In The News:The 5-0 Makes Me Cry-Oh

Banner reads "They Can't Shoot Us All" at
march following the fatal shooting by police of Kenneth Wade Harding.
Ariel Dovas/Creative Commons

 I have always loved the idea of settling down in the Bay Area, and San Francisco is my number one city I see myself having a little dog in, and a garden, and walking my kids to school with other brown children--someday.  I'm not sure their names or anything specific, but I have always thought that it would be nice, if/when I have them, to have my kids be bilingual, and growing up around the infinite number of foods, languages, customs, and cultures that SF has to offer.   These same brown children (that I DON'T HAVE, mind you) are the reason that I am in a funk this morning.  Because even though they are imaginary, I still have to think about that inevitable day that I will have to sit my sons down and tell them How Not To Get Shot.



Apparently, not only do I have to have the How To Not Get Shot talk with my future progeny, I also have to have the conversation with them that even when/if their little brown friends get fatally gunned down by police officers over unpaid bus fare, that they can not and should not march about this, talk about this, or go to community meetings about this; they have a high probability of being arrested.  Although I am pretty sure that there is a right to peacefully assemble guaranteed by law...oh...in the CONSTITUTION,


"35 Arrested Protesting Police Killing of 19-Year-Old in SF"  is the headline I woke up to this morning.

Oh, the "Bay Area"...You were what we Los Angelinos considered 'hood' where I was growing up....(mind you, I grew up amongst spoiled and unaware private school children in the Greater Los Angeles Area, but never you mind that).  I still want to give you a shot, after all, police brutality and harassment of the poor and of color is not just a San Francisco thing.  When I see videos like this:


I AM SEAN BELL, black boys speak from Stacey Muhammad on Vimeo.

(Thanks Macon from Stuff White People Do blog for the video link)


 I look at the little faces and see those imaginary brown kids of mine.  Will they be scared of those that are supposed to serve and protect them too? *sigh*  Just one more thing for this BGG to think about.  I need coffee.


-DL