BlackMan Time

Whenever the average white police personnel sees a black person s/he automatically thinks of crime or potential criminal.

It does not matter what the situation or how far up the social ladder that Black Person has reached, Mr. and Ms. White Police seem trained and socialised to suspect that person of wrong doing, until otherwise proven innocent.

This is the premise behind Michael Moore’s video “The Awful Truth” which tackles the still prevalent problem of American police “accidentally” killing innocent Black Man carrying nothing more sinister than a mobile phone, a wallet or even a cooking spatula. See the video below…

It is very easy to shout “discrimination” or “racism” every time the police carry out these kinds of acts on Black People, as in most cases we’d probably be justified in doing so. But, what if instead of using those terms we instead used “assassination” or other words to describe the police are deliberately, wilfully and intentionally murdering Black People. Would we still be justified?

Given the rising number of such incidents, not just in America but wherever Black People live in a majority white governed country it is, rather disconcertingly, something that can no longer be ignored.

For some it might seem incredulous to even suggest such a thing but those who have experienced police mistreatment or have lost loved ones as a result of police shoot first, apologise later strategy can testify that the concern is real and life changing.

But why should we have to die at the hands of trigger happy police before our fears are taken seriously?