Things We Shouldn't Have to Do on Christmas

 

     There are a lot of things I should be doing between now and tomorrow tonight. There are a million things we should all be doing between now and tomorrow tonight. We should be wrapping presents, receiving the last of our cards, stuffing stockings, visiting loved ones and these things will be done in my household. But here's a list of the things we shouldn't have to do on Xmas Eve.

     We shouldn't be reading about another young black man named Martin who was shot & killed by a white man right after leaving a convenience store as was Antonio Martin outside Berkeley, MO, five miles from Ferguson.

     We shouldn't have to engage white, racist wingnuts on Twitter and elsewhere by setting the record straight and repeating infinitum ad nauseum that there's no official police footage of the incident, no dashcams, no body cams, just store security footage very rapidly put out by the St Louis Co PD in which the camera was at least 100 feet from where the fatal incident took place and in which Martin could've just as easily been pointing his finger at the cop instead of a gun.

     We also shouldn't have to tell these lunatic libertarians who suddenly pretend to worship the police that the so-called gun allegedly brandished by Martin and pointed at a cop didn't magically turn up until nearly two hours after the shooting and marked many feet from Martin's body.

     We shouldn't have to see the NYPD co-opt the popular, curated hashtag #Blacklivesmatter by rechristening it #NYPDlivesmatter when the nut job who killed those two cops in Bed Sty Brooklyn had been arrested 19 times and should not have had access to a handgun in a city that for decades has had some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. Instead, they're going after peaceful protesters 1000 miles away.

     Cops understand that when they put on the uniform they put their lives in danger every time they step out onto the street. Guys like Antonio Martin, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, John Crawford III, Eric Garner and especially 12 year-old Tamir Rice shouldn't have to.

     We shouldn't have to hear during the holidays police unions and commissioners blustering about how unfair it is that black people peacefully protest their own people getting shot and killed when the plain fact they are far likelier to be killed over nothing, armed or unarmed, guilty or innocent, than white people brandishing actual weapons.

     We shouldn't have to see the NYPD childishly turning their backs on their new mayor just because he'd offered some tepid criticism and suggested reforms in the wake of the non-verdict in the Eric Garner grand jury.

     We shouldn't have our Christmas tarnished in such a way while black blood runs in the gutters of America on what seems like a weekly basis. We should be sincerely wishing each other a happy and safe holiday regardless of religion, ideology, skin color or creed. Because this is really the only time of the year when we wish good will toward all men.

     But racist sock puppets and police from coast to coast and everywhere in the middle insist on taking that away from us.