Hearing About The Shooting Of Jacob Blake Is Scary

The shooting of Jacob Blake came across my social media timeline and I immediately thought "Not again!" Sadly, as a black man in America, I've grown used to seeing headlines about other black men or black people, in general, being shot and killed by police. Luckily, the latest name to be added to the list of people shot by police wasn't killed.

Jacob Blake is a 29-year-old father who was unarmed and shot in the back seven times by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin. According to CNN, Blake was on the scene attempting to break up a fight between two women. After police arrived on the scene, a video shows Blake going to his car where his 3 sons were and he was then shot multiple times by officers on the scene.

I really don't understand how this continues to happen and people continually find a reason to justify these shootings. The man was unarmed and shot in front of his children. It's easy to create scenarios about what-ifs but looking at the facts that we know right now, would you be ok if this happened to your child? Would you look at this through the same lens if this was your father or brother? Black people are scared of our lives daily because we don't know if today will be the day we encounter a police officer who views us as a threat. We could be pulled over, viewed as a threat while unarmed, complying, and be shot to death with no repercussions to the officers involved.

This is not a made-up scenario. It's happened many times before in recent history. There are people acting as if black people aren't being gunned down in the streets by police officers while unarmed. the worst part is that it's all on video and it's being shared and played millions of times for the world to see. We don't feel protected by the law, and we don't feel like America loves us.

Our hearts shouldn't drop when we see a police officer, thinking if this will be our final moments or not. 

Three months ago, the world witnessed the public execution of George Floyd. Before that, we had Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor, and the list goes on. When will enough be enough and measurable action is taken to stop the killing of unarmed black people in America?

I don't write this to argue, to say that police are all bad, or to incite protests or riots. I simply had to get my feelings out about this situation and hopefully get someone to understand how black people are feeling in America.

(Source) To see more on the story visit CNN by clicking here.