Some Thoughts After the Murders of Alton Sterling & Philando Castile
by Alicia Renee on 07/13/16
Here are a few words I shared via a post last week on my personal Facebook page:
Yesterday was my first ever chiropractic appointment. Even though it was hip flexor pain which drove me to go see him, the doctor inquired if there were any other issues aside from my hip. So I mentioned that at times I also have problems with my left shoulder. Sometimes, I am unable to lift my arm above shoulder-height without pain. The doctor then asked me why I'd never gotten my shoulder checked. I told him: "Because it only happens... sometimes."
The doctor responded with playful sarcasm, to call attention to the error in my thinking:
"A healthy body is not one that cannot lift its arm 'sometimes.' A healthy body can lift its arm *every* time. Active people like you have to realize that it happening at all means something inside is not healthy."
This conversation came back to mind this morning when I read that police had murdered a black man named Alton Sterling, who was selling CDs at the time. One of the many things we all have to realize is that a healthy government is not one in which these incidents only happen...sometimes. It's not about whether these incidents represent all police, all of the time, or most police, most of the time. That it's happening at all--that men and women are killed at the hands of police brutality and excessive force--and that more often that not, the officers involved are protected from appropriate consequence--suggests that something inside is unhealthy.
I'm not here to ask you if you're "woke" and insult you if your'e not. Tragedies aren't competitions. My hope is that posts like these help us to collectively make a shift toward greater sensitivity and greater seriousness when it comes to cases like these. I believe that when we appropriately appreciate the severity of incidents (trends) like these, and can honestly acknowledge that there is a problem, that it will set the climate in our hearts that is necessary for change.
