When I was shot, I was interrogated as if I were the guilty party. All people saw was a Black man with a gunshot wound who was in the wrong neighborhood

As a nation, we witness the tragedy of gun violence on a regular basis. On the surface, it could be easy to look away – many Americans are desensitized to the devastation following the lives lost and the communities affected by someone with a gun. But if you take a closer look at the public portrayal of gun violence it correlates with the villainization of Black and brown Americans.

When people of color are involved in acts of gun violence, the assumption is we are to blame. We are living in the wrong neighborhood, or the violence was result of criminal activity. However, it is our communities that are most affected and harmed by these tragedies. This past year we have seen a significant rise in shootings nationwide – an increase that disproportionately affects majority-minority communities like mine. While Black men and boys make up only 2% of the population, we are most likely to be victims of gun violence. Failure to recognize the humanity in victims, regardless of the color of their skin, inherently diminishes the personal and societal value of that individual. This negligence is consistently applied to Black people. If we are the criminals, we are at fault. If we are the victims, we are at fault. If we are bystanders, we are at fault because we live in a country that does not afford us the presumption of innocence.