“At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I’m shooting at him.”
Are African-American men superhuman? Sadly for them, no.
But, sadly for them, African-American women have had to be.
I looked around the table at Thanksgiving. At my daughters and granddaughters. Thankful for the health and safety of my family.
And mindful that it is very, very, very unlikely that any of us will spend our holidays like the mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and cousins of Michael Brown, Travon Martin, Tamir Rice, and a list of names that appears never-ending.
Part of that is location (small Midwestern town) but that circumstance is miniscule. We are white. Ordinary but white. The idea that police or vigilantes could shoot and kill one of our sons, grandsons, brothers, or cousins is as alien as alien abduction.
I can sympathize but there's no way I can empathize with pain so far beyond anything I can imagine. I can't know the life experience that has given Leslie McSpadden (Michael Brown's mother), Sybrina Fulton (Travon Martin's mother), and Sam Rice (Tamir's mother) such dignity and strength in the face of any mother's most unimaginable horror.
We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful. Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction. ~ McSpadden
The change that we hope to affect is with the law. We want to make sure any teenager who is walking down the street wont' be killed, that they will make it home safe. Hopefully, we can find some positive, some bright side out of all of this. ~ Fulton
We understand that some of you are hurt, angry and sad about our loss. But let’s use those emotions in a way that will contribute to positive efforts and solutions that bring change to Cleveland, Northeast Ohio and cities across the nation as it relates to how law enforcement officials interact with citizens of color. ~ Rice
I'd be curled into a fetal ball of pain or blindly lashing out at everything around me. I wouldn't have it in me to think of others let alone the future.
What can we possibly say about a society that has inflicted this on generations of women? From slavery to Reconstruction to Jim Crowe to the murder of Emmett Till to the present day and a future that shows no plausible sign of change.
I only know that I could not face such horrific experiences with dignity and strength. My racial background and life experience has not prepared me for it. I feel profound societal guilt for that but also a guilty thankfulness. I may be poor and ordinary and have innumerable flaws but I AM privileged.