Daunte Wright: The Loss Of Another Black Man

For those of you who have not seen the news Daunte Wright was a 20 year old man that was pulled over in suburban Minneapolis on a "routine" traffic stop which resulted in his death via the police officer that stopped him. It is still early in the investigation and they are still pulling evidence and collecting the facts but the chief of police released a statement stating that the officer meant to fire her taser and not her gun.

Whether it is an accident or deliberate the out cry is the same. There is another black man taken too soon. There is another child taken away from its father, and there is parents having to bury their son.

Reading this story and watching this mothers painful pleas for them to remove her sons body from out the street brought tears to my eyes. Hearing these parents talk about how Wright called his mother to let her know he was being pulled over brought back memories of how Floyd called out to his mother as a police officer took his life.

As a black woman with two black sons I'm TERRIFIED. When do my babies become dangerous. When is it no longer safe for them to walk down the street peacefully without fearing for their lives. At what age do I start teaching them to fear the police? When do I have the conversation explaining that because of the amount of melanin you were born with you have to try extra hard to appear as calm and compliant as possible?

As a mother when do I begin to accept that none of that will be enough? That my son can be walking down the street to get some tea and skittles and still lose his life? That my baby can be taking a jog and never return home back to me.

As a black woman with a black father, black brothers, uncles, cousins, kids, and friends I am afraid for their lives at all times. I am at a lost on how I can protect these strong misunderstood kings.

That's what I feel as a black woman everyday.

Now as a human being, a human just like everyone else in this world, I also can understand that its quite possible a mistake was made here and I feel for this officer and her family. I understand the regret and hurt that this woman may be dealing with because of her actions. I can hear the shock in her voice when she voices the mistake as soon as she realizes it.

If you haven't watched the body cam footage you can see it here.

I think that in the midst of all of this outrage over this situation our anger, fear, and hurt will come across like we don't understand that this wasn't done deliberately. That we will not understand that this mistake of pulling a gun instead of a taser was not because of his race and that we will not understand that Wright was wrong for resisting arrest.

What I would like for everyone that feels this to understand is that the racial profiling happened when this young man was pulled over. The race was a factor when three officers taking on one man decided that their first instinct should be to pull a weapon.

Far too many mistakes have happened in black history when it comes to our people dying. They were mistakenly ignored when they cried out that they couldn't breathe, mistakenly ignored when they explained they are unarmed, mistakenly looked over as they were stalked and beaten when walking home from the store, mistaken as criminals while jogging, and mistakenly ignored when advising that they are not a threat.

I understand as well that Daunte was wrong for resisting arrest. He was in no shape or form correct in his actions but he also did not deserve to die. Mistakes were made on both sides here but understand that this officer killed a man. An officer that is supposed to serve and protect pulled the wrong weapon and killed a man who was barely beginning his life.

The same way there are some that are tired of the rioting, the looting, the call of racial equality, along with the end of police brutality; understand that there are those of us that are equally tired of seeing black men lying in the street from a traffic stop gone wrong. We are tired of turning on the news and having to add yet another name to our list of unarmed blacks that were taken to soon by those who are supposed to serve and protect. Tired of fearing the day our babies become men in a world that only sees them as a threat.

We are ALL tired. So why cant changes be made? Why cant there be understanding and empathy? Why cant things be different then they were yesterday?

If the only thing you have to say when reading this mans story and hearing his mothers cries is that he shouldn't have resisted then there lies the problem.