Viral videos don’t bring justice. They share grief, they share the message, but they rarely bring about justice.
Viral videos don’t prevent the next murder for being melanated.
Education does not protect you. Wealth does not protect you. And despite what white supremacists say,
Abiding by the law DOES NOT protect you.
So what can we do in the meantime?
There is nothing that will protect all of us for being black or brown. But there are ways to protect ourselves. Perhaps, we can follow the guidelines often given to women and girls,
Don’t travel alone. Keep a weapon on you (even if it’s just pepper spray, a taser or a knife.) Study self defense techniques.
And again … never… travel … alone.
There have been some instances, such as Dejuan Guillary, murdered in my state of Louisiana while riding four wheelers with his girlfriend, who was still murdered even as his girlfriend tried to beat the officer to stop him.
But there are far more of us gunned down while alone.
No we shouldn’t have to do this. We shouldn’t have to any more than a 20 year old woman should not be required to carry pepper spray just to go jogging alone at sunset, but we have to prepare for the reality in which we presently live while we continue to work toward solutions.
Never travel alone.
4 of the men in the featured image, were murdered by the man in the article featured below, but local authorities refused to call it a hate crime despite his ties to neo-nazis and that all of his victims were black and brown people.
Also, the article below was posted some time later, indicating that he had attempted to kill 3 other people, and authorities failed to notify the public of black and brown people that we were at risk before he was caught.
The article below was written in 2019, while I was at a coffeeshop. I wrote it immediately after the event I describe took place. It is a message to white men.
