This isn't a review of Straight Out of Compton which was excellent by the way. I want to note how timely it was, racially in our current political climate.
The "black lives matter" movement became directly attributed lives of the black community being taken by some white police officers. Even going back to Rodney King, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, etc, these white cops keep getting off with nary a slap on the wrist.
Abner Louima was guilty of a crime, but the officers in charge thought it would be "fun" to sodomize him with a plunger handle.
Amadou Diallo was reaching for his identification when officers shot at him over 40 times. As I understand it, 1 or 2 officers reloaded. How many shots were reasonable for an unarmed black man? I don't know but it can't be 40.
No jail time for any officers in either case to my knowledge.
Then came "cops lives matter" and that seemed like an attempt to take the spotlight off of the desperate attempt for the black community to get some attention on an important issue. But there's no denying that the retaliations against cops can't continue. Especially since these cops were random. Police lives absolutely do matter as well, just not in the same way as the point being made with Black Lives Matter.
I have seen posts saying that using "black lives matter" is an attempt to say that black lives are more important and that it's polarizing. I can't disagree more. An entire of community is begging for you to acknowledge the inequality out there and what do you do? Tell them to shut up. Instead of saying "yes, I see it, you're not alone!" Some people respond with "cops lives matter". They do, but you're missing the point entirely. If cops didn't profile and in some cases needlessly take black lives, there wouldn't have been a retaliation.
Honestly, I liken this to the revolutionary war. That one snowball that started the Boston Massacre. You can only oppress a people for so long, you can only push someone so far before you get pushed back.
Yes, I have seen the videos of the suburban black guy lecturing the inner city black community about behaving and being compliant, but I can only imagine constantly getting pulled over and detained because of my race. I'd be REALLY pissed off. This guy in the suburbs isn't detained like this necessarily in his middle to upper class suburban town. Why do you put so much credence in one or two people when others are out there in droves saying the contrary?
"You look like a gang member!"
"Really? Do you see a gun? Did I hurt someone? I'm drinking a slurpee, why do I need to get on the ground for the 3rd time in an hour officer?!"
"I can fix that smart mouth on you kid"
I'd be livid. A whole race impotent to the authorities that marginalize them. I'm actually surprised it took this long for any retaliation.
Saying that the "black lives matter" is polarizing, is missing the point. I implore you to try on those shoes and see how you like the fit.
Quoting stats of minority imprisonment being the "valid" reason for profiling seems ignorant. There is a reason for it. This is societal and cyclic in nature and it needs to be fixed before it gets worse.
