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My daughter is five years old, a vibrant, spirited girl with curls that bounce when she runs. She is half Black and half South Asian, and as I envision her future, I can’t help but feel a deep fear that one day I might be mourning her, standing over her lifeless body, just like Aaliyah Carter’s family is doing now.
Can you fathom the pain that Aaliyah’s family must be feeling? Another Black child, another innocent life taken by a police officer. Sadly, the police department will likely offer a series of justifications: “this wasn’t racially motivated,” or “he was afraid for his safety,” or even, “let’s wait for all the details to emerge.” What details could possibly change the fact that we have a 16-year-old Black girl dead? Police officers are not supposed to play judge and jury.
Their primary role is to protect us, regardless of our skin color, background, or who we love. When someone reaches out for help, like Aaliyah may have done (though it remains unclear who made the 911 call, many suspect she did), the expectation is that they will assist — not harm. Each time a police officer takes the life of an unarmed Black person, it reverberates through our communities.
We should be outraged that another child has been killed — think of Adam, Tamir, and Michael. The number of racially biased officers on the force is alarming, along with those who resort to violence before assessing the situation. Too many officers view a person’s skin color, their vehicle, or the music playing from their car as a reason to classify them as a criminal. We know that these assumptions lead to death. The criteria for when and why officers can use lethal force must be reevaluated.
We may never know what was happening in Aaliyah’s mind on the day she was shot. Perhaps she was scared, perhaps she held a kitchen knife for self-defense against what she perceived as a threat. But we will never have those answers because the officer reacted first. He fired at a Black girl with a kitchen knife, who posed no imminent danger to him, shooting her four times in the chest simply because she didn’t obey his command to “get down.”
It’s crucial to recognize that the context doesn’t change the outcome — a child was shot dead. The officer was on the scene for a mere 10 seconds before he pulled the trigger. Imagine if this had been a confrontation involving a white teenager. Would he have responded with deadly force? No, this scenario would not have unfolded in a predominantly white environment. Why? Because white individuals do not face institutional racism in the same way that Black individuals do.
It is infuriating that a white mass shooter, such as Nikolas Cruz or Dylann Roof, can be taken into custody without incident, while Black individuals face peril for merely existing. This must end.
From 2015 to 2020, a study published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health revealed a staggering truth about police shootings: during that period, 5,367 fatal police shootings occurred, with 1,265 of the victims being Black — a rate 2.6 times higher than that of white individuals. Yes, America has a gun problem, but we face an even greater issue: pervasive racism. The fear has shifted from just protecting Black men to now encompassing Black women and children as well.
What can we do to alter the mindset of white police officers and those who harbor racist beliefs? Lives continue to be lost, communities devastated, and officers placed on “administrative leave” with no real change in sight. Every day we turn on the news, only to hear of yet another unarmed individual killed. This is the grim reality for us.
I hope Aaliyah’s tragic death can inspire a shift in perspective among those who prioritize skin color over human life. She could have been my daughter. Until there are meaningful changes, this will remain the haunting fear that keeps me — and countless other Black parents — awake at night.
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