This Is Why We Say Black Lives Matter
Those who oppose Black Lives Matter will come up with every excuse in the book as to why police officers had the right to kill an unarmed Black man.
Alton Sterling had a criminal record.
Stephon Clark vandalized cars and a cell phone can look like a gun at night.
Police officers have a dangerous job so responding violently sometimes becomes necessary.
But to those who oppose the Black Lives Matter movement, I have one question.
Why hasn’t Zachery Deville become a hash tag?
Why do we not see his parents and other family members wailing in horror as they try to understand why their loved-one is no longer living?
Authorities arrested Zachery Deville, a 24-year-old White man on March 27, after allegedly stabbing Turkey Creek, La. police chief Glen Leggett in the face.
No one wishes death on Zachery Deville because life is too precious, regardless of the mistakes that someone allegedly made in their past or present.
But to those who think Black people play the race card, what other card can we play when Black men are killed for having cell phones, selling untaxed cigarettes, jaywalking, carrying a legal weapon, which is constitutionally protected, and/or for playing with a toy gun in a park?
There are only two things that separate Zachery Deville from the countless Black men killed by police for suspicious reasons.
First, Zachery Deville actually posed a threat to police and attempted to kill one by stabbing a cop in the face when being arrested.
And second, Zachery Deville is White and that can explain why he is still alive, resting comfortably in a jail cell while his Black counterparts are resting in peace in someone’s cemetery.
According to KATC.com, “Deputies say that Leggett was trying to arrest Deville for trespassing, but Deville fought with him, brandished a knife and then stabbed Leggett across the left cheek.
“In Turkey Creek, Deville has been the center of trespassing accusations throughout the week.
“Complaints were made earlier this week about Deville wandering around different neighborhoods in the town.”
The key phrase that I took away from the statement above was that Deville fought with Leggett.
Before Deville stabbed Leggett, he fought with the police chief of the town.
Now, those who cry All Lives Matter say that Black people should just comply with police officers if they want to live.
I guess their definition of comply means to actually physically fight and attack a police chief, because Deville is still alive while many complying Black motorists like Philando Castile are dead.
Why do Black people have to comply with police officers just to stay alive while their White counterparts do not have to comply to live?
Deville attempted to kill a police officer, yet he lives.
And like Sterling, Deville had a history in his hometown.
According to a KATC.com interview with resident Jade Bordelon, “everybody” in town knew that Deville was trouble and probably involved with drugs.
Like Sterling, Deville lived in Louisiana.
Yet, unlike Sterling, Deville is still alive.
I guess his life mattered and Sterling’s life did not matter.
That fact is why Black Lives Matter activists protest.
Because it seems that White lives, no matter what kind of person they are, matter.
And unfortunately, it seems like Black lives do not matter; regardless of how positive a life that Black person lived like Castile.
The problem is that like all people, police officers carry their prejudices and stereotypes with them when they put on their uniform and go to work.
There is no superpower contained in a police uniform that destroys prejudices.
For some, Black people are seen as violent.
And for some, White people are viewed as not as violent.
And all a cop has to say is that their life was in danger and the shooting is justified.
It is just a shame that many cops do not know actual danger from the dangers of stereotypes and prejudices, and that could potentially really put them, and others, in real danger.
