Why...If...How...When
HOW many more times will I hear about police officers shooting unarmed black men. WHEN will the feeling I get in my stomach and throat after reading about cases like the one in New York over the weekend stop. I wonder what it will feel like WHEN I have to stop telling my young children that police officers are their friends and start reminding my teenagers to be cautious and to refrain from making sudden movements IF they are stopped. It is funny HOW "police officer" means different things to us at different ages, classes, genders, and races. It means safety for some people, and I hope they don't hurt me for others.
4 comments:
So unfortunate but true.
There is no feeling quite like the feeling most black men encounter when we see the flashing lights of the police. Your adrenaline begins to pump and your heart begins to race because you know that in that moment anything is possible regardless of your innocence or attempt to cooperate; Wrongful jailing, beating and/or death are always plausible…And "they" wonder why we call them PIGS...why we don't answer when questioned....why we don't trust? Well, Black men are criminalized, marginalized and deemed expendable every day. Our profiles on the nightly news project us as a drain on society and if you are not a black man then you don’t know what it’s like. I ask…Have you ever been driving, walking, shopping or doing anything while being a young black man? Been accosted while minding your business for no observable reason beyond the color of your skin? Just think...What if my son was a young black man...would you have to tell your kid...don't trust the police? Zaynah, your son will know even if you don't tell him because (sadly) he will most likely be conditioned from experience.
You're right. He will be conditioned from experience.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/sayitloud/kane1130
This is an editorial on the situation from Black Web America.
I'm not sure when cops decided it would be okay to shoot black men by "accident." Maybe it was the Watts, Cali. riots. Maybe it's left over anger from the days of bus boycotts and lunch-counter sit ins.
The million-dollar question though is when will it stop. I don't know if our children will see that day, but I do know my children, our children, will be prepared for that day. And that, my friend, is really sad.
Post a Comment