Urban Freedom Magazine Vol1 | Page 10

The Super Predator: 13 th By Michelle A. Reed The objective reality is, virtually no one who is white understands the challenge of being black in America.” Is this true? Some circles argue that there is no such thing as white priv- ilege. Especially on social media, where they have the most bravado; Blacks should just let go of slavery, Black Lives Matter protests create problems that don’t exist, or if black people cared about their culture there wouldn’t be so many in prison. Tomi Lahren was given a platform at The Blaze, where she proudly spoke on her disdain towards current black issues. Larhen has had nearly zero evidence to support her theories and accusations. While African American leaders have confirmed historic is- sues that match present systematic and social injustices . Jesse Williams’s speech at the 2016 BET awards poetically presented facts 10 on how we are criminalized, cultural- ly appropriated, and brutalized by po- lice. He talked about how the land of the free can be a cage for our people. White America backlashed offended, despite every single word being the truth. Beyoncé’s video for “Forma- tion” had a child dancing in front of cops, and mothers that have lost chil- dren to police brutality. She even per- formed the song at the super bowl in Black Panther attire. White America took both, as her encouraging peo- ple to attack police, stating the “black panthers were a violent hate group.” Although the Black Panther’s origin was not one of violence, but for the protection of black communities that were being terrorized by white citi- zens. So what evidence is there that black activists are just being “radical?” Why are the prison systems around the United stated so heavily populat- ed with African Americans? A black leader in her own right, Ava Duvernay amazingly presents evi- dence on the imprisonment of the black community in her documenta- ry “13th.” It includes the loopholes of the 13th Amendment that continues allowing blacks to be systemically hindered in a supremacist America by placing us behind bars. The 13th amendment to the U.S. Con- stitution reads that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a pun- ishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to thei­r jurisdiction.”