Aesha Kendrick, a nursing assistant and African-American mother of five, was having breakfast on her front porch at 10:00 a.m. on a recent Sunday when shots rang out. They came from a neighbor’s house across the street and were aimed at a passing vehicle. A stray bullet hit Kendrick, however, and killed her as she was eating a bowl of Trix. An African-American male was arrested for the fatal shooting. It’s not an isolated incident. There’s been a spate of gun violence in South St. Pete. Kendrick is not the only black victim.
It’s tragic, senseless, dystopian and, frightfully, not uncommon. One would hope that a local “Black Lives Matter” affiliate would take a high-profile stand–even though this outrageously lethal act didn’t involve a cop. Unless no one has an issue with the seeming connotation that Black Lives only selectively Matter.