A list of names of the most famous and recent cases of Black deaths by the police will be listed and some of those cases will be fleshed out. Overall, this chapter focuses on the myriad of cases of police brutality that have led to brutal rapes and deaths in the United States amongst the African American population. It will primarily focus on cases such as those of George Floyd, which was one of the most recent cases that was finally successfully adjudicated; Amadou Diallo, i.e., a personal case that I assisted on, et al. The resolve of this chapter is to remember the wounded and the fallen. Like war, many African Americans feel like they live within a battlefield. For many of the names that will be listed, they were merely minding their own buisness doing the everyday activities that go unnoticed.
“We’ve got to unify or you and I soon will die, People will text us and there will be no reply…”-Neelam, Ride on Our Enemies (2020)
“You just a black man in this world, You just a barcode, ayy
You just a black man in this world, Drivin' expensive foreigns, ayy
You just a big dawg, yeah, I kenneled him in the backyard
No probably ain't life to a dog, For a big dog”
- (Childish Gambino, 2018)
TopIntroduction
James Baldwin stated the following: “The story of the Negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story” (Magnolia Pictures, 2017, [0:27]. Indeed, the story of many of the ancestors of Black or African American people who came to America was not a pretty story. And yet, their stories were the tapestry that built America to be the nation that she is now. However, when we say their names, we are bringing attention to the poverty of man’s soul that has led to the death of either innocent people who are citizens of the United States or those who were not able to stand their day in court because the police used excessive force, which led to their premature deaths. The African American community and institutions that stand with said community has asked the world to remember and “Say Their Names.”
Figure 1.
Exhibit at Stanford University libraries of 65 of the most prolific cases of police brutality
TopMain Focus Of Chapter
Black Deaths in Custody has continued to be an issue within the United States and worldwide. While America has not existed for over 500-600 years, slavery did (Blight, 2018; Buckland, 1908; Davis, 2021; Smith, 2021). By the time the New World was founded and began to be established, Africans were brought to its shores and forced into labor. While enslaved, to control the population, slave patrols were established in the 1700s (Davis, 2021). When the country was established as America in 1776 (Blight, 2018; Smith, 2021), slavery was still taking place. It is now 2022, and not only do Black or African Americans often face undue hardships, earn less pay for the same job, they must climb to reach a glass ceiling, find themselves with educational inequalities and less intergenerational wealth; they still have to contend for their lives. One of these contentions can and sometimes does come from regular interactions with the police force of the United States of America.
In Chapter 3, the author discussed a Black Death that shook her to the core, i.e., the death of Amadou Bailo Diallo in 1999 (CBS Interactive, Inc., 2020; Sebok, 2004; The Amadou Diallo Foundation, 2022). The 41 shots that officers took at an unarmed man were the 41 shots heard all around the world (CBS Interactive, Inc., 2020; Sebok, 2004; The Amadou Diallo Foundation, 2022). For a more specific analysis, refer to Book 1. Another case that this author chose to open this book with was that of George Floyd, which is a pivotal case within the Black community and America as a whole as well as that of Rodney King, which can also be read about in Chapter 1.