On Being a Black Male, Six Feet Four Inches Tall, in America in 2014
Source: Vanity Fair
I am afraid of the cops. Absolutely petrified of the cops. Now understand, I’ve never been arrested or held for questioning. I’ve never been told that I “fit the description.” But that doesn’t change a thing. I am afraid of cops the way that spiders are afraid of boots. You’re walking along, minding your own business, and SQUISH! You are dead.
Simply put, I am afraid of the cops because I am black. To raise the stakes even further, I am male. And to go all in on this pot of fear, I am six foot four, and weigh 250 pounds. Michael Brown, the unarmed Missouri 18-year-old shot dead by police this summer, was also six foot four. Depending on your perspective, I could be described as a “gentle giant,” the way that teachers described Brown. Or I could be described as a “demon,” the way that Officer Darren Wilson described Michael Brown in his grand-jury testimony.
I don’t engage in any type of behavior that should place me in a cop’s crosshairs. I don’t live in “one of those neighborhoods,” or hang out with a “bad crowd,” (unless you count comedians). I am not involved in felonious activity. I’m not bragging. I’m just boring. But the fact that I’m not involved in any of that stuff doesn’t leave me any more confident I won’t be killed. That’s because I’ve been endowed with the triple crown of being killed for no good reason: big, black, and male.
On Monday night, I went out for ice cream at 12:30 A.M. I walked a while because I live in a pretty sleepy neighborhood in Berkeley, California. I had my hoodie up, because it was cold and it made it easier to listen to the podcast in my headphones. By the time I found a late-night convenience store, I had passed a few—by my eye—unsavory characters of all races. So, as I walked in the store I had to take some precautionary action. For starters, I took the hood down. I took it down even though my afro had become a flat-fro from being squashed underneath. I didn’t touch anything that I wasn’t absolutely sure I was going to buy. (Just like my mom had taught me.) I kept my hands out of my pockets with palms clearly visible so the clerk behind the counter could easily see that I wasn’t shoving things in—or maybe more importantly about to pull something out of—my pockets. And as soon as I decided on an It’s It ice-cream sandwich, I went directly to the counter and gingerly placed my selection down, again keeping my palms visible and only making the movements I needed to get the money out of my wallet.
Read more: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2014/11/w-kamau-bell-black-in-america
= new reply since forum marked as read
Very few people here agree with this. Bad jury pool, perhaps.
the lack of some who can't see how transparent and obvious their deflections from the point are. You just aren't right in saying what you have written. You "work with 'them' black males pretty much every day", do you. I feel sorry for them. Way to go 'authority' figure on promoting "one of them".......
your blithe "cops aren't scary! really, they're not!" reveals how easy your life has been cop wise.
Some are great, like this guy.
Some are more like this guy.
If you're not scared of this you prove your privilege, whatever it is.
( dude's a nut but story is interesting)
And this is just how irrational law enforcement has become. Campus cops aren't stopping rampant rape and assault on campuses, but have all the goddamned time in the world to arrest kids for petty crap.
THAT is not rational.
He ls full of 
There's also being stopped and questioned for no good reason, being arrested for fitting a vague description ("tall black male in a hoodie"
, or just being treated with suspicion and disrespect by store clerks.
It's also inappropriate to make fun of natural fears by citing statistics to portray them as "not rational." We all evolved in an environment where there might be predators waiting to jump out at us from behind the next bush, and we become very wary when those ancient survival instincts tell us we're in a potentially unsafe situation. (Alone, at night, not among friends.)
Can you deny that for black men the sphere of "unsafe" is much larger than it is for white men? For that matter, can you say honestly that if you had to walk through a black neighborhood, alone, at night, as a white person you wouldn't be feeling somewhat nervous?
If you can swear that you always react rationally in every situation, then you might have the right to criticize those who don't.
last week has brought out what has been hiding in the sewers. I don't care if it's one in one million, most are still executions of unarmed black males by white authorities......
of mixed race and the other is black. Our family has been glued to the story, and yesterday my daughter-in-law said this in an email to me:
It angers me too. The racism that still exists scares me for my kids. Nick will some day be a very big black man who some people will fear before even knowing him.
Here’s a picture of Isaiah, 12, and Nick, 3, taken this past July. We all worry.
I feel for your family; y'all shouldn't have to even worry about this in 2014. None of us should.
I hope it gives your family some solace that there are many of us who stand with you. 
