hi! if you’re looking for some ways on how to spend your time and engage with subjects you really love, or learn something new, or just distract yourself with art and literature, i’ve got you!! please share with others if it’s helpful <3
But it’s worth mentioning that the second I saw the panel with the cop, my heart dropped, and it’s a shame that this is the initial reaction that I have towards cops interacting with POC
The fact that the notes are filled with non-Black people who suddenly got worried when they saw the cop ….. in an illustrated story.
Now try imagining how hard it is irl for Black mothers, and Black people in general. Each encounter with the police could end with our death, even if we did absolutely nothing wrong.
I think most of us deal with it—bc let’s face it, we have no other choice—but I’d be lying if I said that every single time I come into close proximity to the police, somewhere in the back of my mind there wasn’t always the thought: “what if …”
“what if today is the day” … “what if this cop had a bad morning” … “what if this cop doesn’t like black people” … “what if he thinks my phone is a gun” … “what if he thinks I’m acting suspicious” … “what if he needs to fill a quota” … “what if he mistakes me for some nondescript black man but I fit the description anyway” … “what if my car insurance payment didn’t go through and I don’t know about it” … “what if I have a taillight out” …. “what if he thinks I have a bad attitude” … “what if it was a rough day for me and I do have a bad attitude” … “what if there’s not even any cops around but a white person thinks I look out of place” … what if what if what if
Obviously I cannot speak for everyone who is Black, but these thoughts flash through my mind every single time I see a cop. Every time. Maybe it only takes a microsecond, but it’s always there. Always.
LOL. I know we may make it look easy. But yeah, it’s still there.
And even though I’m very healthy and I manage to … adapt(?) to those fears, I figure that kind of constant on/off stress has gotta be taking some kind of toll on me, right? On Black people in general. It’s like perpetually unexpected games of Russian roulette. Or maybe like the Spanish Inquisition. (No one ever expects it).
Sometimes I wonder if white people understand the constant extra calculations that Black people are doing continuously as we’re out and about. Calculations for any contingency encounter with the police. Or with some white person who might call the police because they’ve mistaken my melancholy mood for “suspicious” behavior. Calculations that white people don’t ever need to do. At least, not because of simply being in the general proximity of the police.
My grandparents are baffled when we just don’t care about certain things. The last time we did a socially distanced lunch they were complaining that our neighbor keeps really old broken cars that he likes to work on in his front yard and we were like “Yeah, and?” and they didn’t know how to respond to that.
Like the very idea that we would just mind our own business and tolerate mildly annoying behavior from other people is like rocket science to them. They just can’t comprehend it.
My mum never has anything nice to say about modern music. It’s always “this song is shallow nonsense”. Yeah maybe I want to listen to shallow nonsense. What about it
A regular conversation I keep having with my mom:
“Ugh, look at that girl. Tattoos everywhere.”
“So what?”
“….Well I think it looks ugly.”
“She didn’t get them for you.”
That is a great response, I am using it forever now, thank you
friendly reminder that you didn’t waste your year. any moments of happiness or comfort, any small accomplishments, they all matter. this has been a really hard year, and simply surviving is something to be proud of.
If someone feeds me dry beef with only water as seasoning I’m stealing something out of their house
Somewhere, Gordon Ramsay just felt a cold shiver down his spine.
1. Just buy a leaner beef? 2. How do you get to adulthood without knowing to always drain excess fat into a container, NOT down your drain? 3. I must share the amused horror of someone RINSING OFF ground beef in a colander.
When she turned on that faucet my soul astral-projected out of the room.
