By Upright Man
Alicia Keys Video: Celebrities Accuse Police Officers of Being Racist Murderers
An Alicia Keys’ video was released featuring an all star lineup of misguided artists. These celebrities have banded together to create a glorified Black Lives Matter propaganda video. This atrocious “PSA” entitled “23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America,” features celebrities such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Chris Rock, Queen Latifah, and many more. These ignorant individuals completely undermine any steps that have been taken to help heal the drastic increase in racial tensions in this country.
Alicia Keys Video:
There are individuals featured in this video that were criminals, engaged in violent criminal acts, and were justifiably shot by the police during lawful encounters. It is absolutely disgraceful that so many celebrities would chose to ignore blatant facts which exonerate these police officers who are the true heroes here. These heroes were doing their job and they are the people celebrities should be making videos about.
A criminal resisting arrest and creating the circumstances that resulted in their death is far from “doing absolutely nothing.” Simply because of the color of theses people’s skin, celebrities are glorifying them and labeling them as victims and martyrs. The stars in this video claim their goal is to heal systemic racism. However, with nonsense like this, all they are doing is further driving a wedge between law enforcement and black Americans.
This video is simply a propaganda video for Black Lives Matter. A lot of people are influenced by the celebrities that they idolize, and when they are spewing this nonsense, people don’t think to question it. Less than a week ago, five Dallas police officers were brutally murdered by a weak-minded individual who believed this ridiculous and false rhetoric. While these artists make silly videos and throw their support behind Black Lives Matter, American heroes are getting injured and killed in the streets. It truly begs the question, what are their true motives when they release propaganda that is sure to incite violence?
The premise of the video is that the black individuals shown were instead murdered by the police for doing absolutely nothing. Each celebrity states something innocent the person was doing such as “failing to signal a lane change” (Sandra Bland) or “selling CDs on a corner” (Alton Sterling) or “holding a fake gun in Walmart” (John Crawford III). The video then blatantly states these individuals were killed “just for being black in America and doing absolutely nothing.”
Law enforcement officers understand that the public views police use-of-force differently than officers do, because the public doesn’t have the same training and experience. We understand people look at these incidents and say that they don’t believe that the police officers were justified in their actions. However, what is absolutely maddening is the assumption that whenever the public doesn’t understand why force was used, then if the person was black, it is presumed that their race was the reason. Police are using that same force against white people for the exact same reasons that they use force against black people.
If the America wants to have a discussion about police force, independent of race, that’s a discussion that we can actually have because it centers around a difference of opinion. However, having a discussion about police using force based on race would be like having a discussion with a mad man; we’d be talking with people who see and hear things that don’t exist, and expect us to acknowledge that those things are real.