When A Life Ends To Early

Last week here in Philadelphia 27-year-old Walter Wallace was shot by police when he refused to put down his knife. He was said to come at them when they were called to the scene responding to a domestic dispute. A viral video showed his mother Catherine Wallace trying to stop him while others loudly screamed. The two white male policemen moved away from him guns drawn. As Wallace got closer, one of the policemen fired. He was pronounced dead. In moments after the shooting, riots broke out in the West Philadelphia neighborhood where the incident took place due to surged anger. The next day more riots and looting took place in other areas throughout the city. It is the second time our city experienced looting. Back in early June, in cities across the country including here in Philadelphia riots and looting took place after the death of George Floyd when taken into custody by police in Minneapolis. The same stores in Philly have been looted again like the Footlocker sneaker store to a clothing boutique named La'Vanter Boutique owned by a brother and sister who are African American in North Philadelphia. Wallace's mother claimed she told police that he was mentally ill and to not shoot her son. Anger continues to grow in the community over his death

Collage and Mixed Media In Their Badge. 2019

It seems life ends too early for people particularly young men of color. This has been an issue for years. Men of color getting killed. There have been peaceful rallies calling for an end to gun violence but does not get much recognition from the media. Deaths of a black or Latino person at the hands of law enforcement gets the most attention from the media than a homicide where people of color kill another person of color. The murders exist in a city with limited economic opportunities and men of color turned to using and selling narcotics. I was born in the early 1980s and heard the stories of crack sold in urban areas and was taught the importance of knowing when to fall to the floor or the ground when hearing gunshots as soon as I started the first grade. As a child, it scared me to be faced with a realization that at anytime someone could shoot you. Police take an oath to protect and serve but are faced with quick decisions and when facing a mentally ill person posing a threat to themselves and other people they are challenged more. My cousin is a cop and has shared with my mother about how police find responding to 302 calls difficult where a mentally ill person is in distress and a threat to themselves and others. In our family, we know about mental illness. My younger brother at an early age was diagnosed with Autism, developmental delay, and later schizophrenia. He had psychotic episodes where he has attacked me, my mother, and sometimes my father. She has fought to get him placed in a residential school since he was in grade school. When he got to be a teenager, he became bigger and a lot harder to handle. He was on and off medication and often attacked my mother leaving marks. As a teenager, in high school, I learned from my mother's ques to call the police and report a 302 going to her bedroom using her phone. I never called the police but she did and they would come leaving me to become emotional. They would walk in and peacefully talk to my brother. He, of course, would pull away from them and they would carefully grab him and put the cuffs on him quickly to take him to the nearest psychiatric ward. My brother would loudly scream and cry as they put him in the back of the police van in handcuffs. This was a scene I saw more than once. Finally, the day came weeks after I graduated high school, that a social worker helped my mother place him in a residential school by placing him in psychiatric wards until arrangements were made placing him in a program. This came about when she saw the marks on her arm he put with his long nails digging into her skin when he would grab her throwing his psychotic episodes. She said to her "This is unacceptable and he must be put into placement right away!" When I came home from my part-time job in a hospice doing maintenance, I got the phone call on our house phone from her that she and my brother were at the hospital and that he would be staying there until placement in a residential school. Her voice is heard in tears and I felt relief where I didn't have to see him have psychotic episodes attacking her and sometimes me. My father was unhappy and could not accept it. He was in a school in Delaware after my mother sued the city school system to honor a law insisting they fund and place him in a school that would serve him.

I do not know the Wallace family but I feel their pain. In our community, some people still suffer in silence and not have knowledge of the mental illness. The issue's awareness amongst people of color is improving but still, some do not care to inform themselves of it making it difficult for people suffering from it to be open about it. My mother made herself aware of my brother's illness and faced some criticisms from the community over her openness to discuss her issues. It led to her and my father having disagreements that resulted in their divorce. Police like my older cousin and his ex-wife as mentioned are faced with tough decisions wearing a badge. They have to bear the resentment from a community that long distrusts them due to the history of police corruption and racism with a once-white male-dominated police force. Though today the police force has become diversified racially and ethnically whites still make a large percentage of the police force. According to governing.com in the city of Philadelphia out of a total of 6,515 police officers, there are 3,695 white police officers, 532 Latino police officers, 97 Asian police officers, and 2,174 black police officers. Some say economic disparities are the reason whites make up a greater number of the police force.

Collage and Mixed Media. Shaking An Officer's Hand. 2020

Sneakers Identified Of A Life Ended. Drawing in markers. 2020

Life is ending too soon for young men of color. Homicide has been rising since the pandemic and police are overwhelmed facing calls for them to be defunded since the death of George Floyd and told to take little action responding to crimes. The Center For Disease Control reports homicides has risen up to 18, 830 in 2018. In Philadelphia so far as reported by the city's police commissioner Danielle Outlaw at the July hearing on gun violence, homicides have risen to 32 to 247% since Covid-19. More lives end as energy is focused on police and the community's lack of distrust towards them. This piece titled Sneakers Identified Of A Life Ended done in marker reflects the sad state of death regarding people of color and how it continues. The sneakers represent the youth whose lives are taken and the red spots are the blood that splatters as their bodies collapse to the ground from a shot, not by a police officer but instead by another person of color. Mental health is said to be underfunded and some in minority communities still are uninformed about mental illness. This is a madness that will not stop until someone comes up with a better solution.