A Letter to Michael Brown
Ose Arheghan
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
As a child you recite this anthem every day, but I am no longer sure that these words hold any meaning at all.
I am growing up in a nation where people are scared to walk down a street because of prejudice towards skin color.
I am growing up in a nation where you have to explain to children why we must fight for equality.
I am growing up in a nation where at 14 years old, I am judged by my skin color before a word comes out of my mouth.
I am growing up in a nation where 60 years ago, at 14 years old, Emmett Till was lynched for supposedly flirting with a white girl.
I am growing up in a nation where 60 years later, my mother has to tell Till’s story to my brothers before they leave the house and pray they come back home alive.
I am growing up in a nation where liberty and justice for all was not written for black skin.
While I am proud to be an American, I am scared to be a black American, and to Michael Brown, who probably grew up reciting the same pledge in a classroom somewhat like mine, I am sorry.
Your liberty and justice were somehow lost, but we are fighting to find it.
Sasha Rae-Grant | Nov 26, 2014 at 1:09 am
Six shots. Four direct hits. One fatal shot to the forehead. Nearly half a standard Glock clip, which is what most police officers carry. Does that sound like self-defense to you? Unloading half a clip into the body of an unarmed kid? A gun should not be the first response of an officer to an unarmed attack. There are so many ways to disable someone without killing them, or even using a gun in the first place. This was an unnecessary death, and that’s where the anger comes from. Another unnecessary death of a young black man at the hands of a white police officer.
The grand jury that decided Darren Wilson didn’t need to be indicted had 9 white members, and only 3 African-Americans, to represent a town with a more than 60% black population. They only needed 9 people to agree whether or not to indict Wilson.
I am a white woman, but I see this and I worry. I worry for my cousin, a young black man in the middle of Mississippi. I worry for my friends, who are judged for their skin color before you even hear them speak. I worry for my country, where people can see an officer of the law shoot down an unarmed kid and think it justified.
All lives matter. They should not just be waved away under the guise of “self defense”. The fact that the law allows a police officer to get away with homicide is not just. This was not appropriate use of force. There was no justice. This was not right.
I am angry that this could happen. You should be too. But here you are. You hide behind your anonymity on the internet. You don’t have the guts to stand by your own opinions with your own name.
Where was liberty? Where was justice? Wilson needs to be held accountable for his actions, but that’s not going to happen until people like you realize that the law is not right.