#TamirRice: 10 Things White People Can Do

by Amber Johnson

The contextual and physical resemblance between Tamir Rice and Emmett Till is striking. It doesn’t seem coincidental at all. History repeats itself. The nerve of the city to actually ask “why was Tamir in the park?” and use it as a part of any defense proves how dire this situation and many many many more are. Analogy: if a woman is raped, it’s like me asking well why did she have a hole anyhwere on her body that could be penetrated? What? Common sense right? Right!

To suggest that he should have known better. To leave his breathing and STILL ALIVE Body on the ground for FOUR entire minutes without administering ANY first aid AND then TACKLING and RESTRAINING his 14 year old sister in the police car. I can’t continue fighting at this rate. Exhaustion and stress are literally killing us.

Many of my non-black friends on social media ask me how they can help and what they can do. Here’s a short, starter list.

1. Be an advocate, not just an ally.
2. Speak to public officials in ways that I cannot.
3. Vocalize the outrage and serious concern for our communities as if it were your own BECAUSE it IS your own.
4. Be angry with us and spread that anger in your social media networks, on your blocks, at your kids schools, in church. 
5. Explain to other non-black people why they should also stand up and fight.
6. Have uncomfortable conversations.  Confront every racist you know and shout that we can no longer tolerate institutional racismð.
7. Call out those who say, “I have black friends,” or “my partner is black,” or “those” people, “them,” “I don’t know why they are constantly complaining” “well why was he in the park?” “Didn’t his mother teach him that he is a threatening body and shouldn’t play with toys in the park” or “well he wasn’t a small child” or “I can see both sides….”  START THERE with that person. Protest. Meditate. Educate
8. Liberate the minds of those too privileged to need to worry.
9. Do not talk about good cops versus bad caps and “a few bad apples!” Understand that rhetoric completely dismisses institutional racism and places the onus on individual decisions made by choice individuals who are “incompetent, ignorant and bad at their job” versus dismantling an entire system that allows and promotes innocent killing.
10. Explain that to your friends who say this is an exception and “this” officer should be punished versus seeing how the entire system corroborates in atrocities happening MORE than once a day.

Even if you don’t care about a 12 year old boy being killed for being Black, playing in a park, and doing what children do, then do it for selfishness. When there are no more little black boys left to kill, who do you think they will come for next?

 Dr. Amber Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Communication at St. Louis University