808 Quotes About Social-justice

It is not fun to be pulled over by a police officer. We’re upset or anxious when we’re pulled over by the police. We often know what we did wrong and await the penalty, or we wonder what we did wrong and await the explanation. But, do we expect to be manhandled or abused by the officer? Do we fear that he might kill us? For black people, especially black men, those fears are too frequently an unfortunate reality.

While white people may never completely understand or fully grasp the experience of being black in America, together, We The People must try to bridge the racial divide. And the result will be a stronger nation.

Our police force must not only enforce the law; it must obey the law. In America, that applies to all citizens, regardless of race, creed, or ethnic origin. Our goal as a department, as a community, hell, as a society, is total colorblindness when it comes to law enforcement.

Should I grab something, start crying and screaming, punch you or one of your detectives? Would that get your attention? Maybe the media would come running! I punch you; you arrest me! The media would be all over that! ‘Crazy black mother punches police captain! Details at eleven!’ I’ll do that if it’ll help me find my daughter! How’s that sound to you?

The cop’s suspended with pay. With pay, Mama! My husband is dead, and his killer gets a paid vacation? What kind of justice is that?

I pull over a colored guy who’s driving, probably stoned, with his kids in the car! I smell marijuana! Out of the blue, this scumbag tells me he’s got a gun and a license to carry. Why does he tell me that? Does he plan to shoot me?“Show me your hands, I tell him. He ignores me, Brenda! He reaches down into his pocket. Is he reaching for the gun? Why won’t he show me his hands? He’s not ‘the black guy’ or ‘the white guy,’ dammit! He’s the guy with the fucking gun!

Can you imagine sitting in the passenger seat and back seat of a car and watching a cop shoot and kill your husband and father?

You’re worried that one small case will trigger some kind of race war?

How we treat Sarah Hayes is important. But we must follow up this meeting with a call to action. I do not want to see any innocent citizen, white or black, killed unnecessarily by a police officer. When something like this happens to a black kid, my natural instinct is to say, ‘Thank God it’s not my kid’ or to ask, ‘What if that were my kid?’ Wouldn’t any officer feel the same way if a person of their race was killed?