FOUR SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL THINGS BLACK PEOPLE CAN DO SO WHITE PEOPLE WON’T BE SO GOTDAMN FUCKING SCARED OF US

Damon Young, 9/20/16



Yesterday, footage was released of 40-year-old Terence Crutcher getting shot and killed by Betty Shelby, a Tulsa police officer. Crutcher appeared to have his hands up, was unarmed, and, from the multiple camera angles made available to the public, didn’t appear to be any sort of a threat. Yet, that didn’t prevent him from getting executed by Shelby. Shot down in the street like a fucking rabid raccoon.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the footage wasn’t the video, but the audio from the footage taken from a police helicopter. Because it is here you can hear an officer express that Crutcher — who again was unarmed, had his hands up, and didn’t appear to be doing or saying anything remotely threatening — “looks like a bad dude.” It’s a sentiment similar to what Darren Wilson expressed when he shot and killed Michael Brown, claiming that the bullets seemed to make Brown grow bigger and stronger and angrier, like some sort of VantaBlack Popeye. It also reminds me of what George Zimmerman said about Trayvon Martin. And what the Cleveland police officers who ambushed, shot, and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice said. And what Michael Dunn claimed caused him to fire a gun indiscriminately into a car at a gas station, killing Jordan Davis. And what our preferred choice for president alluded to 20 years ago when she referenced “Superpredators.”

We can continue to protest during the anthem to draw attention to racism and police brutality. And we can continue to demand better and more efficient training for police officers, as well as more accountability for their misdeeds. But while those acts will surely make a difference, as long as the type of White people to be scared to fucking death of us continue to be so scared and so unimpressed with our humanity that the first instinct when engaged in any type of misunderstanding or squabble with us is “Kill it!”, this will continue to happen.

Which leads me to the million-dollar question: What can we do to prevent them from being so gotdamn fucking scared of us? I don’t have any concrete solutions. But I do have some theories.

http://verysmartbrothas.com/four-simple-and-practical-things-black-people-can-do-so-white-people-wont-be-so-gotdamn-fucking-scared-of-us/