Blacks are dying

Editor, The Commercial:

POW! Another Black man was shot dead yesterday (April 11) afternoon in Pine Bluff. Did you hear the sound of that gunfire? Why don’t we hear families crying at the loss of their loved one, and when will we see and hear their cries?

Black families are suffering from the pain and hurt of homicides, especially among Blacks in our community since 1997. Blacks see the destruction taking place right in front of them and remain quiet. This year, in less than four months, six murders have occurred in this city. Six Black victims and six Black perpetrators.

Approximately 97 percent of all homicides committed in recent years in the city have been Blacks killing Blacks, which should be a red flag to all concerned. During the last few years, this city has lost 13-18 year olds, and no urgency.

What will it take for Blacks to raise their voices in unity and say that enough is enough? Homicides have been escalating in the Black community for decades and juveniles are now killing other juveniles, yet the majority of Blacks continue to conduct business as usual.

The killing has become an epidemic while Blacks wait for someone on a white horse to ride in and tell them what to do. Only when George Floyd was murdered did Blacks take their lead from those getting paid to ramp up racism, to keep us emotionally charged and distracted from what’s happening in our backyards.

Racism has become the kryptonite used to excite or shut down common sense, thus locking the brains of Blacks. Racism moves Blacks quicker than the killing of another human being. Case in point: Blacks ran out and bought T-shirts, caps and face masks, held rallies, and marched in the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd, a man we didn’t know. He lived thousands of miles away, but when we knew a white man was the killer, it caused our brains to become outraged.

Has this become a mental response that we ignore Blacks killing Blacks and respond only when the perpetrator is white? Has the word “racism” been tapped in to make Blacks lose their common sense and forget a dead man is a dead man no matter who did the killings? Or is it because a dead man at the hands of another Black has no value, but if the killer is white the dead man’s life then has value?

REV. JESSE TURNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PINE BLUFF INTERESTED CITIZENS FOR VOTER REGISTRATION INC.