Another life taken

My mom told me about another unarmed young person that was shot and killed by local police today. I believe it happened in Chatham County (Savannah, GA for those of you who are unfamiliar). The young man’s parents were complaining about how little outrage there was surrounding his cold-blooded murder.

The young man was white.

I was speechless, but I knew with my current positioning, and pattern of being vocal about police brutality and #BlackLivesMatter, that my mom was waiting on me to give a response. I couldn’t find the right words to say without devaluing the life loss. After a moment or two of silence I replied, “That’s truly sad. I can see why the parents felt the way they did”.

NEW YORK – DECEMBER 3: Demonstrators walk together during a protest December 3, 2014 in New York. Protests began after a Grand Jury decided to not indict officer Daniel Pantaleo. Eric Garner died after being put in a chokehold by Pantaleo on July 17, 2014. Pantaleo had suspected Garner of selling untaxed cigarettes. (Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images)

Their child’s life was stolen for reasons we will never know. And because of the lack of response or outcry from the party fighting against police brutality, does that make this particular victim just another number? Should he not be remembered? Should his story not make national headlines?

I genuinely do not have answers to the questions above. I realize that one can belong to more than one movement, and fight for justice of more than one party at the same time; but how do you find the balance? Which movement should take precedence – #BlackLivesMatter or the fight towards police reform?

Both go hand-in-hand, but #BlackLivesMatter will be a continuous fight after the police reform battle has been won. Every life matters – I feel like I shouldn’t have to say that, but to stop a troll in its tracks before they jump stupid, I’ll say it.

#BlackLivesMatter is a thing because black lives have been historically devalued within society. The way we walk, talk, and/or breathe are threatening, and for some, enough grounds to assassinate. Changing the inner workings of the country’s police forces will help, but the real task will be to change the hearts and minds of the predators.

The young, white, unarmed Chathamite will be acknowledged by his community, I’m sure, but will unfortunately not receive the same national attention as the Brown’s, Martin’s and Gray’s of the world.

I don’t make the rules.

Now, try and explain this to his parents. My heart won’t let me.

Ashley Rey is a young, single mom residing in Los Angeles, by way of Detroit. She blogs about her life’s experiences on her personal site, bashinla.com, and is also a contributor for HipHopBattle.com where she writes on topics ranging from racism in America to Hip-Hop “Think” pieces. You can find her on instagram and twitter @bashinla, and keep up with she and her 2-year-old son by watching her weekly recap vlogs on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/bashinlavlog.