A white police officer shot Mike Brown, an unarmed black teenager, after the officer harassed Brown and a friend for walking in the street. The friend, a witness to the entire event, has yet to be interviewed by police. Since his death, at least one more man was shot by police while somehow doing something they didn't like in public; his name is Ezell Ford. Violence and harassment from the police toward black men is normalized in the United States, and despite the fact that this violence is largely white-on-black where the black person is unarmed and in their neighborhood, the police officer(s) is(are) usually acquitted (as in the cases of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell) or convicted of something milder than murder (as in the case of Oscar Grant). This is the legal implication of a far more damaging and persistent psychological reality - white and black people both assume black people feel less pain (study abstract).
The stories we tell drive our future actions, and the story of black men in particular is that they are adult, violent, and dangerous. This is reinforced by policies like stop-and-frisk, which reinforces black social inferiority and earmarks more black people for jail than white people (along with other judicial inequalities), which results in fewer opportunities for black people in general, and black men in particular. Even the language about the protests afterwards tends to focus on the anger of the black people as if it is somehow an over-reaction, while ignoring the things they have every right to be angry about.
I feel so angry, so disgusted, and so helpless. I can't even imagine how much worse it must be for people whose lives have been effected so personally and so arbitrarily.
The NAACP is working to address the systemic perversion for the justice system which results in the murder of so many young men. My heart is with the grieving families.
( More pictures here. )
Credits:
Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Sparkles: Folly, Rainbow Sheen
Hair: LCKY, Noodle II
Ears: Illusions, Seelie Ears
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: Wicked Peach, Bright Lights
Wings & Jewelry: Cila, Cloud Wings (Fit for a Princess)
Hands: SLink, Rigged Mesh Hands
Nails: A:S:S, Velvet Fleur (Fit for a Princess)
Necklace: Cae, Isabelle (Fit for a Princess)
Clothing: Spyralle, Harlequin Butterfly Top
Tail: Furry Fashion, Rainbow Mermaid
Poses: Adore & Abhor
Location: McLatchy
Light Settings: Phototools, Moon Light
Water Settings: TOR, Meridian verde
Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only
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