Korryn Gaines, an attractive, young mother lost her live in unfortunate circumstances over the past 24 hours in a senseless killing that was carried out by the police. However, in a twist, many social media commentators, including many members of the Black Lives Matter movement are blaming the young woman and not the police.
Citing her combative personality, disrespect for authority and irresponsible parenting, many of these commentators including those who support Black Lives Matter, have slammed the late Gaines for putting herself and her children in danger repeatedly.
Hours and moments before her death, the young woman pointed a fire arm at police, and threatened to kill officers, whilst simultaneously holding her child in her other arm, according to official reports. Although many do not usually take police reports at face value, a video of Gaines involved in a confrontation with law enforcement has been released on the internet. In this video, Gaines combative, violent and irresponsible nature is seen as she refuses to comply with patient Baltimore County police officers, even though she is clearly afoul of the law.
In portions of the video, she even encourages her young 5 year old son to fight the police, a clear case of parental irresponsibility which plagues the black community. Babies having babies is a real issue. Korryn must have had that baby at the age of 18, and was clearly not a good parent as depicted in the video of the traffic stop and the videos of the confrontation that led to her death, which she posted on social media herself just hours before she was struck by bullets.
Even in Nigeria where this paper is based, should you threaten law enforcement with weaponry, there likely wouldn’t even be a negotiation, they would simply open fire and kill everyone in the room. This in the largest black nation on the planet. So this is not a case of racism as some stubborn proponents of the BLM movement would want to make it out to be.
So what are the lessons to be learned? America is a nation that operates on a foundation of law and order. Rights and freedoms can only be upheld within a framework of laws and orderliness, however a large percentage of the black community today, does not want to bothered by laws. Having been groomed by a culture that encourages, “Niggas With Attitude” and “F@#$ the Police”, a large percentage of black youth are set up to fail by the very values they idolize from their celebrity rappers.
White privilege exists, however a vast majority of white people do not listen to the lyrics of NWA or any other gangster rap from the perspective a black minority listens to it from. Even kids from the suburbs want to emulate inner city behaviors and then expect different outcomes. The people who sang the lyrics to those hateful songs, were enmeshed in real hate, and thus may be excused but the hate did not emanate from slavery, instead it was a result of the police crack down on the war against drugs as crack cocaine and gang violence took over black communities in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
However because those songs became national hits and the influence of the celebrity permeated social boundaries, many people who did not live and witness the hatred, adopted it and applied it to their own circumstance. Take the late Gaines for example, who obviously harbored contempt for law enforcement like many young black people nowadays do, she even went out of her way to get her own children to battle law enforcement. When children grow up with these mentalities, they have no problem turning into cop killers and at the very least will harbor no respect for authority.
Police have to feel like they are in a position of authority and it is the duty of the civic population to lend them respect and compliance. This is what black lives matter should be teaching the black youth. Sure there are some bad apples in law enforcement out there, but you can deescalate the situation by being respectful. A gentle answer has been known to turn away great wrath.
As a people we must begin to show respect to whom respect is due. This disgruntled, tough guy routine is only going to get more and more of us killed as it did Korryn, and almost did her son. We must learn to respect the laws of any land we find ourselves, as we cannot defy the law and then expect it to protect us. This is not logical or feasible.
Should you get stopped by police, obey and comply, later you may protest and complain, but do the right thing first. Respect the state, and in doing so, you demonstrate to the world that indeed your life matters.
Here is a simple video from Chris Rock on how not to escalate interaction with the police: