We are young black men, 17 and 20 years of age, and we refuse to accept the continuation of the police brutality and systemic racism which have oppressed people of color for centuries.
Our voices, our bodies and our lives matter. Because of the COVID-19 lockdowns, right now we are at home, forced to sit still and watch. Like the nation, we are glued to news outlets and social media. As a result, the murder of George Floyd has — unlike the deaths of many men of color before him — not cycled in and out of the headlines.
Racial injustice, oppression and discrimination must be tackled head-on. This is the story of our education at the Eagle Academy Schools we attend or attended. Our teachers understand the disparities that place many of us at a disadvantage when we walk through their doors. Inside these walls, there is space for young men of color to develop freely and be celebrated for our differences.
We are often asked to conceal the emotional toll of the atrocities committed against people like us that we see on social media. We act out a facade of unwavering strength to ensure that we are not seen as vulnerable. To have a space where our cries are heard is cathartic and deeply affirming, since too often we cannot let our guards down.
To begin the transformational work this moment demands, we must diagnose the root causes of racial injustice. At its core, a racist sees other people as inherently inferior. When Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck, he lost sight of Floyd as a human being first.
There is a reason why this happened. Racist police officers grow up in the same country we do, and just like us, they rarely see the humanity of people of color reflected in the media.
This moment requires a radical shift in the narrative about black men. We see ourselves depicted in the media as brutes: aggressive, antagonistic, ignorant and uneducated. The black male presence is deemed threatening, and for racists, whiteness is all too easily weaponized in defense.
Young black men like us want the public to celebrate us for our contributions, our diversity, and, most importantly, our humanity. While we are tired and exhausted, we are also daring enough and capable enough to hope for a world that loves us in all our complexities.
We want the police to learn about us, our culture and our identities. Restructuring community policing should mean that police officers deeply engage with their constituents, including young black and brown men. For officers to authentically protect and serve, they need to know the communities in which they work. Respect and understanding can then take the place of fear in the hearts of formerly prejudiced officers.
Schools can play a critical role in this fight by helping students develop social consciousness. We must incorporate more black history into the curriculum in order to honor what African Americans really stand for in this country.
Remaking the relationship between communities of color and the police begins with reforming the use of force. Officers should be required to report all uses of force and intervene to stop other officers from using excessive force. Officers should de-escalate, exhaust all other reasonable alternatives before using deadly force, give a verbal warning before shooting, and must never use chokeholds or strangleholds.
This moment of opportunity demands a great deal from young men of color like us.
Regardless of how fatigued we may be, we must accept the weight of today’s burden of responsibility and fight harder for a better tomorrow. Systems that benefit from institutional racism will fight against us at every turn. The road ahead is not easy. Let’s stay hungry for change and fight against racism and injustice everywhere because until we are all free, no one is.
Alkassar, a rising high school senior, will be part of the first graduating class at Eagle Academy Staten Island in 2021. Fox, an undergraduate at Iona College, graduated from Eagle Academy Queens in 2017.