they are exactly as the discourse would indicate. that's the fucking problem https://twitter.com/TheVFCastro/status/1265782741523718145

black man gonna get slandered and discarded for any possible blemish you could find in his life.

Yet when that happens there's no conversations about the system that makes the decisions on what is a blemish and what is not.

Then youngsters see the system. They know it's unfair. So if you're gonna get less legal opportunity and less leeway on your missteps, what's the incentive to play by the rules, when a speeding ticket or a bad check gets you killed? Why respect rules at all? Might as well earn it

Least if you go big, make some paper, maybe you get out the game before it catches you. Or maybe you get to live large until it does. Better than toiling in a game that ain't here for you to win anyway. At least go for the win, as opposed to playing it safe and knowing you lose.

And this ain't a me thing. I, black man have taken my lumps. But I'm aight. I'm cool. Stressed as hell but I like to think I'm better than most. Lot of folks would say I made it.

But that mentality, might have been my neighbor growing up. Maybe my classmate. I saw it. I get it.

And at the end of the day, got a couple tough degrees, a house, some pretty powerful folks that have my back, but law enforcement pull up on me and that's stuff that ain't coming up until I'm a hashtag on here. No matter what folks thought of my life till that point.

. @iamdonald2 dropped a post like that years ago. Could have been me, him, any one of us that were cool & well thought of by a lot of the right folk & all of a sudden folks trying to justify us dead in the streets off not being perfect. Makes it hard to try at all some days.

I'll tell this story and quit.

So when I was in HS, I realized I needed to return some books to the library and was hustling to get there before close. Was rolling through OU Med and there's a huge hill down/up. Wasn't on the gas but wasn't on the brakes.

Was I over? A little bit but I wasn't thinking it was a big deal.

Someone disagreed.

Writes me a ticket for 30 over the limit (over double, coasting downhill)

Holds me for a long time, hits me with a bunch of questions (how old are you, what school you go to, where you going)

Eventually bout 45 minutes later, changes the ticket to 10 over and says "kid, you don't seem like one of those gangster types, so I'm gonna cut you a break, have a nice day" for what was a bogus ticket in the first place.

Still had to pay the fine on the books AND the ticket

Whar rules define what a "gangster type" is? Does a "gangster type" constitute some additional threat? What else would have been justified if I was?

Maybe I'm a "gangster" about to read to some kids. Or church. Or the soup kitchen. Can that be discerned by a du-rag or rims?