A Sad Reality

A Sad Reality
by. William C. Walker Jr.

November 27, 2014

Monday the nation learned whether or not the grand jury would indict Ferguson MO. police officer Darren Wilson.  The man that fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown.  While many in the media and around the country speculated on what the outcome would be, in the black community we already knew the outcome.  So when the announcement was made that the grand jury would not indict Wilson it was hardly earth shattering news.  Unfortunately to me and many in the black community this is what we expected to hear.  What would have been earth shattering news would have been if Wilson was indicted.  As anger inducing as the result was the feeling is beyond anger it's just a profound sadness.  Sad that we live in a time where it continues to be okay to murder black men.  As a black man in this country it's sad to me that I have to live in fear that at any moment my life or if I have a son his life could be in jeopardy.  I know many will say in the case of Michael Brown that he was a criminal, that's why the police were confronting him in the first place.  True Brown had robbed a convenience store of some cigars, but did that really constitute him being shot in the streets like an animal?  I'm sad because when being pulled over for whatever the reason I have to be extremely mindful of my hand placement, the words I choose when speaking to an officer and not moving suddenly.  For it's become evident to me in this country that regardless of what I've done as a black man in this country I'm a walking target.

It's a sad reality when you see footage of our people destroying are own community.  While I fully agree with the anger and outrage, I'd much rather see positive protest that have been taking place all across the country.  But we live in a sad reality where the media would rather show the same acts of violence on a loop, as opposed to constantly stream a peaceful march.  It's hard to feel anything but sadness when you constantly see the killing of unarmed black children.  Beyond race just the fact that police feel the need to use excessive force in these instances every time.  We're getting to the point when you're so tired of hearing these stories of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, and so many more.  Where the common denominator in the situation is that the person is black unarmed, and rarely do you see the perpetrator see justice.  What makes this so sad is the fact that officer Wilson won't even see the inside of a courtroom.  My brother is a lawyer and he often told us how his law professor's said the running joke in the law community is that you can get an indictment of a ham sandwich.  That's to the level of difficulty on how it is to get an actual indictment.  An indictment isn't an admission of guilt it's not a trial. It's simply saying there's enough evidence to go to trial.  Regardless of the multiple accounts from various witnesses that tell differing stories.  You can't tell me that you couldn't even take this to trial and allow Wilson's attorney to do the job of proving his innocence.  It's a continuing message to Officer Wilson and his ilk that you did nothing wrong.  An unarmed man lost his life, and there was nothing wrong with what you did.  So why would any officer or person with a gun think twice when confronted by an unarmed black man?

It's sad to me is when you see stories of a white assailant going on shooting rampages, they're actually taken into custody such as shooting that took place in Colorado.  When if ever there was a cause for lethal force that would be it.  Yet people who don't even have a weapon are gunned down.  Out of all the tools in an officer's arsenal pepper spray, mace, tazer, a baton, the weapon he had to choose was a gun and fire it 10 times.  I put my trust in God and remain hopeful that he'll continue to watch over me.  I pray that he'll continue to watch over my children.  It makes me sad that if I'm blessed with a son that I'll have to sit him down and have a discussion with him on how he has to protect himself when out in the world.  Because it doesn't seem to matter whether he's doing what's right.  Doesn't matter whether he's holding a pack of skittles, or weating a hoody.  It doesn't seem to matter what he's doing when it's so evidently clear that anyone can have just cause to shoot and killed a boy or man of color.  So I want us feel this sadness and turn it into motivation to continue to speak out against injustice.  To continue to march peacefully and let our voices be heard on how things need to change.  How black men don't need to be treated like animals hunted and killed for no reason.  For if we continue to be silent and sit idly by the sad reality is that in the end none of this will change.