Eleanor Roosevelt High School's Student-Run Newspaper

The Raider Review

Eleanor Roosevelt High School's Student-Run Newspaper

The Raider Review

Eleanor Roosevelt High School's Student-Run Newspaper

The Raider Review

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Staff Editorial: All Lives Matter Equally

It is easy to deceive and exclude ourselves from the world’s problems when they are merely the world’s problems, and not directly our own. But that makes us fools. Fools distracted, disengaged, and discouraged. Distracted by the intangible, what sports teams are best and what celebrity wore it best. Disengaged not only by the inability to be empathetic, but also by the ability to be ignorant. And discouraged because every time we demand justice the world seems to yell no.

But somewhere between hearing Bob McCulloch announce that Darren Wilson was not indicted and hearing Eric Garner’s murder go uncharged, despite Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe”, ignorance stopped qualifying as an excuse. Even when we can trace its origins, ignorance is never a good enough justification when racism claims innumerable innocent lives. We cannot condone ignorance when one officer chooses to shoot down the black and unarmed, like Michael Brown, but another officer chooses to talk down the white and armed, like Joseph Houseman.

McCulloch’s casual insensitivity and indifferent tone when announcing the grand jury’s verdict epitomize the way society has managed to devalue the lives, struggles, and experiences of oppressed populations – whether those populations are oppressed by race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic class, or any other defining characteristic. Like many Americans who blame others for actions they should take responsibility for, McCulloch’s constant reminder that the results of the prosecution were the work of his assistants exemplifies our inclination to point fingers rather than take ownership of our actions (or inactions) and their consequences.

Racism is alive because prejudice exists. Everyone is so quick to shun the word ‘racism’ in attempt to obliterate all allegations and the surrounding discomfort and shame regarding it. We like to believe that we’ve progressed to an era where we don’t judge and stereotype one another by skin color. We like to believe that we’ve progressed to a time of complete equality. We like to believe that we as humans have progressed to a point where we don’t use power to oppress others, but that is simply not true. And we cannot, we will not, progress if we do not tackle the driving force behind inequality and discrimination. We cannot defeat racism if we do not acknowledge it. Racism is a disease and the more we deny its existence, the faster it spreads, and the more lives we lose to it.

We are sick of hearing that black people don’t care when the crime is black-on-black, and that they only care when a white person kills a black person. This is not only invalid but ignorant. Black people care whenever a life is lost but it is less publicized, less talked about, less problematic because when a black person kills another black person, they often face life in prison; but if a white person kills a black person, regardless of how incriminating the evidence, there is a pretty solid chance that they will not be charged.

Police brutality is alive because power corrupts. Police brutality exists because a young black man is considered a ‘threat’, and officers can use lethal force in situations where they are ‘threatened’. But how does one determine someone to be a threat? By size? Height? Sexuality? Skin color? Because these ‘threatening’ people often are killed for appearing rather than acting threatening.

So, why is everyone quick to shun the victims in an attempt to justify the police? We like to believe that all police officers are good and well-intentioned, because it is terrifying to acknowledge that those we have appointed to protect us are the ones killing us. To believe that some members of the police force aren’t arresting the bad guys, but instead are the bad guys is horrifying, but it is a reality. And this reality is not inclusive of all police officers, because not all police officers are villains in disguise; but it is also not exclusive of other people in positions of power. This reality lends itself to the legal system, which often discriminates and guarantees justice only to those it considers worthy of protection, but then again “a system cannot fail those it was never meant to protect”. This reality extends to politicians, government officials, and every citizen who has deemed them self superior to or better than another. Many people in power are blind to the prejudice and bigotry in their actions.

Perfection and prosperity are difficult to accomplish in any circumstance, let alone while perishing in poverty. So this idea of exposing and criminalizing victims to criminalize them is disgusting. Some media coverage has been disgusting. Eric Garner was killed and yet people criticized him for selling cigarettes. Trayvon Martin was killed and yet people castigated him for being on suspension and smoking marijuana. Michael Brown was killed and yet people chastised him for committing petty theft and smoking marijuana; according to law, none of these actions warrant the death penalty. Somehow America has gotten lost in this perception of a black boy who smokes marijuana as an out of control, threatening, terrifying, rebellious, dangerous, horrid person, who deserved to be killed, but a celebrity or even simply a white boy who smokes marijuana as cool or ‘just having fun’.

Minorities are placed in the suppressive box by society that they can’t seem to break out of because if they shut up no one will hear them and if they speak up no one will listen to them. Just like protestors in Ferguson, sometimes if they’re peaceful people aren’t listening, things are changing quickly enough, media isn’t covering it; but if they’re violent, everyone is judging them, claiming the violence they exhibit to be the reason minorities are killed in the first place. So how do we work toward meaningful change?

Moving forward, people must to be angry. But not heat-of-the-moment angry and not angry and destructive of property or one another. Rather we must feel passionate anger, anger about destructive stereotypes and discrimination. Without passion driving the anger, people get upset and then forget, or upset and distracted and things don’t change, because we angry long enough. We must be angry and proactive. We must be angry without fear, but with hope. We must take back some of this corruptive power, this dominative power, that allows some of our leaders to hurt us. And we must monitor those who have power by creating laws that make law enforcement wear body cameras, and take other measures to ensure humane and sensitive policy, and rebuild laws that are outdated and selective.

People are dying. They’re being killed. We should care because we are all connected by one race – the human race. Tamir Rice is our cousin. Michael Brown is our brother and son. Eric Garner is our father and uncle. Trayvon Martin is us. We must begin to stand for something or die for nothing.

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Staff Editorial: All Lives Matter Equally