Violation of right, or of the rights of another.

A report that gained a lot of traction came to light in mid August of this year, about a week after Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr. discovered their college-bound baby boy, Michael Brown, laying dead in the streets. The report stated that over a seven year period ending in 2012, on pretty much a weekly basis, white police officers killed two Black people in the United States.

These numbers don’t necessarily show the entire picture, because these murders are reported by the police departments themselves, which means there are instances where the total deaths are not counted accurately, obviously for public relations and “privacy” (i.e. “we are not putting our own BS out in the streets for everyone to see”). So, the actual number of police murders can be a lot higher than the figures mentioned above. But, in 2013, the reported numbers of Black people murdered actually did rise.

Also, in 2012, 313 African-Americans were killed by police officers, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes which translates to one Black person being executed every 28 hours. And while those number may seem alarming, it should be noted that these are not, in any way, shape or form, a recent set of tragic events. Before we knew names like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and John Crawford III, there was Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant and Sean Bell. Hell, before that there was so many names from the racially tense 90’s, all the way back to the civil rights era, that there’s just too many to list. But in the Black community we know this, because the survival skills we teach our young Black children are the same lessons are parents taught us, and even what their parents told them. Inequality for some is an unfortunate reality of American life for Black folks.

But when a Black boy or girl is gunned down by the police, our initial reaction is to assume that their death was an injustice. We believe it was an act totally against the morality of the United States. We assume that their racialized targeting at the hands of disproportionate force is an outlier in the land of the free, and the home of the brave. But, if Black men, women and children have constantly been targets of the system, and their state-salaried killers mostly escape conviction and even indictment for committing these horrendous murders, then at what point do we realize that Black folks are not currently being afforded the same level of justice as their caucasian counterparts?

Mike Brown’s death, and Ferguson’s grand jury decision to not even charge Darren Wilson with any wrongdoing, is NOT some sign of a recent, tragic turn in the justice system.
Brown’s death can not sensibly be considered an injustice in the strictest sense of the term, because distributing fairness and equality to Blacks has never been an objective for the United States of America. His death is sad, infuriating, disgusting and unnecessary. Officer Wilson’s actions were appalling, terrifying and, well, completely fucked up. The entire justice system that allowed Wilson to get off without even having a real trial can only be described as mind-numbingly corrupt.

So, I REFUSE to call this an injustice, because it would signify that there was a point where Black folks were given the benefit of equal justice and rights, and that is simply a historic inaccuracy.

But, I want Mike Brown’s death to be an injustice. I want Mike Brown’s killer to be tried and to face his actions head on. I want to look at America as a bastion of equal rights, allocated fairly without racial bias or privilege. I want every African-American to live in a country where we are not 21 times more likely to be shot by a police officer than a white person.

But until we receive true and equal justice, such executions should be referred to as what they truly are: the results of racist business as usual. How far have we come to the precious ideal of a post-racial society when we are saying the same things today, that we did in 1991?