Make Racists Afraid Again: Army Sergeant Jonathan Pentland Charged With Assault
By: Kwana Adams
Our last two presidents have caused such a divide when it comes to race, but each in their own ways. People were so upset when Barack Obama was elected president, and those same people maintained a cult-like admiration for the next president Donald Trump. I call it cult-like because he did not even have to say things outright, yet his supporters would completely “understood” what he said and took it to extremes.
They liked him so much because he’s a great businessman (been bankrupt four times), and he “tells it like it is” (extremely offensive, downright rude, and disrespectful). I know that the general public likes to think the race line was drawn when Trump became president, but it was years before. Many horrid and racist things about Barack Obama were said, written, and drawn on poster boards because a black man dared to create history. Donald Trump led a whole campaign about the status of Obama’s birth certificate. He made his supporters feel bold enough to say what they want to say too.
We started going out into the streets demanding our lives to matter, and they spoke over us with ‘All lives matter.’ Barack Obama brought them out of hiding, but Donald Trump made them bold; so bold that they would proudly spew hatred on social media with their full names and places of employment on display. They would proudly be caught on video spewing hatred, too… until it goes viral. Suddenly, they’re sorry, it’s not who they are, and they didn’t mean it.
Their lives shouldn’t be ruined because of a simple mistake. Aw, are we supposed to feel bad for them? I don’t. If you’re going to say racist, awful things, then say it with your whole chest. Stand ten toes on it. Don’t change it up now because you got caught in 4K. You meant what you said. Now you have to deal with the consequences.
My favorite thing is seeing racists lose their jobs, scholarships, and enrollment in colleges and high schools. Some people really believe that free speech means “freedom to say what you want and nothing happens.” Not anymore. You’re being held accountable. You’re losing your privileges, and sometimes you’re getting punched in the face. Freedom of speech does not mean you can say whatever you want and get away with it.
I am so tired of seeing videos of white people verbally and physically assaulting black people. They’re triggering and, quite frankly, traumatizing. It physically hurts to see black people being shoved around, spit at, or called names just for simply existing. I do admit that video evidence is essential, but it rarely helps us, and when it does, it’s really refreshing.
A white man recently decided to intimidate and push around a much smaller black man because he was walking through the neighborhood. That man thought he was so tough until that video went viral. He got arrested, and black people showed up in droves outside of his house.
Jonathan Pentland, a US Army sergeant, was charged with assault for shoving that man whose only crime was minding his own damn business, and I feel great about it. The way he pushed around that man was despicable. It’s heartbreaking that we have to record interactions with white people so often because we could end up in a horrible situation.
We need racists to go back to being afraid. We need to keep holding them accountable, like Jonathan Pentland and Miya Ponsetto, so they don’t keep believing they can harm us and endanger our lives without repercussions. Make examples out of them and make racists afraid again.
YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
