feature: ‘police kill black women all the time, too’

One of the biggest misconceptions that has come out of events post the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, is that black women are immune to these encounters, and the institutionalised racism of the United States’ police service and Justice system. Black Lives Matter is the chant heard around many of the ongoing protests, however are we unconsciously saying that only the lives of black men matter. As a recently published article by Evette Dionne asserts, it’s important for us to remember the many females who are also killed by police; Rekia Boyd, 22, Yvette Smith, 48, Pearlie Smith, 93, Aiyana Jones, 7, Tarika Wilson, 26 (pictured) – to name but few of the tragic lives lost at the hands of our trained civil servants. Explore some excerpts from that insightful article, below; or read the entire piece HERE.

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

There is no guarantee that the next victim will be a black male, but there appears to be a guarantee that the victim will be marginalized or forgotten by the mainstream media if she is a girl or woman of color. 

The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a non-profit organization whose mission is to defend the human rights of black people, found that every 40 hours, a black man, woman, or child is killed by police, security guards, or self-appointed law enforcers. In fact, since the killing of Mike Brown, more than 14 black teens have been killed by the police, including 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a boy in Cleveland, Ohio who was murdered less than two seconds after police arrived at a playground to answer a 911 call related to a black child carrying a pellet gun. We know another Eric Garner is coming, and it is impossible to prepare for the onslaught of grief that will accompany the next traumatic injustice.

the names of unarmed black women killed by police “very rarely stick in public memory and never gain the same traction as Eric Garner or Michael Brown.” Sexism impacts every aspect of black women’s lives, including how we’re treated, or not addressed, in media after our deaths. Yet our experiences with law enforcement are very similar to that of black men.