5 Boys and a Wicked Justice System

What started with a DM grew into a four-part powerful docuseries that can change us all, if we allow it to. Some may see what the docuseries is about and say it is just another film about injustice, we need to get over it. Some may look at it in a way to empower themselves to be more of a help to “our” agenda and community. “Our” as in the Black Community. Some will watch it, get mad, tell everyone else their feelings, yet still turn a blind eye, until it knocks on their door. That is when they will pipe up and ask for help and be greeted with those just like them. Some may go as far as finding reasons to blame the boys. They could have done things differently. “Maybe if he would not have said it like that…” “Why would they agree to this when it is not true?” The “why’s”, the “if’s” and the “but’s” flow, because they don’t want to see their America the way that it truly is.

The way they see US, who is They and who is US? This can be interchanged because it could very well turn from “society”, “the white man”, “the police” to they being to “us”, black people in general. We are a society and community, aren’t we? How do we even view ourselves?

We are so quick to throw away our children, instead of giving them a hand up and telling them things can be better. How are we seeing ourselves to allow this to keep happening in our communities? Why haven’t we taken a stand? Wait-some have while others sit back and ridicule them because they are not as prim and proper as they feel they should be. This narrative has me sick to my stomach. I cried real tears and allowed myself to see, exactly what it was, INJUSTICE!

Confession, I used to be the one to find ways to make sense of these police killings and

attacks. I didn’t blame the victims, but I always felt like ‘well if he would not have talked back’, ‘if he wasn’t walking in the middle of the street’, ‘why didn’t he just stop when they asked?’. But then black people kept being killed and thrown in jail. They call us animals, just angry for nothing. We kept being the victim and not the victor, and I am now just sick of it. I am sick of trying to make sense of something that will never make sense. Why do I have to sit down and shut up when injustice is being committed against me? Why are my rights so violated just because my skin is darker? Why, why, why!

Why was this important for me to watch and why you should too?

Being a storyteller myself, I am a lover of a great story, I still don’t take delight in watching Roots, Selma, etc. I am more into romantic comedies. I like to see my America through rose-colored glasses but it keeps knocking at my door begging me to look at it with more clarity. My America keeps shoving down my throat that there is nothing rosy about it. There is nothing I should be proud of because it has a heritage of offending ME!

I watched because it was time to take off those glasses. It is time to see my America for what it really is and to start supporting more of those who are in the fight. I live by a quote, “let the work I do speak for me” and Ava Duvernay’s work has stood up and spoken loudly, clearly and intelligently. Her work never comes from an ignorant point of view, but leads you on a path to just sit down and listen, even if it is just a moment. I trust Ava, she looks like me, she sounds like me, and she believes the things that I believe. I watched because I knew that she was coming from an authentic and honest place. I knew that the stories would be clear and as hard as it was going to be to watch, I needed to. And you need to do the same, so you can take off your rose colored glasses as well.

What I found was too heavy for me. I found a system that was trying to solve a case by any means necessary, to put it in a nice way. I found a system that took advantage of black and brown boys, promising them things that they knew they had no intention of doing. I found a system demeaning the boys’ parents, right in front of them to show that their “heroes” have no power. To a child your parent fixes things, they protect, but in this movie, they were mistreated and tossed to the side just as their children. I found that by putting myself in those boys’

position, I would have done the same thing. They were scared, hungry, and just wanted to go home.

These boys listened to those who are sworn to protect and serve them. They didn’t know they were labeling them. I found that even when the truth came out, to save face, they still didn’t want to believe it, but they couldn’t stop what was about to take place. Justice! If what they did was truthful and honest and they had no malice behind it, they would have apologized by now.

I found that the man that took out a full-page ad in four New York newspapers to have these boys subjected to the death penalty, is now president and I am supposed to feel safe? I DON’T! Trump has been showing his hand for years, but people put on those rose colored glasses. They wanted to support him due to his “Christian” values and GOT PLAYED, straight up and down. He still has yet to apologize, also.

So what is our next move? This is chess, not checkers.

So what’s next? You got mad, angry, sad. You posted on your social media just how moving the docu-series was. You told your friends they have to watch it with their kids. You talked about it with your colleagues, family, and friends but now what do You do? This was not just an isolated incident. This was not a one-time type of case; this type of injustice happens more than often than we hear because we tend to go with what the authorities said to happen. How do we really buck the system when it was truly developed to keep us down? Who speaks up for the innocent?

It makes me want to vomit when looking at how many people the Innocence Project has helped to get exonerated due to simple DNA testing. This is not supposed to be life! Again, what do you do now?

Back home in New Orleans, we have a saying, “take it to the street”, which has a totally

different meaning but is a suitable saying for protest. Take it to the streets, block traffic,

conduct or attend marches, lift your voice to show your support. Now I realize we all are not built for that. For those who are not, you can support those who are. You can purchase supplies, give money for bail, create signs, etc.

Activism isn’t your thing?

Ok, vote! The only office that is not 100% placed in position by the people is that of the President of the United States. Other offices are. Pay attention to the agendas of those who are running. Don’t go with what they are telling you, really look at what they have voted for, what they have done in the past, check out their track records. Don’t just look at their color but the true content of their character. Are you woke yet? Eyes wide open!

Another way to help is by giving and volunteering at organizations that are helping those who are wrongly convicted. Have you heard of the Innocence Project? They have local offices around the nation. They help innocent people get their life’s back. Korey Wise, one of the falsely accused men has an Innocence Project of his own named, Korey Wise Innocence Project (KWIP), donate to this organization.

There are levels of involvement, and you can do your part if you choose to.

“When They See Us” is an emotionally charged docuseries that tell the story of five boys who were falsely accused of rape and battery of a woman that was jogging through Central Park. The boys did not know one another, only two were friends. Out of the 30 plus boys that the police say were in the park that night, they only chose to presume these five as animals out to beat and rape a white woman. There was no physical evidence, and the DNA did not match. This was a witch hunt to get a conviction and make White New Yorkers feel safe, in my

opinion. The boys were fed a story to say- they didn’t even know what part of the park the rape happened in! They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and their names came up.

When they see me…no matter how well mannered I speak or conduct myself, “They” don’t see me as human, because “they” don’t want to.

In the Wind,

-Arnya T.M. Davis