Dear police brutality

The last time I checked we were not criminals, rapists, murderers, we did not steal the very essence of whatever bullshit the media decides to feed the greater world. But yet today we had the presence of the whole of the South African Police services at our disposal. Apparently, they were warranted to protect the very virtue that is the human life, the human life of the student. Instead, they did the exact opposite. They threw us with stun grenades and shot at us with rubber bullets while they allowed private security to continuously throw stones at our very lifelike bodies. Are we not human? Are our lives not important enough to be protected?

It has been day 1 of the #feesmustfall movement and the chaos that has erupted within has been unequally distributed. While the media has, not surprisingly, framed the students as violent, disruptive hooligans, the people continue to believe the delusional dirt that the media uses to spur unnecessary arguments. But when will the people learn; they create chaos amongst themselves, spread false news and get worked up for news feeds that are framed, sensationalistic and biased.

I have no doubt that there are police forces that stand up, that go out and consult their morals before just “following orders” but for the majority that I saw today this is for you. We live our lives hoping that you will protect us but yet you are the ones we need protection from. We live in fear of rubber bullets, stun grenades, teargas and armed weapons and yet you are supposed to be protecting us. We don’t fear criminals, or thieves or murderers, we fear the police force that have become criminals to us. The ones that have stolen the breath of our protests and the scream of our hails for you to stop. You have stunted our words but we will not stand down, we will fight back, we will stand tall and we will not let you get in the way of our goals. Our fight for free and quality education will remain a long term goal and hopefully achievement. We will not be deterred or intimidated by the way that you laugh and joke with your colleagues while infusing and inciting violence in the next moment. You have shown your fire and we will show you ours.

Amandla!