Reality TV star Kim Kardashian posted a pro-Black Lives Matter letter on her website Friday about how she does not want to have to warn her son to “watch his back” or be “scared of police,” after five police officers were shot and killed and seven more wounded at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas.
“This week we watched Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two innocent black men, get senselessly murdered by police officers,” the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star said in her post. Sterling and Castile were killed in separate police-involved shootings last week.
“Like a lot of you guys, I watched the videos, and was appalled and completely heartbroken. I was left speechless, angry and numb,” Kardashian wrote.
The 35-year-old model continued:
I want my children to grow up knowing that their lives matter. I do not ever want to have to teach my son to be scared of the police, or tell him that he has to watch his back because the people we are told to trust—the people who “protect and serve”—may not be protecting and serving him because of the color of his skin.
She took to Twitter Friday and posted her message, sharing it with her 46 million followers. “How to make a difference in the battle over systemic racism,” the subtitle of her letter reads.
Kardashian’s emotional missive came a day after Houston New Black Panther Party member Micah X. Johnson ambushed and opened fire on Texas law enforcement officers, murdering five and wounding seven others.
While not mentioning it directly, but alluding to Johnson’s horrific shooting spree, Kardashian said, “The last thing we need is to fuel anger with more hate or violence, especially toward the many incredible police officers who risk their lives every single day to protect our families and communities.”
“We must peacefully use the power of our voices and the strength of our numbers to demand changes in the judicial system so that brutality doesn’t ever go unpunished,” she added.
Kardashian concluded her letter, saying, “Hashtags are not enough,” then listed the names of black people killed by police.
“Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Sean Bell … and unfortunately so many more,” she fumed, adding the hashtag: #BlackLivesMatter.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson.
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