You have heard the stories by now — many of them have been posted on DK depicting situations where someone has called 911 to report on some African American person living their life — that happens to be in the same space as them. Newport Nancy, BBQ Becky, Burrito Bob, Larry Lawnman, Chemical Cathy, and Permit Patty are just a few of the twitter ‘drag to filth’ names that these individuals got labelled with because they think that they had the right and privilege to determine who can be in their space as well as what certain people can do in that space.
In the most extreme cases, calling 911 on black folk minding their own business has deadly consequences. 12 year old Tamir Rice was playing with a TOY gun on a playground, alone, in his own little world when someone called 911 on him and the Cleveland Police showed up and shot him to death before they could even get out of the car. Clearly the toll here is a mother and sister having to live without their son and brother for the rest of their lives.
Yet there is another toll that is taken on black people who has to live with the having to move through society everyday that is not as clearly obvious as having to grieve a loved one killed because their are black. This is a toll that every black person has to internalize everyday and it is called STRESS.
In case you didn’t know, stress can also kill. It’s just slower. The stress of having to deal with the police when you know you haven’t done anything wrong. The stress of having to make sure that YOU don’t make the wrong move, lest you don’t return home alive.
The stress on your family and loved ones because they know that it could have gone very wrong.
This young man has a lemonade stand. It’s his licensed business. Someone in SF called 911 on him. This is his story:
This is a taste of a form of post traumatic stress syndrome. This man has an infant son who immediately sensed that his father was ‘shook’ for some reason and he wouldn’t let him go. His son was trying to comfort him. His wife was distressed. She’s a young mother who could have easily been a young widow.
Now process that. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.
This young man has a business and he is trying to provide for his family. Legitimately. He is a taxpayer. He could be positioning himself to hire others if his business takes off.
Yet some nosey ass coward only sees a black man and that man must be up to no good.
Yes, this has got to stop.
A lot of this has to do with neighborhoods in some urban areas undergoing gentrification. Folks moving into urban areas who have not been exposed to different cultures — mainly black culture, who sees black life as undisciplined and not up to their ‘standards of behavior’. This is the same as blacks moving into an all white neighborhood — the perceptions/stereotypes of black folk bringing a neighborhood down, except with gentrification, whites believe that they are bringing a neighborhood up and those who have lived there before them — often without the same resources that is the real basis for the blight in their living spaces from the start, are the problem and now they want them out.
Unfortunately this is something that cannot be hanged on Trump — yes he has emboldened this behavior, but it has always been there.
The question now is when are you finally going to do something about it.