Last Sunday I watched the movie Queen and Slim, for the third time since it released in 2019. If you haven’t seen it, this will be a spoiler.
Slim and Queen go on a first date that takes a tragic turn when a “routine” traffic stop ends with the cop shooting Queen. Slim then kills the cop in self-defense, and the two of them flee across the country to avoid arrest, or worse, death.
In the end, they are sold out by a gun-slinging hustler and are caught. Queen and Slim are both murdered by the police, while unarmed, without a fair trial, and the story is spun to portray them as criminals.
I’ve seen this movie before, and I’ve seen others based on true stories, like “Fruitvale Station” or documentaries such as “I Am Not Your Negro”. They all hit hard.
But last Sunday, on the same day I rewatched Queen and Slim, I heard the news that Jacob Blake was shot 7 times in his back as he tried to get into his car.
I cried after watching Queen and Slim, but not for the fictional characters. I cried for Jacob Blake. I cried for my best friend who was called a fucking NI**ER on the bus that very same day! I cried because it isn’t just a movie.
IT IS NOT JUST A MOVIE.
It’s real life.
It happens literally every day to black and brown people across America and across the world.
This may sound repetitive to you, we keep putting these same images and words in your face.
Because it keeps happening to us. Over and Over and Over again.
There are only so many ways throughout a 400-year span that you can say this.
We are brutalized and tormented by the authority of those who are supposed to protect us.
This is why we riot.
This is why we protest.
This is why we scream BLACK LIVES MATTER.
We are still in the streets fighting because we are still in the streets dying.
Fighting to free those incarcerated for petty crimes, or crimes they didn’t commit.
Fighting to get police out of inner-city schools.
Fighting to stop No Knock entry by police.
Fighting for Equality.
Fighting against being seen as a danger or a threat because of the tone of our skin.
Fighting to protect the innocence of black children, who should never have to see their parents gunned down by police.
There can be no America if we’re still living in AmeriKKKa.
There will be no Peace until there is Justice.
The work doesn’t stop until we arrest every fucking racist cop.
The work won’t stop until we burn down the system.
With All the Love I AM
Tori F. baby
#Livehappii #Blacklivesmatter