He was just a Nigger.

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager shot dead for apparently looking menacing. He left behind a family and a potentially bright future, but don’t worry – he was just a Nigger. Eric Garner, choked to his death for breaking up a fight and no medical team called to the scene in good time, but not to worry – he too was just a Nigger. Mike Brown, shot whilst running away from the police, but considered a threat. But hey, all will be forgotten in a few weeks. He was just a Nigger. Whilst these events took place, society simply carried on as normal, because, well, it was just another Nigger dead.

My heart goes out to the families and friends of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and the other people that have recently been murdered. I believe strongly that every issue regarding to race relations points back to slavery. Had slavery not occurred, yes racism would exist because where there is diversity there is bound to be conflict, however I doubt it would exist to this extent. There would not be a great divide in superiority and inferiority as determined by slavery, but yes individuals would indeed have some sort of prejudice, but slavery in a sense gave white people the entitlement to feel superior to black people. As a society, we cannot bury our heads under the sand and pretend that these incidents are just isolated cases and that everyone gets along. These are far from isolated cases, and anyone who feels sincerely that there is no racism in our society needs a reality check. Racism isn’t just when someone walks up to you and hurls a racial slur. Racism is Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner being brutally murdered and the value of their lives being belittled. But hey, they were just Niggers!