“Why That Police Brutality Stuff Matters” by brownfemipower

… [she] didn’t do anything to deserve it.

And then I went back and thought of all the other dismissals about the police brutality we’ve seen.

What were those protesters expecting?
What did they think was going to happen?
Why were they even there?
Who cares, it’s their own fault for causing trouble!

It’s just a bunch of old hippies and troublemakers looking for attention!

I’ve heard all this before. I’ve heard all this before over and over and over again.

What was she thinking?
What was she expecting was going to happen?
Why was she even there?
Who cares, it’s her own fault for causing trouble!
It’s just some fat bitch looking for some attention!

… I think that for violence against women to end, violence on all levels must be questioned, challenged and interrogated–violence on all levels regardless of who is committing it, must stop making sense. Police brutality at protest events matter because it exposes where violence makes sense to us, or where power makes sense to us.

It exposes where victim blaming begins, and exactly how those in positions of power write themselves into power by using victim excuse making…

… Where does it end? How does it end?

When do we get to stop asserting that a woman that is forced to comply against her will to any form of power didn’t deserve it?

When will we stop checking to make sure she didn’t deserve it–just in case she did?