All Lives Matter

All Lives Matter

For centuries, people have shared home with a great many Predators. Conceiving and grooming these anomalies, our universe calls us to love and embrace all that comes from her womb. From Natural disasters that occur more and more frequently, to the numerous diseases having its fill. We have been conditioned to accept that there may be a blood lusting tandem of wolf and vampire in our homelands, bickering over whom has the higher divine right to the flock. Because we live in such close quarters with many of the would be predators, our knowledge of these oppressive forces have become more intimate. In America, the wolf drains the veins of the economy, lusting power and financial dominance. The Vampire has a much broader family tree. These ancient carnivores are both thriving and in decay, simultaneously. Every breath could be their last. These are the many cancers, the illnesses. These are the many forms of a tragic and untimely death.

Prior to September of 1787, the then thirteen states of America governed the land and people through what was known as ‘The Firm League of Friendship.’ Once Problems with the Articles of confederation arose, our forefathers Gathered at a convention in Pennsylvania with hopes of revamping and strengthening our newly formed country. At the convention, a document would be introduced and signed into law, The Constitution For the People Of The United States of America. This document would prove to be the single most important roll of paper in our young history, and is recognized as the supreme law of the land. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.” The constitution provides standards by which all persons dwelling within the American territories would be equal, and free. The first Article of the constitution delegates legislative power to congress. The second Article grants executive power to an elected President over a specific span of time. The third Article vests judicial power in one Supreme Court.

The six Article, however, is one of my favorite. As well crafted, as this document is, the six Article is a direct reflection on the state of affairs during those evolutionary times. The second paragraph of the six Article states that the Constitution now represents the supreme laws of the country moving forward which all judges, lawmen and armed forces shall be bound by in duty. But here’s my favorite part, “with laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.” In essence, if a state creates a statue that directly contradicts that of the constitution, then that state should be considered encroaching or infringing on the rights of the people. As a result, that states’ statue shall be considered null and void.

On May 10, 1740 the South Carolina Assembly enacted a bill that would have a ripple effect among the southern populous in the first few weeks. Then lead to a tidal wave in the next few decades. This bill became known as the Negro Act of 1740. This new law would forever change the south and how slaves were seen and subsequently handled. Which was much tougher on a specific grouping of people than that of the Virginia Slave Act of 1705.

This Act made it illegal for captured Africans transported to the Americas to be seen as having equality with the now settled Europeans. They were not permitted to travel freely, assemble in groups, grow crops, earn, or read and write. Europeans claiming ownership over these beings were allow to murder these men women and children at leisure. It wasn’t until 1865 when this bill was eradicated. “Laws” such as the Negro Act of 1740 crippled a great legacy and gave a new perspective to the term ‘southern hospitality.’ With so many statues and laws springing up in the south, it was not a good idea to have melanin. European decedents who now called the America home were extremely hostile and easily provoked to fits of violence. The mere looking in the direction of a Caucasian man or woman could result in some kind of hemorrhaging. In hindsight, it seems as though there had always been a noose readily hanging and waiting.

In the heat of an August afternoon in 1955, a child fourteen years old was found after his life had been extracted brutally. This young man’s name is Emmett Till, a melanated young person whose family was outraged and made helpless by southern laws. Mr. Till had been hunted, beaten, bound and dragged from his family house in Mississippi. The most alarming realization comes when speaking on this topic, and someone is so insensitive that they ask, “Well, what did he do?”

The Constitution provides that every man is allowed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Caucasians that invaded Emmett Tills’ family home, allowed Emmett Till to carry a cotton gin fan with barbed wire. They allowed him a gruesome beating where they gouged his eyes out. They then allowed Emmett Till to Forfeit his life as they fired their arms. The Vampire Predators who assassinated the fourteen-year-old Emmett Till received a lopsided advantage during legal proceedings and were exonerated.

Although the south has been known to commit some very outrageous atrocities, the north has had quite a few “questionable” moments as well. Korey Wise was soon to be sixteen. The police and justice system of New York City declared this child a man. Between the hours of nine and ten PM on April 19, 1989, officers of the Manhattan division combed the streets for suspects involved in a string of assaults and robbery that took place in Manhattan’s Central Park. In one particular incident, a female jogger was physically and sexually assaulted. Trisha Meili, a Caucasian woman of twenty-eight, was found three hundred feet from the path known as 102nd crossing naked, gagged, tied and covered in mud and blood. She had suffered many facial fractures including the left eye, which had been fractured in twenty-one places. The New York Times coined this as “The most widely publicized crime of the 1980’s.” Five young people would eventually be accused, tried and presumed guilty for this predatory crime. Young people, who were considered guilty by the brave officers of NYC, the moment their complexion was realized. Police assaulted Korey Wise during the interrogation. He and four other teenage boys, three whom lived at Schomburg Plaza, were made to take blame for the atrocities that happened to Trisha Meili.

Irony is, while Korey Wise was serving an adult sentence of thirteen years in prison, he met Matias Reyes. Reyes is the only man that can be proven to have been with Ms. Meili that evening, as the semen samples found during the time of investigation matched him.

These predators that patrol our neighborhoods feed on our fear as well as our blood. It is unclear weather these Vampires fear us more than we do them. What is clear is that they love having our blood on their hands.

Uniform Police (policy enforcers) are trained to know and understand state laws and statues. They are sworn to defend the Constitution. Police officers learn how to properly perform criminal investigations, they learn proper patrol procedures, firearm training, self-defense, arrest techniques and interrogation methods. Each officer is equipped with a radio, a knife, a Taser, mace, a baton, a gun, a flashlight and handcuffs. Even with all of the training and experience, somehow, there have been far too many examples of bad policing. When the police assassinate a man, the department immediately issues a statements suggesting that the officer feared for his/her life. Many of these men have no prior self-defense training, they were unarmed and in no position to pose a threat. Beings like Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Michael Brown, Sean Bell, Breanna Taylor, Walter Scott, Amadou Diallo and George Floyd’s world ended under police supervision. A question begs to be asked; is this what they train these predators to accomplish in the academy?

Each officer has four means to subdue a target, three non lethal. The firearm should be the last option for an officer who is defending the constitution, and protecting its citizens. However, many of these officers approach the scene with gun in hand and fixed on the target.

Not all confrontations with policy enforcers have been deadly for the accused. Larry Davis was allegedly suspected for the murder of four men in the NYC. During a raid of his sisters’ apartment in the Bronx 1986, Larry Davis shot six police officers in an intense ‘stand-your-ground’ style shootout as he made his escape. New York went in uproar, as the city’s police hunted for Davis. Davis would eventually be found not guilty of murder and attempted murder, but would be convicted of illegal weapons possession. While serving a fifteen-year sentence, Larry Davis would be assaulted on numerous occasions resulting in broken bones. When a documentary aired about the corruption of the police involved in this case, life became much more difficult for Davis. Larry Davis would eventually succumb to stab wombs while in police custody.

If all lives truly matter, why then are these great predators destroying families with impunity? Why is a child with melanin more likely to sleep in a prison cell, than a college dormitory? The history of this Country is violence. Blood and Money for the vampire and the wolf. Its tough to speculate if all lives matter. It is even tougher to decide which great predator is master. One thing stands evident; those that volunteer to serve and protect must to do better.