Rivera (Rt.) accompanies grief-stricken families and BLM activists to urge City Council to reject the unsafe SAPD Contract. Photo: San Antonio Express News, 2016.
“Whether an officer humiliates you, makes unwarranted demands or rips your car apart under the guise of a drug search, let it happen and don’t say a word. It's not worth your life."
Black mothers, mine included, burn these reminders into their children's minds from a young age. They feel powerless when their sons and daughters are out on the streets at the mercy of a society that has proven time and again that black lives don’t matter. All they can do is cross their fingers and hope their training pays off when the time comes — and it always comes.
I have been racially profiled, shoved to the ground and pulled over without explanation more times than I can count. The same is true for my black mother, my Latino father and the rest of my family. At 13 years old, I felt that helplessness as I watched multiple police officers pin my step-brother to a wall, point a stun-gun at his temple, and drag him out of sight in handcuffs with no discernible provocation.
I've spent my whole life watching a rising body count — another dead black citizen, another hashtag, another protest and another acquittal, while millions of parents worry that tomorrow's hashtag will be their child. That is no way to live.
I am a humanist, I see and feel the fear and pain my community lives in, and I support Black Lives Matter.
Many officers choose to serve selflessly and deserve respect. However, I believe that respect must be earned, and I have witnessed too many violations to grant that reverence blindly.
I understand that police officers are only human, and I understand that they are susceptible to error and prejudice like the rest of us, but our lives are in their hands — lives they have sworn to protect and defend — and when our public servants are not held accountable for their actions, the message is clear: “Black lives don’t matter.”
Violations of black life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness extend beyond the streets. There is a clear bias in our court system. Black youth are tried as adults on a daily basis and non-violent black drug offenders consistently receive sentences comparable to those of white murderers. In America, one in every 15 black men will go to prison, in contrast to one in every 106 white men. Racial discrimination pervades every facet of our criminal justice system, which is reflected throughout society. The Black Lives Matter movement aims to change that. I am black, I am a humanist, and I support Black Lives Matter.
I see the reactions of the "All Lives Matter" crowd, a culture that is so resistant to acknowledging the plight of black people that even when white citizens are victimized, they turn a blind eye for fear that their outrage would validate BLM's cries of police misconduct. I am a skeptic, I accept that law enforcement is fallible, and I support Black Lives Matter.
Actor and social justice activist Jesse Williams captured the deep-seated injustice in his BET awards acceptance speech earlier this year: "I don’t want to hear any more about how far we've come when a paid public servant can pull a drive-by on a 12-year-old playing alone in a park in broad daylight, killing him on television and then going home to make a sandwich." I am a proud leader in the secular movement, and I am glad to know that the national Secular Student Alliance stands with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Racial equality in America is a myth. Equality is impossible when an entire demographic is still publicly defined by poverty, poor education, disproportionately high representation in the prison population and disproportionately low numbers in law enforcement and government leadership. Young leaders like Jewell Jones, Michigan's youngest elected state representative, provide hope for the future. But we still have a way to go.
The secular community is another place where black people are disproportionately underrepresented. Religion has played a significant role in African American culture. It presented a narrative of rebirth, a loving protector and justice in the afterlife as our ancestors were dragged from all things familiar and stripped of their humanity. Religion was often our only consolation in the hopeless reality we lived in, and we’ve clung to it ever since.
Today’s secular movement has been dominated by those with the resources to find their way beyond religion, leaving many groups of color behind. Organizations like Black Non-Believers have done a fantastic job of addressing this disparity, but it is the job of allies to follow their lead and demonstrate that the secular movement is for people of all colors and backgrounds.
Today’s secular community sees itself as an increasingly urgent part of the social justice movement. As the troubling ideologies of Donald Trump and his administration continue to reveal themselves, it becomes increasingly important for movements to work together in the fight for social justice, and the secular community must be committed to doing its part.
I am the President of the Secular Student Alliance at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and I support Black Lives Matter. In the words of Jesse Williams, "freedom is always coming in the hereafter, but you know what, though? The hereafter is a hustle. We want it now."
Sean Omar Rivera is at the University of Texas, San Antonio, where he is the president of the Secular Student Alliance, a board member of the Freethinkers Association of Central Texas, and a Democratic Party intern. He is both African American and Latino, and is an activist with Black Lives Matter and Planned Parenthood. In his role as SSA president, he has focused on amplifying the organization’s visibility on a campus with a history of aggressive street preaching aimed at religious minorities and the LGBT community. To shift this course, UTSA’s SSA chapter hosts an annual Q&A panel discussion with representatives of religious organizations and assembles at the Alamo once a semester to allow passersby to Hug an Atheist. Sean hopes to pursue a career in politics.
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