Moya Morgan – Sports Editor
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Black lives matter protest (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).
The news reported that an African American male had been shot and killed in an act of police brutality. According to CNN.com, Walter Scott was killed on Saturday morning by Michael Slager, a five year veteran of the North Charleston Police department after what initially began as a traffic stop.
In the video that surfaced, it appears that Scott, unarmed, attempted to run away from Slager but to no avail.
Slager pulled his gun, eight shots rang out and Scott fell to the ground. When Slager made a call to dispatch, he claimed that Scott went for his stun gun and that he felt threatened. What happened before the video is still in question.
From Trayvon Martin, to Eric Garner, Michael Brown and now Scott, cases in which law enforcement officers gun down African American men are unfortunately something that we are all too familiar with. In this particular case, Slager has been arrested and charged with murder. It seems as though there may be a glimmer of hope that the family of Scott might get justice.
Protestors have rallied to protest the shooting. Some have gathered outside of North Charleston’s City Hall. Others have taken the streets of Charleston to protest the shooting and to voice their disapproval of Slager’s actions.
On Wednesday when the news broke about the shooting, there were several tweets, Facebook comments and news articles discussing the case. One particular comment sent a wave of heat down my spine. It read, “Why are they still protesting? The officer has already been arrested. Isn’t that what they wanted?”
All lives matter, but not all lives are being threatened by police brutality.
In the same way that the Occupy Wall Street Movement brought to light social and economic inequalities, the Black Lives Matter movement is pushing to bring attention to police brutality faced by African Americans. According to data by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice, young black men are 4.5 times more likely to be killed by police than any other race. Slager’s arrest does not mean that the fight is over.
There is power in visibility and vocalization. Initiatives such as Black Lives Matter exist as representatives for those individuals whose voices have been taken away from them. Protestors march to help shine a light on an institution that has deemed it acceptable for law enforcement to erase a generation of individuals.
The Black Lives Matter movement affirms the lives of black people who are intentionally left powerless. It is a call to action and a response to the killing of African Americans by police. The protests must continue to help create a world in which black lives are no longer targeted for demise. They exist to remind the black community as well as the rest of the world of our value and our resilience in the face of oppression.
