(ThyBlackMan.com) The apartment complex that I live in is next to one of the most affluent and well-known neighborhoods in the city. The community is just over two and a half miles long, and it is become home to my college town coaches and big shots. I have been making a habit of running it down and back for my exercise during the quarantine. 5.25 miles.
But the death of Ahmaud Arbery has prompted my mom and a few friends of mine to voice their concerns. Simply put, they do not want me running through a neighborhood filled with people who mostly don’t look like me.
Maybe 21-year-old Brad would shrug his shoulders at their rationale. 28-year-old Brad? I completely understand.
But this scenario should drive home how it feels to be an African American man in America. That I, a man of color, should have to be careful going for a run because you never know what will ensue. A simple jog drive to the store, or even just going out for leisure could be our last times alive.
Ahmaud Arbery’s story hits home, too, because African Americans are always tired of the same song and dance. An African American gets killed by the police or someone of the caucasian race. Then, the victim in death becomes the perpetrator, and their departure from this earth was their fault. Lather. Rinse, Repeat.
See:
Trayvon Martin.
Tamir Rice.
Michael Brown.
Etc.
Now we must add George Floyd to the list.
Floyd’s death came by the knee of a police officer this past Monday. And currently, the place where the crime was committed (Minneapolis) is burning down as I type.
In short, we are tired.
We are tired of having only to see our fellow African American’s targeted because of the color of their skin. But most importantly, we are tired of being murdered because of our skin.
And we are tired even in death being the victim.
It just is not supposed to be this way.
Ahmaud Arbery, in an ideal world, should get all of the empathy he and his family deserve. No one deserves murder: especially when the only behavior they exhibited was running through a neighborhood. However, what the world is showing continuously that the life of a minority does not matter. That investigating the crime of a minority shot dead is too tedious to do. It is why it took social media backlash to bring George Zimmerman into the indictment stage. Or why the father and son who killed Arbery were home free for two and a half months.
But of course, the media and the powers that be will dig into the deceased. While slowly finding background information that would indicate they are the reason for their death.
It happened to Trayvon
Mike Brown
Tamir Rice
ETC!!!
We are tired, man. And now with George Floyd killed by the knee of a Caucasian white officer, it appears that taking a nap or a long night’s worth of sleep is not enough.
What is next? I am not sure. But I do know that we are tired, man.