Young Black Professional Guide

My sister-in-law is one of the coolest people I know. When you first meet her, the first thing that pops in your head is ‘Wow, she looks like that girl from Soul Food!’

She would quickly correct you and tell you her name is Nicole Ari Parker then quickly dismiss your quip as irrelevant in the crux of life, all with a disposition projecting that she really didn’t give a crap what you thought anyways.

In that setup, I’ve been impressed and inspired by her fervor in the recent political issues by her engaging conversation and consistent ‘this is whats up’ email blasts, especially when it comes to America’s view of Black men. She hit me up to a Pat Buchanan tirade about how we should be grateful for being brought over on the boat and promptly footnoted the link with ‘this is the America your child will be growing up in’.

With that said, ybp’s should NEVER forget and never be naive to the reality of fear and racism that still entrenches our society. Never has that ever been more true with the story coming out of Philadelphia. When I read the article, I thought ‘oh crap, here we go again with Black men trying to run from the man’. But when you click on the video…these cats were not running from the man. These dudes were running from a mob…and not just any mob, but a mob of police officers.

While the video speaks for itself, the plain-as-day images of an officer taking a running start to drop-kick a Black man while he is down and under restraint of 5 other officers says to me that we, as in Black men, whether educated or of criminal record, are not human.

We, apparently, don’t deserve the police protocol of ‘Get out of the car. Put your hands out of the window. Get on your knees. Put your hands behind your back.’

We, apparently, don’t even deserve the decency of surviving being arrested! On the streets, the gangs of policemen decide, judge, and execute their brand of justice in the heat of the moment. Even the police commissioner was quoted in the ‘WTF’ sentiment in his interview after watching the video.

In that revelation, I agree with my sister-in-law. This is the America my child will be growing up in, and I must do everything I can to protect him as a Black man…mentally, spiritually, economically, and physically.

What say you?

updated: AP is reporting 15 of the officers have been removed from the streets so far.

update 2: included below are the videos

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