i married a black man and iโm afraid.. now donโt get me wrong, iโm not afraid of my husband. iโm afraid of cops because my husband is black.ย
cops, who because of institutionalized racism perpetuating the narrative of the inherent criminality of black skin
cops, who without knowing my husband judge him because he is a large, black man, who is perceived as a threat because he was born to look he way he does.
when my husband goes to work the swing shift, i know there is a chance that on his way home around 11ย pm, he wonโt come home because he could be shot during aย โroutine stopโ or even if he calls the cops to his place of employment, because of the perception of black men in america.
his blackness is not a crime. his blackness, our blackness is beautiful. but you donโt see that.ย
youโre damn right we are hurting. we are hurting because Michael Brown was an unarmed black boy killed for being perceived as a threat. Eric Garner was choked to death ON camera. neither of their killers will face criminal prosecution. that there is a โblue wall of silenceโ that keeps so-called โgood copsโ from doing the right thing and confronting corruption and institutionalized racism.ย
i get to live with the painful knowledge that any sons AND daughters we are blessed with, will walk through life with that hanging over them. that those are painful lessons we will have to teach them, so we donโt have to go identify the bodies of our beautiful wanted loved children.ย
i am one woman, standing in representation of my fellow sisters, my mother, my aunts, my cousins, my friends and in solidarity women i do not even know, but share this fear or have seen this fear realized to sayย
disabuse yourself of these notions that WE are a threat to you
understand that your husband chose to be a cop. we did not choose to be black. we love our blackness, but we hate how it is perceived. it is literally proving fatal for us.
i married a black man, and i donโt want to see him dead.
ย i will bear black sons and daughters, and i donโt want to see them dead.ย
i am a black woman and i donโt want to die.ย