Voices
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Student Perspectives
3
CONTACT: [email protected]
A Guest
Our lives matter, do theirs?
Should anyone
be judged based
on appearance?
Kadedra Ashton
Freshman
Shreveport, Louisiana
“I believe everyone
should be treated with
respect.”
“
Yondell Dillon
Sophomore
Bogalusa, Louisiana
“
“No, because you
shouldn’t judge a book
by its cover.”
Deirdre Henderson
Freshman
Dominica
“
I believe people should
take pride in their appearance if they would
like to avoid being
treated poorly.”
Lewis Himes
Freshman
Texas
“
“No, because you
cannot deem a person
to be a certain way
without a showing of
character.”
Tyler Brock
Freshman
Washington, D.C.
“
“No, because everyone
has their own style of
dress, and their style of
dress does not determine their character.”
Compiled by Leslie Thompson
Executive staff
Candice Dixson
In this generation when
we are filled with rage
from being oppressed, or
what we call oppressed, we
chant “Black Lives Matter”. We do this to show
support of one another and
we also use it as symbol of
revolt towards “the man”.
Little do we know, every
time we chant “Black Lives
Matter” they vote and take
action, which is usually not
in our favor. We as African
Americans would never
view the phrase as racist, or
prejudice because we feel
we are the victims. Perhaps
we should take a different
approach when thinking
about the phrase “black
lives matter.” What does
this statement, a statement
that should obviously be
true, but apparently is not,
imply? If black lives do
not matter, then they are
not really regarded as lives,
since a life is supposed
to matter. So what we see
is that some lives matter
more than others; some
lives matter so much that
they have to be protected
at all costs, and that other
lives matter less or not at
all. When that becomes the
situation, then the lives that
do not matter so much, or
at all, can be killed or lost;
these lives can be exposed
to conditions of destitution,
and there is no concern, or
even worse, this calam-
without being subjected to
coercive force. When and
where did black lives ever
really get free of coercive
force? One reason the
chant “Black Lives Matter”
is so important is that it
states the obvious but the
obvious has not been realized, historically. “Black
Lives Matter” is a stateNobel Michael
ment of outrage, a demand
for equality and a demand
ity is regarded as the way
for the right to live free of
it is supposed to be. The
constraint. This chant links
callous killing of Tamir
the history of slavery, debt
Rice, the abandonment of
peonage, segregation, and
his body on the street is an
a prison system geared
astonishing example of the
toward the containment,
police murdering someone
neutralization and degradaconsidered disposable and
tion of black lives. Lets
fundamentally a very welnot forget about the police
comed farewell.
system that can now just
When
in
“..Every time we chant like
talking
the
about
‘BlackLivesMatter’
past
racism
they vote or make actions take
and antiaway
white
against our favor.”
a
racism
black
in the
life in a flash all because an
United States, we have
officer “feels” their life is
to remember that under
being threatened.
slavery black lives were
So I ask you, ponder
considered only a fraction
this: what does it mean
of a human life, further
to perceive someone as a
substantiating the theory
threat? One man is leaving
that some lives mattered
a store unarmed, but he is
more. “Their” lives were
perceived as a threat. Anmore human, more worthy, other man is in a chokehold
more deserving of life and
and states that he cannot
freedom whereas freebreathe, and the chokedom meant minimally the
hold is not relaxed, and
freedom to move and thrive the man dies because he is
perceived as a threat. Mike
Brown and Eric Garner. We
can name them, but in the
space of this interview, we
cannot name all the black
men and women whose
lives are snuffed out all
because a police officer
perceives a threat and sees
the person dangerous no
matter what. We can watch
the videos and see with our
own eyes what appears to
be true, but it is also true
that police and juries only
support these officers and
do not wish to see the apparent injustices.
The breakdown is police
view having no gun, being
subdued and crying out in
pain or for one’s life to be
spared as one is retreating as threatening. These
figures are perceived as
threats even when they do
not threaten, when they
have no weapon, and the
video footage that shows
precisely this is taken to be
a ratification of the police’s
perception.
The perception is then
ratified as a public perception at which point we not
only must insist on the dignity of black lives, but also
name the racism that has
become ratified as public
perception.
After six weeks of muteness Chris Rock finally came
forward with his raw opinion
on the #OscarsSoWhite
controversy. Jaws dropped as
the 88th Academy Awards
host presented his opening
monologue.
The line that stuck with
everyone was “You’re damn
right Hollywood’s racist, but
not the racist that you’ve
grown accustomed to. Hollywood is a sorority racist.
It’s like, ‘We like you,
Rhonda, but you’re not a
Kappa.’ That’s how Hollywood is,” said Chris Rock.
Yes, he threw shade
at Jada Pickett-Smith who
claimed she was boycotting
the Oscars. He felt she went
to far, but he wanted everyone to grasp that after the
second year in a row of no
minorities being nominated
in the four acting categories
Black people deserve chances
that Caucasians have.
"It's not about boycotting. We want opportunities," Rock said. "We want
black actors to get the same
opportunities as white actors
-- that's it. Not just once” he
continued.
Whe