Nia Wilson

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It's terrible that she lost her life and in such a horrible way. But I gotta ask though, why would any black person own a cell phone case like this? It's a terrible idea. I went to her facebook page and the gun case is in 3 photos in different outfits. It wasn't a one time gag like they said. Her wall is public and its all nastiness "I’m not the type of bitch that needs any kind of sympathy period 💯 ion need nobody to feel bad for me "

I follow Glennon Doyle Melton on Facebook. This is from her post today:

Dear Ones:

I have a friend who has worked for years as photographer for several major New York City newspapers.

Long ago, he told me something horribly disturbing.

He said that — when it comes to stories about murder — there is a clearly-defined racial hierarchy about which stories get put on the front page of the newspaper, and which stories don’t get told at all.

If a white child is murdered, that’s front page news.

If a black child is murdered, that’s not news — unless it’s a REALLY dramatic story, and maybe a few kids died at the same time.

If a white man is murdered, that’s news.

If a black man is murdered, that’s not news.

If a white woman is murdered — ABSOLUTELY, that is news. Especially if it is a white woman of privilege.

But when a black woman is murdered? That is the lowest degree of importance, in terms of news.

So many times over the years, my friend has taken photos at the murder scenes of black women, only to be EXPLICITY told by his editors: “This is not news. Nobody cares”

Long before there was a social movement called Black Lives Matter, my friend learned firsthand on the job that Black Lives Do NOT Matter. Specifically, he learned that NO life in America matters less than the life of a black woman.

He’s been on the job for twenty years, and it’s still that way. Nothing has changed. This is POLICY, at the newspaper.

(And this is how the media works in New York City, by the way — arguably the most progressive city in the country. Just imagine how it is elsewhere.)

Racism is so deeply embedded in our culture that we marinate in it at every level. From birth to death, racism has its way with our minds. And every single day it is reinforced to us in ways big and small that Black Lives Do NOT Matter — and that Black Women’s lives matter least of all.

This is why it is important right now that we say her name.

This is a drawing of Nia Wilson, who was brutally murdered on Sunday night in Oakland, California by a white man named John Lee Cowell.

Just be AWARE, as you watch the coverage of this murder (and let’s hope that it continues to get coverage) of the way that our deeply-ingrained collective racism shapes the story.

Be AWARE of the media using word like “unhinged” and “mentally ill” and “disturbed” to describe Nia’s murderer, John Lee Cowell.

Be AWARE that white murderers are always described in these generous terms — even before we know anything about their backgrounds. (White murderers always have the privilege of being labeled as “mentally ill”. Whereas Black and brown murderers are called “bloodthirsty”, or “terrorists”, or “gang-members”, or “thugs”, or “animals”, or “a menace to society.”)

And look for ways that people will try to undermine Nia Wilson’s character, because she was a black woman — so surely, she must have had it coming somehow, to be murdered by this perfect stranger.

Imagine how differently the story would be covered, if an eighteen-year-old white girl had been murdered by a black man.

Please notice all of this. Please think about all of this. Please speak up about all of this this. Recognize the pattern in all of this. Get angry about it.

And keep saying her name. Her name was Nia Wilson. She was eighteen years old, innocently coming home from a family party with her two sisters. She had her neck slit. She was blameless. She had her whole life ahead of her.

Her life matters.

Onward,
LG

(art by Sarah Green @sarahgreenstudio)

I called your original Grio article click-bait because it presented a purposefully misleading title and narrative pushing the obvious agenda of the article author.

There are plenty of truthful situations to call upon for such a purpose, why choose one in which police acted appropriately? It undercuts the entire premise of their argument.

The second article you posted is utterly heartbreaking. No amount of money will make it right but hopefully she will now be able to get the counseling and support she will need for years to come.

I have seen you try very hard to challenge people and educate people here, and that’s a lot of emotional labor. I just want you to know that I see you and appreciate you. 

This



is very hard to do. And sometimes I feel like we have listened so poorly for so long, not many people bother trying to talk about it or be heard anymore. Groups of people who have been the victims of systemic racism for a long time talk to each other about it, but the outgroup hears less and less - because we defend and justify or try to put whatever experience is being shared into perspective, our perspective. And that's the people with good intentions, saying nothing of those who actually support this insidious and ongoing situation.

Since we are admitting how we've erred here, I have always tried to agree and share my own experiences where I've seen it happen, but what I need to do is listen and hush. It seems like we need a long period now of people talking about what it's like. What happens, how it feels, what the repercussions are. White people think they know, but we don't, and we won't unless we listen and stop JADE-ing (justify, argue, defend, explain).

Really? One of them did but the other one that had him on the ground, before the sensible one took over the situation, should have been ashamed of himself.  I bet you wouldn't think the same if any of our police officers did the same thing to a 10 year old boy....they'd be up before an inquiry sooner than they could blink.

You're right, neither of us were there.  My opinion having watched the same video as you did was that the officer with the shades could have handled it in a better way. He was a small slightly built 10 year old boy and IMO if a grown man can't handle a distraught, unarmed child without resorting to the backup of handcuffs and lay him face downwards on gravel with his arm twisted round his back then, again IMO, he needs to benefit from further training or take a leaf out of the calm way that his colleague dealt with the situation.