there’s nothing heroic about burnout. there’s nothing heroic about not sleeping, or forgetting to eat because you’re so focused on wanting to help someone.
But it’s worth mentioning that the second I saw the panel with the cop, my heart dropped, and it’s a shame that this is the initial reaction that I have towards cops interacting with POC
The fact that the notes are filled with non-Black people who suddenly got worried when they saw the cop ….. in an illustrated story.
Now try imagining how hard it is irl for Black mothers, and Black people in general. Each encounter with the police could end with our death, even if we did absolutely nothing wrong.
I think most of us deal with it—bc let’s face it, we have no other choice—but I’d be lying if I said that every single time I come into close proximity to the police, somewhere in the back of my mind there wasn’t always the thought: “what if …”
“what if today is the day” … “what if this cop had a bad morning” … “what if this cop doesn’t like black people” … “what if he thinks my phone is a gun” … “what if he thinks I’m acting suspicious” … “what if he needs to fill a quota” … “what if he mistakes me for some nondescript black man but I fit the description anyway” … “what if my car insurance payment didn’t go through and I don’t know about it” … “what if I have a taillight out” …. “what if he thinks I have a bad attitude” … “what if it was a rough day for me and I do have a bad attitude” … “what if there’s not even any cops around but a white person thinks I look out of place” … what if what if what if
Obviously I cannot speak for everyone who is Black, but these thoughts flash through my mind every single time I see a cop. Every time. Maybe it only takes a microsecond, but it’s always there. Always.
LOL. I know we may make it look easy. But yeah, it’s still there.
And even though I’m very healthy and I manage to … adapt(?) to those fears, I figure that kind of constant on/off stress has gotta be taking some kind of toll on me, right? On Black people in general. It’s like perpetually unexpected games of Russian roulette. Or maybe like the Spanish Inquisition. (No one ever expects it).
Sometimes I wonder if white people understand the constant extra calculations that Black people are doing continuously as we’re out and about. Calculations for any contingency encounter with the police. Or with some white person who might call the police because they’ve mistaken my melancholy mood for “suspicious” behavior. Calculations that white people don’t ever need to do. At least, not because of simply being in the general proximity of the police.
americans *see a third world country doing something progressive*: how come those disgusting SAVAGES are ahead of US???
Latinamerica in general is ahead of the USA in countless things. human rights. labor laws. education policies. healthcare. LGBT rights. decriminalization of recreational drugs. suffrage laws. welfare policies. but they’re so insistent on this image of latinamerica as this lawless wasteland of underdeveloped misery and despair that they cannot fathom the idea of us being better at something they consider progress. To them, progress is necessarily economical superiority and industrial power. everything else comes after. So if a country doesn’t have a strong industrial economy then of course they’re “inferior” in everything else.
of course, latinamerica is not a monolith, there are more than 40 counties that make up latinamerica. but if you start looking closer, you’ll find we have a lot of values in common that we do not share with the loud neighbors of the global north.
@frenchtoastlesbian on tumblr // pinterest personalmessage.blogspot.com // @linguinereid on tumblr // trista mateer // from pinterest // richard siken // ocean vuong “on earth we’re briefly gorgeous”// from pinterest // from pinterest
Image description: lyrics from the chorus of Why We Ever by Hayley Williams: “And now I/ can’t seem to remember why/ we ever/ felt we had to say goodbye/ I can’t seem to remember why/ can’t seem to remember why”
Anonymous Asks:
somethingdifferentandwild Said:
