They Would Have Been Alive If They Hadn’t Acted So Free

When they aren’t being killed by white supremacy, black men are being publicly shamed for expressing their liberty and autonomy.

On July 4, the Christian rapper LeCrae posted a tweet to his twitter timeline showing a family of slaves in a field with the words: “My family on July 4th 1776.”

The post was meant to generate discussion- it was the most visible example of a growing social media push over the holiday weekend to reconcile the founding of the United States with the country’s ugly history of brutality, genocide, and racism.

The backlash was predictable. Thousands of outraged people- almost all of them white, naturally- from across the country took to their keyboards to express their anger over the accurate portrayal of US history.

“Done supporting you bro,” said one. “There’s freedom in Christ. i guess that ain’t enough,” said another.

All LeCrae was doing was pointing out that the nation’s promise of freedom doesn’t extend to all its citizens.

Later on July 4, a petition for Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes to fire the show’s star Jesse Williams was met with a polite but unmistakable “go fuck yourself.”

Rhimes posted on twitter: “Um, people? Boo don’t need a petition. #shondalandrules”

The controversy was over an impassioned speech on the Black Lives Matter movement during the BET awards in June. Williams had dared to use his platform at BET to speak out on the history of institutional racism in the US. During his speech- which you should watch, all of it- he said the following:

Freedom is somehow always conditional here. “You’re free,” they keep telling us. But she would have been alive if she hadn’t acted so… free.

Is there any question that Williams was right? Alton Sterling was murdered by police in Baton Rouge less than 5 hours after Rhimes tweeted out her support of her star. Phil Castile was murdered by police 36 hours later. What were their crimes?

Police allege Sterling was threatening customers outside of a convenience store. He was killed within minutes of the police arriving on the scene. Sterling was unarmed and incapacitated while his body was pumped full of bullets.

Castile was acting in compliance with police orders during a routine traffic stop. Police shot him four times as he reached for his ID within 45 seconds of the officer approaching his vehicle.

They would have been alive if they hadn’t acted so free.