Ignorance is a Choice - A Reflection by Kaiya Jefferson

To put it simply my people and I are tired. Tired of watching our brothers, sons, daughters, sisters, fathers, and mothers be murdered by those sworn in to protect and serve. Tired of watching a man die and going about our day at work and school where no one seems uneasy. Tired of police getting away with murder. Tired of white people telling us to “get over it” instead of using their privilege for justice. Tired of the “I’m so sorry” and “I had no idea” when you have too much access to not know. Tired of ignorance because it is a choice. But despite the exhaustion, we have begun to revolutionize to get justice just like our ancestors did before to rid of slavery, to get the right to vote, to get the right to an education, to destroy jim crow laws, and counter segregation. At this point in time, I notice who is silent. It all those girls at my school who boast about their “activism” and “feminism”, who claim they respect Black culture because they listen to Asap Rocky and wear “boxer braids”, who claim to be allies that are silent right now. It is non-Black people who fight so hard to say nigga because its “just a word” who want to ignore when “niggas” are being murdered. I watched a man lay helpless in the street pleading for his life, for his right to breathe while a police officer choked him to death. I am ashamed to say that at 17 years old I have seen so many innocent Black people murdered on video that I am numb to them and I just stare sternly in disgust, sadness, fear, and anger at my screen. I didn’t cry when I watched a 7-minute video of George Floyd being killed. The blatant disregard for Black lives that was displayed in that video was when the officer held his knee on George Floyd’s neck after he stopped breathing. Officer Chauvin held his knee on George’s neck after the ambulance got there, the EMT practically pulling him off to get to George’s lifeless body. There is no way to justify that. Last night I was glued to the TV as for hours on end, watching Minneapolis burn with rage and fire. I watched proudly of my people for fighting back, for saying enough is enough, and for demanding justice despite being met with white outrage and brutal police force. In the weeks prior huge crowds of white protestors sprung across America with assault rifles and other weaponry, taunting pushing and hitting police officers, and protesting a literal virus, and yet the police did not touch them. It’s about time we fight back until we get change. “Riots are the language of the unheard,” said Dr. King and it’s about time they hear us. As I watched the news for hours I suddenly became aware of a tweet posted by Trump. He called black people “THUGS” referencing an old racist phrase: “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” No matter how you put it your president ordered for Black people to be gunned down in the streets. In utter disbelief of how hard the federal government works to uphold white supremacy and institutional racism, I got in bed at 3 am. I did not fall asleep. I was playing out in my head what I would do if I was in the car when the police pull us over, going through the steps my parents taught us at a young age. I was replaying the video of George Floyd’s murder in my head imagining if that was my brothers or my dad or me or my 8-year-old sister. I was thinking about how my dad keeps his school district ID card in front of his license so if he gets stopped by the police they know he’s a teacher. So as you finish reading I ask; what will you do now?

Photo by @The_Filipino