Column: Delrawn, Alton, Philando, Unknown

This past week’s events have me reeling. On four consecutive days, a Black man in America was killed or found dead. On July 4, Delrawn Small was killed by police in New York. On July 5, Alton Sterling was killed by police in Louisiana. On July 6, Philando Castile was killed by police in Minnesota. On July 7, an unnamed Black man was found hanging in Piedmont Park in Georgia.

Last Thursday night, July 7, Micah Johnson, a former Army Reserve officer, killed five Dallas police officers at a rally against police violence, leaving seven other officers and two civilians wounded. He was eventually killed by a police controlled explosive.

I’m hurting. I’m hurt that the lives of Black Americans are still being seen as less than human and worth less than human decency. I’m also hurt that another Black man had to lose his life because he felt that killing innocent police officers was his only option to combat police brutality.

As a young Black man in this country, I understand the pain, sorrow and anger one feels when another Black life is taken unjustly. But at the same time, there’s no reasoning or rationale to take more innocent lives.

But let me be clear: Black lives matter. And Black lives still matter after what transpired in Dallas. Yes, five officers in Dallas being killed by Micah Johnson is a travesty.

However, that in no way negates the deaths of the four Black men that lost their lives last week. No, those officers didn’t deserve to die, but neither did those four Black men.

If all lives truly mattered to those that live by the slogan, then where was the outrage when Dallas occurred?

Many expressed their anger at Dallas through the #BlueLivesMatter hashtag. The intriguing thing about #BlueLivesMatter is the “blue” identity being a police officer. It assumes that the occupation becomes the sole, never changing characteristic of one’s identity.

The thing is, police officers aren’t bound to that identity. They can take their uniform off. I can’t take off my Blackness or simply wake up and decide to not be Black anymore. My life is Black and will forever be that way.

#BlueLivesMatter is simply a farce, a cheap attempt to undermine the value of Black lives at a time when it is most necessary.

All in all, no one that died last week deserved to lose their life.

As the stepson of a police officer and someone who simply values human life, I am saddened by the deaths of the five police officers who lost their lives in Dallas last Thursday. But under no circumstances will I allow for anyone to treat that isolated event as a means of negating the tragedy of four Black lives lost.