How Do You Expect Us To Move On?

Na’kia Crawford was a black 18-year-old, new high school graduate, simply running some errands with her grandmother on June 14th in Akron, Ohio, when someone pulled up on the drivers side of the car they were in and shot her to death at a red light in broad daylight. The white man who killed her was allegedly targeting black people in the area, and due to the lack of street/traffic cameras in the intersection that she was murdered in, Na’kia’s killer remains at large. 

Her grandmother, who sat in the passenger seat next to Na’kia in her final moments, is likely traumatized from that awful experience. Her family, friends, and teachers must be devastated by this tragedy. Yet despite all of this, that senseless individual has now reduced her life to an online hashtag; she will likely be remembered online as yet another black soul taken away too soon, amidst these turbulent times in America. 

It doesn’t sit right with me that we, as black Americans, are all just expected to move on from these senseless tragedies against our people. 

It is unsettling knowing that since this woman’s murder was not filmed and publicized for the world to see, that this will not receive the same media attention as other tragedies like the murder of George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery; as if recorded video evidence is required for us to fully grasp the senselessness of an unjust murder. 

Na’kia had her whole life ahead of her, but she has now been reduced to tragic headlines, which will likely leave the media cycle in a few weeks, and be gone from people’s social media timelines even sooner.

Since George Floyd’s murder on May 25th, there have sadly been plenty more tragic situations in this country which have ended in the death of black individuals; including, but not limited to: Maurice Gordon, David McAtee, Tony McDade, Robert Fuller, Malcolm Harsch, Rayshard Brooks, and Oluwatoyin Salau.

As a young black man in America, it is my duty to continue sharing information on these individuals, continue signing petitions, & continue saying their names.

But how are we really expected to move on?

I can understand how non-black people are able to do it; these specific injustices aren’t happening to people that look like them, allowing much more room for them to compartmentalize situations like these.

However, for us black people, we don’t afford that luxury. At least in my case specifically, I see all too many aspects of myself in a lot of these victims of targeted racism and police excessive force. 

I immediately look at Robert Fuller: the 24-year-old black man found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, CA. According to the LA Times, “Fuller’s family and friends described him as a peacemaker, a street-smart man with shoulder-length dreadlocks and a bright smile who loved music, anime and video games and mostly stayed to himself.”

For myself, as a 21-year-old, music & video game loving, introverted black man with long locs, I can’t look at this tragedy and not immediately develop anxiety that I, too, could be found lynched in front of a city hall, just like Fuller. 

And as a New Jersey resident, I can’t read about Maurice Gordon being murdered by a state trooper on the NJ Garden State Parkway and not develop fear of being pulled over on that highway going forward.

But I realize now that when it comes to these senseless racial injustices, there is a big difference between moving on and moving forward. In the latter, we never forget what happened and how it made us feel; We simply internalize it and move forward accordingly. 

So while Na’kia Crawford’s story might sadly fall out of the media cycle soon, it’s important for us to continue to call on the Akron police department to bring justice. And even if we never see her killer behind bars, we can’t forget what happened to her, or Robert Fuller, or any other victim of racist agendas in this county.

We must continue to #SayHerName and march for change.

Important Update:

Since the publishing of this piece, more information has been released regarding Na’Kia Crawford’s murder. The suspects in the shooting have been identified as African American males mistaking Na’Kia’s identity; not making this case a white-on-black hate crime.

I have kept the article up because I feel that the piece’s overall messaging regarding grief and anxiety in the black community during the summer’s turbulent times, is still valid.