their families members murdered in cold blood. I believed the tears of Regina King, because as a black mother, there is nothing worse you can imagine. Burying a child is hard enough, without the people who should be finding the murders covering it all up.

Then to add insult to injury when you hear the word guilty, the justice system slaps them on the wrist with a penalty that a drug charge would see more time. Less than a year later, that same cop is back on the streets, more than likely with the same job, and the ones who covered for him never leaving the block. Realizing even more that they are invincible, because they are the law, and the law cannot be held against them.

I felt every person who sat as the judge left, you have no honor, you are one of them. He mights as well left Brandon Butlers body himself. He might as well been behind the wheel of the blue SUV that left his body for 12 hours in the cold.

A television show to most, but the reality and fears of black parents every where. Its not about race, it wasn’t a hate crime, but we all know it was. They named him a gang member as he laid there dying. I bet had they reported it, he would’ve lived. I bet if he reported it, there wouldn’t have been any charges, but all he cared about was himself and the son that he will never see again.

This show was good, but it pissed me off at the same time. Because to me it added another hashtag to a sea of names left. An unanswered question for that mother, a young black boys life destroyed while the life of another child, a newborn scarred. Netflix, damn you… Damn you for making me bring that anger up, that fight up that we are far from done from our fight, its just on pause, but for how long?

Things need to be fixed while things are quiet, lets save the next kids life. The next black man, woman or child from having their lives interrupted because the color of their skin is a threat to someone who should have more restraint.

activism, review

Review: Fruitvale Station

February 8, 2018 tiffanywrites2 Leave a comment

Lets not wait for another hashtag…

I have watched Fruitvale Station a half dozen times, and I cry overtime even though I already know the ending. Oscar Grant was not the first police officer killing I heard of, but it was the one that I was old enough to really understand and be upset by. The sad thing is, it only got worse from there.

In case you haven’t heard of the movie, or the situation, let me break it down. Oscar Grant was shot and killed by police officers on January 1st, 2009. The many recordings from several peoples phones helped to convict the police officer of murder, where he was sentenced to 2 years in prison (he only served 11 months). This shows a young black man, 22 years old, who wasn’t perfect and did as was told, was provoked and murdered.

I’m sure there are plenty who look at this movie and say they should’ve been quiet, they should’ve done this and that, but I call BULLSHIT! No one deserves to be shot and killed without a reason, heres the cops reason – he thought he was reaching for his taser. Bruh, you don’t know the difference between a taser and a gun, then you shouldn’t be a cop.

See although black men and women (including children) are more likely to be killed than others, I don’t believe its a race thing, I believe its a police training issue. Police around the country are starting to shoot first and then ask questions, then blame the person they murdered. Think about Justine Ruszczyk, a white woman, who came looking for help and was shot through the police car window because she supposedly startled them.

I remember a time when police officers were trained to shoot to disarm not shoot to kill and now these cops are acting like they are playing Call of Duty and going straight for the kill shot. I mean with no time to assess the situation. Tamir Rice was shot and killed within seconds of the police arriving on the scene. This was a child who was probably scared to death when they pulled up. They didn’t even give him a chance to put anything he had down, nor given instructions to. The officers came on the scene with the intent to gun him down.

The sad part is the justice system does not help by not making examples out of these officers and sending them to jail to rot, nor our their fellow officers by turning in the cops who take power for granted. The police are supposed to protect and serve, and yet there are more kids who are afraid of them than any other villain. My children are afraid of being pulled over because of Sandra Bland’s story or Philando Castile, or call the police when they are afraid because of Yvette Smith.

We have to change this, don’t be quiet now, just because there is no new hashtag to be angry over, we need to create change now. Do you know that four, FOUR Black Lives Matters activist have been murdered, oh, wait, I’m sorry, you have to include Sandra Bland because she made videos about the problem before she was murdered. Things need to change so that we can feel safe with the people who are supposed to protect us, because right now, you could call the cops and be the next victim.

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Tiffany M. Arnold