Black Lives Matter Photo
When Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi founded #BlackLivesMatter, in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s 2012 murder, they were counting on supporters — but who, exactly, they weren’t sure. Responses trickled in from around the country. Then another black male died at the hands of law enforcement officials. Then another. And another. And voices began to swell with those three words.
One supporter right here in New Haven, Salwa Abdusabur, was ready to go the extra mile to join the movement. When faced with a no from her parents to attend the Millions March in New York City last December, she did what every activism-minded teen would do: She made a slideshow and wrote a speech, and presented both to her father after dinner one night.
Paul Bass Photos
“I felt like: Hell no. Hell no!,” said WNHH host Shafiq Abdussabur, sitting in as a guest on Wednesday’s “Mornings with Mubarakah,” about his feelings as a parent when Salwa first asked. One speech and pictures of black bodies, erect and marching for a cause, later, he was convinced.
The experience has stayed with her. During the episode, dedicated more broadly to the issue of #BlackLivesMatter and police brutality, she shared why.
“I feel like there’s so many levels … to change what is happening,” she said. “It’s a whole collective group … and it’s also a 500-year problem, if we talk about that. Black people have been looked down on for hundreds of years, and that definitely contributes to the problem. We have to … educate our students. At Common Ground we did a #BlackLivesMatter assembly — we should push in schools and have people talk about it.”
“It’s about the perception people have about black men,” added the program’s host, Mubarakah Ibrahim. “Even in a professional environment black men are not perceived like white men. It is a cultural disparity that we have in our perception of black men … When you are a police officer, what you are going to hear a lot is: We’re on the lookout for this black man. This black man. This black man. This black man. You’re going to turn into Pavlov’s dog … [It’s] the mentality that black is dangerous.”
Abdussabur pushed it one step further. “If President Obama could do one thing before he leaves, it has to do with a national protocol with policing people of color,” he said.
To listen to the episode, which also includes a brief look at community policing in New Haven, click on the audio above or find it in iTunes or any podcatcher under “WNHH Community Radio.”