Shoot A Negro, You're A Hero: My Issue With Crowdfunding

Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero. -2Pac Shout out to crowdfunders who made this a reality. #FYou
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 27, 2014

Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Oscar Grant. Renisha McBride. Jonathan Ferrell. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Medgar Evers. The brother in New York shot an astounding 41 times as he was reaching for his wallet. All of these brothers and sisters were gunned down by law enforcement, self-appointed neighborhood “watchmen”, Klansmen, and otherwise bigots with or without a badge. These days (as were back then), expect the racists to open their wallets when a black person’s life is cut short to protect their narrow-minded ilk.

If you’re reading this and thinking “what about black-on-black crime?” this is neither the time nor the venue. We’ve beaten that dead horse in and out of gravesites over the past thirty or so years. No sane person is applauding the demise of another soul although Osama bin Laden was close.

Growing up the way I did, crowd funding is an old concept with a new name. Kid wants to go to camp? Raise money among family and church members to send him to Kannakuk. June Bug can’t keep himself out of jail? Hustle up the boys and put up some change so he can make bail and come home. In truth, numerous college scholarships were created and later endowed in this manner. So – what is my opinion pertaining Darren Wilson and previously George Zimmerman? We have a class of despicable people attempting to buy justice to perpetuate privilege by any means necessary; in their cases, the assailant was ferried to undisclosed locations. I doubt this would happen if the killer cop were black and the victim white. Would he be classified a hero or by another title symbolizing his otherness? Note: A few weeks ago, this did happen in Utah where an unarmed white teen was killed by a black police officer. I do not know all of the specifics with that case, so I’ll keep my mouth shut until more information is released.

Oops, I regressed.

Why did I use the title line? Look at Wilson’s GoFundMe and the explicit racism in the comments section; I’m pretty sure the $135K + that went to the Zimmerman PayPal account was not solely for a fair trial. In addition, I read many Facebook associates’ postings slandering both Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin as thugs, gangsters, and lawbreakers deserving of their fates and I thought:  Are you kidding me? I remember what most of you high-and-mighty were doing at seventeen and eighteen years old, and having milk and cookies just wasn’t exactly it. Stop the hypocrisy.

Darren fucking Wilson is crying about how he is now unemployable. Motherfucker, you are a murderer. You belong under the jail. #Ferguson

— Colonel Angus Ball$z (@angrynbitter77) August 4, 2015

 In light of the events in Ferguson people simply aren’t hiding underneath a physical white sheet anymore. While it is true some white people will always position themselves as victims despite the rest of the world possessing knowledge that they are truthfully defending an immoral standard. What they hear is a black man (allegedly) stealing a cigarillo, and that instantly translates to his robbing a convenience store. Is a 75 cent blunt worth a life? Rather, what would you do if YOUR child had to live with the stigma of being less a person and potentially losing his life over a blunt? That is what is being implied, but quoting Kermit the Frog, “that’s none of my business.”

I should be able to blow off ignorant folks, but it’s hard living with the idea that my next trip away from home may be my last one. I could easily make my turn into my subdivision and not reach my driveway because of a Terminator-style officer who thinks kill first, then ask questions later and see him (or her) celebrated a hero. It’s genocide. It’s beyond ridiculous.