On Tyre Nichols, Policing, and Policing While Black

TW: Police brutality, murder, anti-Blackness.

The Tyre Nichols verdict shows you how policing systems, police officers, and laws surrounding accountability in white supremacist countries ensure the safety of police officers from accountability for doing heinous things, skin color be damned.

To be Black and willingly complicit in systems of harm and inequity that oppress Black people is to make a choice on the kind of Black person you want to be.

Blackness ain't a monolith.

But policing sure as hell is.

On Protests and My Black Ass Not Being There

To the people of pallor, who I'm sure will happily tell me Monday morning that they were at one of the many protests that took place this past weekend:

No, I didn't show up for any of the protests.

No, that isn't symbolic of me not caring about the real sh-- happening all around us.

Yes, you're preposterous and ignorant for even thinking that I am an uncaring individual, even if you only know who I am based on what I talk about and openly stand for and against on social media.

Yes, you are pretty ill-informed about the plight of Black and Brown people and how hard we've fought for ourselves and ultimately you for a century-plus if you think me - any of us - not showing up for y'all's virtue signaling rally is somehow indicative of me or any Black or Brown person not caring about the rights and safety of our communities and even your communities.

Yes, it is your turn to stand for something other than getting kudos, gold stars, and participation trophies. We're tired of fighting for EVERYBODY ALL THE TIME.

Yes, it is time for y'all to take a few laps and do some of the heavy lifting, seeing how your communities, families, and friends are why we're knee-deep in this ever-evolving living nightmare.

Yes, you do need to show up for more than the moments you can record on your phone and post on social media before you can even be remotely viewed as an accomplice in dismantling white supremacy and oppression.

No, you are not an activist. Showing up to a protest every few years does not give you instant credibility. You even wanting to engage in this conversation with me and other melanated folx, trying to question our credibility and shame us or act like you're more of an activist than people whose whole lives are a form of activism, show just how much of an activist you aren't.

No, we will not be talking about this again.

*I'm so glad* we had this chat.

This Week's Opening Thought: September 9, 2024

This week's opening thought: Being Black in the United States is grieving the unnecessary murder of your son at the hands of a violent young man of pallor who regularly made terroristic threats to the point that the FBI investigated his online behavior.

Being Black in the United States is learning that the violent young man of pallor who murdered your child was "rewarded" by his parents for being investigated by the FBI with an assault rifle, the same weapon he used to unleash a mass school shooter incident that took the life of your child and three other people.

Being Black in the United States is watching as your local news affiliate makes a social media post that makes it appear that your now-deceased son was the active shooter in the event that ultimately took him from you.

Being Black in the United States is watching that news affiliate offer an "Oops, our bad" public "apology," showing how little they care that your now-deceased son was visually slandered across social media for millions to witness.

Being Black in the United States is witnessing this public "apology" and watching as they don't even bother to mention your now-deceased son's name in their "apology" that they made sure to post online and not verbally apologize in front of the entire world and atone for their harm on their local televised newscast.

Being Black in the United States is a journey of trauma, grief, and finding hope and joy in a world that prefers you be the villain, so it never has to acknowledge how often you and your people have been victimized.

[Image descriptions: Image 1 - A tweet from news affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. The tweet shows a picture of one of the victims of the Apalachee High School mass shooting, a young Black boy named Mason Schermerhorn, being depicted as the mass shooter and not one of the victims.

Image 2 - A screenshot of a "public apology" from WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. The "apology" says, "In a tweet about the Apalachee H.S. shooting posted by WSB-TV, the content and photo of one of the victims was unintentionally presented on X in a way that made it appear as if the victim was the shooter. The post was removed shortly after it went live and immediately after we were alerted to the situation. We deeply regret this error and sincerely apologize to the victim's family and loved ones."]

Image description: A tweet from news affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. The tweet shows a picture of one of the victims of the Apalachee High School mass shooting, a young Black boy named Mason Schermerhorn, being depicted as the mass shooter and not one of the victims.

Image description: A screenshot of a "public apology" from WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia. The "apology" says, "In a tweet about the Apalachee H.S. shooting posted by WSB-TV, the content and photo of one of the victims was unintentionally presented on X in a way that made it appear as if the victim was the shooter. The post was removed shortly after it went live and immediately after we were alerted to the situation. We deeply regret this error and sincerely apologize to the victim's family and loved ones."

About Sonya

Sonya Massey.

I'm not going to watch the bodycam footage. I stopped that practice many years ago. I can’t keep watching my people die, so I refuse to engage in the trauma porn of our constant suffering.

Doesn’t make the reality of it all hurt any less.

I honestly have no more words for the ever-present harming and willful disregard of Black women. I have rage, sadness, deep sorrow, but no words that verbalize how jumbled it all feels in my brain, body, and soul.

I advise every Black person, every Black woman, to not watch the footage. Please don’t do that to yourself. That said, if you’re a Black person, especially a Black woman, and you feel like you have to watch, please do everything and anything you need to do to take care of yourself in the moment and after you’ve finished viewing it. Your mental and emotional health matter.

Black women just want to live without constant threats to their lives and livelihoods.

I don’t know why this is so damn difficult for people of pallor to want to understand.

Sonya Massey.

Say her name.

This Week's Opening Thought: July 22, 2024

This week’s opening thought: If you weren’t willing to defend, stand with, and support Black and Brown women before now or were waiting on the “right opportunity to be an ally” to Black and Brown women in the United States, guess what?

The f—-g time is now.

I mean, I don’t know what the hell was wrong with you before now (what were you waiting on, a formal invitation?). Still, if these unprecedented times (side note: I am SO TIRED of “unprecedented times.”) we’re likely about to enter into during this presidential election don’t have you ready to step up and chin check every raggedy, racist, sexist, anti-Black person in your workplace, family, and neighborhood that tries to drag the Vice President, Black women, and Brown women through the mud with unfounded accusations and discredited stereotypes built on racism and white supremacy that have nothing to do with their skills, intelligence, and insights then you should keep your “thoughts” to yourself and own that you never intended to get off the bench and get in the game.

Sh--’s about to get more real and dangerous for many communities than you could ever imagine.

Yo’ ass should've been in the game, but you're still milking that “ankle injury” from practice to cover up your affinity for bench warming and participation trophies.

P.S.: This is not a conversation about the veep’s record and past. We’ve had that conversation ad naseum and we’re not going to rehash that in this space. We’ll revisit that conversation at some point. This particular conversation is about standing with and supporting Black and Brown women in real-time as the threat to their overall safety inches into dangerous territory. This includes offering your support to Kamala Harris. Yeah, I said it. I asked for it. Some of y'all are gonna want to drag me for it, but I will always stand with and support Black women, period, especially in the face of people who would prefer to go back to chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and no rights for anyone but wealthy people of pallor.