Do Black Lives Really Matter?

/ rothpoetry

This week the news has been full of incidents where shootings have taken the lives of adults and children in the Black community.  It was so sad to watch a mother in Chicago crying for her young child, who was shot killed in their car.  Or the young boy who was organizing and effort for Black Lives Matter, only to be shot and killed by crossfire from persons shooting at each other.  Why do we turn a blind eye when black people kill each other, but march in the streets if a black person dies in police custody.  Seems there is a major disconnect here.

10-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Hit By Stray Bullet In Logan Square

Who raises a voice in protest

for the young girl who was hit in the head

by a stray bullet in her front yard // caught crossfire?

Who stands in protest for the mother

whose car was ambushed and shot up

killing her one year old child

Who carries a sign for the young

boy who hoped to make a difference,

but instead was shot by a stray bullet

Who calls for change when gunshots

ring out in a crowd in *Charlotte

killing two and wounding eleven victims last week

Or again today, as more shots were fired

and more lives lost …

Only to receive passing mention on

the evening news.

Do Black Lives Matter

When they are taken by their own?

Who is willing to take a stand

To say enough is enough?

As mothers cry for their children!

I say enough is enough!

************************************

Six children were killed over the 4th of July weekend!

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/06/us/children-killed-holiday-weekend/index.html

No arrests… No one will come forward with information. Very Sad!!

*We have had over 60 homicides here in Charlotte this year!

7/13 three more killed over the weekend. The youngest 16!  No Suspects!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/rickey-smiley-s-teen-daughter-shot-multiple-times-in-alleged-road-rage-incident/ar-BB16pMoq?ocid=msedgdhp

https://www.eonline.com/us/news/1165333/pop-lock-drop-it-rapper-huey-dead-at-32-after-fatal-shooting

CBSN Chicago

7/29  https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/7/22/21334807/chicago-homicides-fatalities-violent-crime-operation-legend-editorial-lori-lightfoot-murder-rates

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/police-investigating-after-woman-found-shot-death-north-charlotte/LZ3636NIUFBJHLVRUSZLCHDL7E/

 

 

32 thoughts on “Do Black Lives Really Matter?”

  2. It’s because white liberals are weaponizing black deaths for a political agenda. They’re trying to win a presidential election. They don’t actually care about black people. That’s why the fact that 3x as many black lives were lost in the violent protests/Chaz as died at the hands of police officers in the past year. But that doesn’t fit a narrative.
    Human deaths shouldn’t be weaponized for a narrative.

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  3. One thing that might help is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally ill and to ban assault weapons. You do not hunt deer, quail, or rabbits with an assault weapon!

    The United States has a very high number of gun deaths each year compared to many other countries.

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    • Very good thoughts! And I would agree at almost all of it as would most conservatives. The problem is is that there is no clear kegal definition of for an “assault weapon”
      By legal, I mean, it hasn’t been clearly written as responsible regulation would require. What you and I believe to be assault weapons, like an AK-47 may in fact fit into a class of weapon if it were legislated as such but as of yet, defining assault weapons has proved difficult as unlike handguns, have no common characteristics.
      Some attempts at legislation has defined them in such a way that even paintball guns would be outlawed as it is able to fire as semi automatics.
      So when we talk about banning “assault weapons” what you and I may agree are assault weapons may be wildly off the mark of what would be legislated as one.

      .

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      • In the larger mass shootings they may be the issue, but it seems most of what happens here is done with hand guns. Arguments and disagreements occur and before you know it guns are pulled and people get shot. This happened at a gathering here last week where a shooting happened in a crowd of people. Two were killed and eleven wounded! It gets crazy sometimes.

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  6. Soooo sad! Yes, you have such a valid point. What outrage we should be shouting over the senseless, insane black killing black. Black lives need to matter to one another, too! Why can’t we just love one another?!ove

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  7. Heartfelt and heartbreaking poetry, Dwight. What is the solution? Definitely not Black Lives Matter. Gangs have been around forever and the poverty cycle keeps on turning. How can families escape this cycle and look forward to better lives? The answers are well above my pay grade.

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    • Yes, The City of Charlotte is beginning to reassess what interventions can be done to help curb the shootings in the North end…It is very sad to see and no one pays attention unless there is a sensational or dramatic aspect that brings them ratings!

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    • It is particularly sad when it is innocent children who are caught in the crossfire of neighborhood shootings. We had a14 year old boy who was shot a couple of weeks ago.

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      • There are groups throughout our society that like to keep things agitated and stirred up. The killings in the neighborhoods are often gangs or spontaneous arguments that erupt in gun fire. On the Fourth of July, at the gathering of over a hundred people in North Charlotte, apparently arguments erupted and three or four different people started shooting. Two are dead and eleven were treated for injuries! No one is stepping up and telling who it was and at this point no arrests have been made. Today another shooting death of a 57 year old man by a young black man. Rules and legislation will not stop this, It has to come from within the communities to rise up and say enough!

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      • yes the communities need to gather momentum to change your outrageous gun laws! Everyone is on edge right now with the current uncertainty so arguments are waiting to arise … yet later nobody can recall what they were about! So with any weapon at hand it’s going to turn ugly … banish the weapons and people will recover from a few punches altho there is never a reason for violence!

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  9. The racial issue is a major hurdle long suppressed, how long I keep asking until black people are released from their imprisonment in white thought. The gun issue is confusing to me because it is surely obvious that guns are a problem. Indeed, enough.

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