For too long, the words “protect and serve” have rung hollow in America’s marginalized communities. For too many Black families, those words don’t represent safety. They sound more like “hunt and harass.”
We know this truth not because of hearsay, but because of lived experiences. Despite being law-abiding citizens, Black men, women, and children are treated as suspects first, human beings second if at all.
Our Communities Are Not the Enemy
Systemic racism has painted entire neighborhoods as “dangerous” or “crime-ridden.” But the truth is simple: these are our homes. They are filled with nurses, teachers, bus drivers, small business owners, and single parents grinding day and night to provide for their families.
Yet instead of respect and protection, our communities are met with flashing lights, sirens, and hands on holsters. Instead of partnership, we get profiling. Instead of dignity, we get dehumanization.
Why We Distrust the Police
Our distrust isn’t paranoia, it’s history. It’s the accumulation of generations of pain.
- Racial Profiling: Stopped for “fitting the description,” when the only description is being Black.
- Excessive Force: Watching Black men thrown to the ground, Black women screamed at, and children traumatized over traffic stops or minor infractions.
- Disrespect: Elders talked down to, our voices dismissed, our pain invalidated.
- Lack of Accountability: Officers who harm and lie walking away without consequence, leaving families and communities to pick up the pieces.
When those who are meant to protect see us as a threat before they see us as neighbors, the relationship is broken at its core.
The Criminalization of Our Existence
Black men in America are criminalized for simply existing, stopped, frisked, handcuffed, and questioned at rates their white counterparts never experience. This treatment sends a clear message to our entire community: you are prey.
Black women, too, face their own unique violence. Quite often our concerns dismissed, our pain ignored, our anger labeled “aggressive.” We are silenced in courtrooms, pushed against police cars, stripped of dignity in public spaces.
But let it be clear: we are not the stereotypes they project onto us. We are the backbone of our families. We are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods. We are resilience personified.
What We Demand
This message does not come from hatred of police. It comes from a demand for justice and humanity.
We demand:
- An end to the criminalization of poverty.
- An end to the assumption of guilt based on skin color.
- Policing that respects our humanity instead of fearing our presence.
- A system of accountability where justice is not optional but non-negotiable.
Until Then, We Organize
Until these demands are met, we will continue to speak up, to protect one another, and to organize. Because everyone in our community is not a criminal, and our existence should never be treated as probable cause.
It’s time to find your people. It’s time to organize. Because when we stand together, no system of oppression can silence us.
We are more than their assumptions. We are power, we are dignity, and we are unstoppable when we rise together.
Submitted by: Community Activist Vonda Smack
