TheWRITEaddiction.com

Hold up!  Wait A Minute!

The beat drops and I know I’ve heard this song before.  Then the lyrics start and the nostalgia hits me like a ton of bricks.  Not the good kind either.  The kind that makes you sick to your stomach, as you remember the hurt from centuries, decades, years, and hours past.  You know the verse.

“The officer feared for his safety.”  They changed the word to her for this version.

You’re probably familiar with the second verse, too.  You know, where they dig up the worst possible pictures of the VICTIM, unseal his juvenile records, and list every traffic violation he ever witnessed.  Whatever happened to not speaking ill of the dead? This is the only situation when it’s okay to crucify the slain.

Then comes the vamp.  You know the one.  They toss around phrases like “decorated officer” and “X-year veteran.”

Then the chorus…The public outrage, the lawyers, the internal investigations, and the non-indictment…

A gradual decrescendo, until you can barely hear the cries of the victims’ families.

They try to pass this one off as a new and different situation.  They remixed it again, but don’t be fooled.  This is the same song we’ve heard for centuries.

At what point do we knock over the turntables, and break all the records?  At what point do we make sure that we never hear this tune again?  The melody is offputting and the lyrics are offensive.  We are tired of marching to the same old beat.  We are tired of dancing to the same old tune.

Mama Radford