There have been so many incidents where white people (mostly women) have been calling the police on Black people for just about anything, that it has become tragic and almost satirical at the same time. It is definitely outrageous! The Internet is full of memes calling attention to this phenomenon with endless hash tags proclaiming the incredulity of it all.
#DrivingwhileBlack, #WalkingwhileBlack, #StandingwhileBlack, #ShoppingwhileBlack, #AttheBeachwhileBlack, #GolfingwhileBlack, #EatingwhileBlack, #RunningwhileBlack, #WaitingwhileBlack, #RescuingPeoplewhileBlack, and #TeachingwhileBlack
These have clearly been unfortunate occurrences for All Black people, but for the individual people, families and communities involved in these racist incidences, the tragedy has often been fatal. Every single occurrence has been and remains an insult to the humanity, dignity and basic decency each human being should be afforded regardless of the color of their skin. However, in America, we still have a problem with the color line that separates us as Americans. Black and brown Americans continue to encounter inequality, injustice, economic and educational disparities, higher unemployment, increasing mass incarceration at exponential levels and racial harassment that is not only offensive and demoralizing, but also often lethal. These indecencies are then compounded by the ridiculous and outrageous call-outs by white people to police departments around the country to come to their immediate rescue whenever said white person encounters a Black person who resists the slightest innocuous command given by that white person or questions and challenges the privileged position held by white Americans.
The above-mentioned hashtag memes are not by any stretch of the imagination an exhaustive list. There are a myriad of actions and inactions done by Black people in this country that inflame the “white sensibility” and “white fragility” quotient that incites white people to call in reinforcements by way of Law Enforcement Officers. In fact, just living while Black in America continues to be a challenge to our “lived and living experiences.”
Recently, a Black college professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, while eating lunch in her classroom and prepping for her upcoming class, was suddenly being questioned by the VCU Security Police after they received a call from another professor stating that an intruder (a Black female) was in a classroom and had no right to be there. This particular “white” person felt so threatened that he never even engaged the Black woman in a conversation in order to ascertain who she was and whether or not she was supposed to be there, even though she was an adjunct professor of national reputation working in his department. Amazing!
There needs to be a law that criminalizes false claims and false charges against Black people as if we are “runaway slaves!” The fragility of white people and the privilege they wield through false charges and bearing false witness against black and brown people in this country MUST STOP. The indignity of it all is disgusting and people’s lives are actually at risk. Call #911 on that information and you will probably get no response.
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