As I watched 16-year old Ma’Khia Bryant’s TikTok video, I quickly realized she had a talent for making short videos with bursts of teenage-girl flavor. As her eyes dazzled with joy, Ma’Khia showed us how to lay her edges just right, as she styled her hair into two charming pigtails. With a smile that was beaming with confidence, Ma’Khia smiles directly into the camera, clearly proud of her TikTok masterpiece. I was first introduced to the video on Instagram, as I viewed a close friend’s IG story, something I do often, as she constantly pushes my thinking when it comes to solidarity across racial and ethnic lines through an intersectional lens. It took me a few seconds to realize who she was, as I had already been bombarded with the gruesome and dehumanizing video of a police officer gunning her down within approximately 12 seconds upon arriving at the scene. And this is essentially what Black young girls and women are constantly taught, day in and day out: that we are disposable, unworthy of life.
Black people, do not call The Police. It just may save your life. If you are someone who wants to save another Black person’s life, do not call them either. Think of another way to de-escalate the problem, as a critically conscious community. I am sure we can all figure it out, with patience, radical love and deep understandings of intersectional solidarity. I want you to radically imagine what would have happened if police did not show up in front of Ma’Kiah Bryant’s foster home. What would have happened if the community surrounding the girls fighting tried to break it up, tried to talk to each of them? But then you also have to ask yourself, if police, those who are trusted to protect and serve, see a 16-year old Black girl as a threat, imagine what your neighbors are thinking and have been socially conditioned to believe, too?