Why No One Cares
Death in America is separate but not equal
Yesterday (Saturday, August 9) at approximately 2:15pm Michael Brown, 18, of Missouri was fatally shot by a police officer. As of the time of this writing it is unknown what prompted the officer to shoot Michael Brown who was unarmed and had hands in air.
To no surprise this killing has caused outrage among the community. Streets filled with residents who wanted justice for yet another incident of alleged police brutality. Just last month Eric Garner was placed in a choke-hold by NYPD and died as a result.
Michael Brown's death became a topic on ‘Black Twitter,’ who instead of sticking to this case in particular brought up the subject matter of the high crime committed by blacks toward each other. One twitter user (@CorbinMacklin) posed the question ‘Why is it EVERYTIME’ police and/or whites kills blacks, black on black crime gotta get brought up?”
Why is it EVERYTIME police and/or whites kill blacks, black on black crime gotta get brought up?
— Funkmaster Filth (@CorbinMacklin) August 10, 2014
While I understand the question from @CorbinMacklin, the reason why people tend to bring up black on black crime is because when its committed it receives little to none when it comes to coverage. It seems almost every weekend Chicago has deaths in double digits, and there are other urban cities with large death tolls that seem to go unreported by national news outlets.
Death is not treated equally in this country. Just like reality TV, your favorite sitcom or the the Super Bowl, news has become about ratings. Therefore we have been inundated with stories that will sell stories that are ‘racially charged’ or news outlets that cater to way of thinking whether you fall on the left or right side of politics.
Long gone are the days of just fact reporting without a hint of pandering. Crime of all sorts is glamorized to entice viewers to tune in and people to talk about online or at work. Meanwhile other stories don’t get covered as much or at all. Which invites the psyche of everyone to feel as those crimes/deaths are not important, so no need to care.
