Our intentions for InnerKwest was never to morph into some quasi news portal. We wanted to dive into African-American cultural and American fabric issues, but it’s hard to overlook some of the bullshit continuously perpetrated against my people.
Just imagine, you raise your children up and find yourself fortunate to see them off to to college. To make things even more encouraging your kid excels in sports, academia, music, or whatever. The more accomplishments the more self-empowered he or she becomes. They are officially standing on their feet, facing the wind and thriving.
This is the case of Eastern Illinois University swim team member Jaylan Butler, 20 years of age. Jaylan is riding with his team mates on the EIU bus to or from a meet when the coach asks the team to stretch their legs briefly outside the bus.
Moments later, police vehicles with flashing lights suddenly pulled up in front of Butler, according to the lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Illinois on Jan. 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. Officers then allegedly exited the vehicles and aimed their guns at the student. One officer was quoted, “Move and I will blew your fucking head off”. Another officer squatted down in front of Butler and allegedly pressed his handgun against the student athlete’s forehead.
Keep in mind Jaylan was with his team, therefore he was picked over everyone else present, including the coach.
This scenario could have went south in a heartbeat with another state sanctioned slaying of a African-American male, in this case attending college. There is no excuse for such inhumane, radically injurious actions. NONE!
How would anyone feel one moment you are preparing for a college swimming competition, the next minute some cop is making your life flash before you. To add insult to injury none of the several cops that participated in this felonious production had their cameras on to document this attack.
Jaylan Butler is suing rightfully so, but what kind of scars are left for him to deal with.
I had to address this way too often occurrence penalty of being black. Just think, this could have happened to your child, grandchild, or other close acquaintances. What is it going to take for such hate filled actions to stop or be stopped?
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