She’ll only truly rest in peace if we fight.
I try not to write or speak with emotion in fear of saying, not the “wrong thing”, but the thing that will distract from the main issue. The main issue here is this:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
The above is part of The Declaration of Independence; published and agreed upon by the founding members of this country over 230 years ago. In short, it says that we as a nation are entitled to liberty, the pursuit of Happiness, and certain other civil rights. That a Government is put in place to ensure that we maintain these rights. That if ever a time were to come when these self-evident truths weren’t upheld by the Government, we as the people reserve the right to “change” it till we feel safe and happy again.
I wonder who reads the story of Aiyana Jones and feels safe and happy. A beautiful 7 year old girl awoken from her sleep during a police raid and shot in the forehead in front of her grandmother; brain left on the couch for good measure. This wasn’t a movie, although a camera was rolling for a popular tv show, this was real life. Real life. The one you and I live in. The one you and I already have or may one day bring children into.
This isn’t black and white anymore. I see white people and every other race suffering just as much as we do. This is us. We’ve become so blinded as a society that we don’t even see anything anymore until something drastic happens. We’re so distracted by things that don’t matter that Aiyna Jones will be subjected to a few courtesy R.I.P’s on social networking sites, a few like myself will write about it and speak with friends about it, then next week we’re right back to grabbing popcorn to watch “The First 48″; the show that was allegedly being taped when this young girl was murdered in cold blood. The show that we find so comical and pleasurable.
I’ve never seen the entertainment in people killing each other. I definitely don’t see the entertainment in people telling on those who kill each other. I also see no entertainment in a system that one can argue is designed for us to kill and be home by 8pm to watch our own death on a new 50 inch LCD screen. That’s what we’re doing. We’re killing ourselves and watching it. A lot of us are even enjoying it. When I say killing, I don’t mean literally. I mean in the sense that when growth and progression is what’s expected but instead regression occurs, that’s a killing. A killing of what could be and what could’ve been.
Aiyana Jones could have been a mother and wife someday. Perhaps even the next President, but we’ll never know. Not due to the negligence of one idiot police officer, but due to our own negligence. We’ve neglected the fact that life is a fight. We came in here fighting and we should leave fighting. No one just popped out of their mother’s womb in an effortless manner; we fought to live. When you stop fighting, you die. Yes we now have fast internet, music we no longer have to purchase, and self-glorifying social media tools to distract us. So the struggle is over huh? As long as “I’m getting mine”. None of us is getting ours unfortunately. All we’re getting is closer and closer to complete destruction.
The only way Aiyana Jones and all who’ve fallen victim to a system that disregards the self-evident truths we’re entitled to will truly rest in peace, is if we fight. I realize not everyone sees things like I do. If I see a problem with a school, I fight it and leave it if need be; label me a dropout. If I see a problem at home, I fight it and leave it if need be; label me a homeless man. If I see a problem with a young lady I’m involved with, I fight it and leave her if need be; label me a control freak. (Note: I said leave, not run away. Leaving implies that the fight will continue just from a distance which is necessarry sometimes to maintain civility.) I’ll take any label except that which so many of us are boldy wearing on our chests – LOST. We’ve lost sight of the fights. We’ve lost sight of the fact that we’re obligated to fight. We ridicule those who still believe in fighting. If ever we do fight, it’s in the name of hurting the wrong enemy or trying to appear strong in front of a misguided audience.
As Lupe Fiasco put it:
Explained all their rules in Roots
But not enough to incriminate
just enough to demonstrate
Why they confused as mutes
Are easily consumed with hoops
Spar greedily for cubes and refused the truh
Followers, easily subdued by flutes
Swallowers, of anything the bandwagon hands them
Four bars of brilliant wordplay to essentially say that we’re lost. He’s coming from a pro-black perspective but believe me, it applies to every race. It’s just more shameful for us black people because of how hard we had to knock to get in the door; only to walk in and lose sight of why we ever wanted to be inside in the first place.
The only saving grace is that as far as we can see, life is a never ending season. Several players are called off the field like Aiyana Jones was but the season itself keeps going. We have every opportunity to turn things around. To do so we don’t need to wear all black and put our fists in the air. We don’t have to blow up or burn anything down. We don’t even have to write letters. We just simply have to look in the mirror on a daily basis and ask ourselves what is worth fighting for and then fight for it. If you ignore laws that make it permissible for officers to enter houses and shoot a little girl, believe me, one day an officer will enter a house and shoot a little girl.
I hope that in the midst of feeling sorrow and anger for what happened to Aiyana Jones and her family, we take it as an opportunity to feel sorrow and anger for ourselves. For allowing ourselves to become so weak that we invest so much time on trivial matters that the true injustices we should fight go unnoticed. PLEASE UNDERSTAND. Life is to be enjoyed. We should enjoy our technology. We should sing, dance, and play as often as possible. We should try to acquire finances so we can endulge in the luxuries that are available. But that can’t be it. We have to fight. Fight the urge to destructon disguised as entertainment. Fight the urge to scream for peace and live lifestyles that bring the complete opposite. Fight for Aiyana and everyone else who died becase we didn’t fight.
Share on Facebook
