US-based Nollywood publicist and co-producer Bianka Johnson recently wrote an open letter specifically addressing police officers’ brutality in the United States, which seems to be seeing an increasing number and has been called to light once again following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25 years old young man who died from spinal cord injury while in police custody.
Read Bianka Johnson’s open letter below:
“Dear White Police Officers,It has become a norm in your little gated community to sacrifice a Black young African American every three to six months. How did we get here? Why are people who look just like me being treated like subhuman? I don’t have a biological son but if I did, he would look just like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. You silenced their voices through death but their vibrant spirits can never be tamed until justice is served. From the days of slavery and segregation until now, the Black community has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. Ignorance is when officers who are trained to protect and preserve ordinance become the traitors.
Dear White police officers, please stop using excessive violence against young Black men, none of the offenses committed by them warranted instant death penalty. What we are witnessing currently in Baltimore are outcomes of accumulated suppressed anger and pain as a result of years of police brutality, racial profiling and injustice against Black community by White law enforcement officers. Until White law enforcement officers change their perception(s) towards the minorities of America and come to the understanding that not all Black Americans are criminals, ignorant, lazy, drug dealers, uneducated and violent; our narratives will remain unchanged. America is the land of the free and home of the brave(Star spangled banner). Are Black Americans really free? Are they free from the constant misconception and dehumanization by White supremacists? Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and many more will still be alive today if truly America is the land of the free.#RIP Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and many more.Written by Bianka Johnson”
