Unarmed black man.

We see it, write it and say it so often we don’t realize what we are saying. We are implying that part of the reason these men and women did not deserve to die is BECAUSE they were unarmed. 1/

The other side of that thought is if a black person does have a gun they deserved to die. This mentality isn’t just a white mentality. We see this mentality throughout our black community as well. 2/

Brothers and sisters feel that owning a gun is asking for trouble. If that is not a mentality directly out of a slave movie I don’t know what is. What we are saying at that point is black people should defend themselves by constantly “proving” themselves to be harmless. 3/

The underlying belief is that “just maybe if they know I’m not a threat they’ll let me live.” Sad does not begin to describe this. 4/

“Unarmed Black man” is a low key mental stripping of our rights. It implies that if that dead black man were armed THEN he would have warranted being killed. It doesn’t matter that he is an American citizen with the right to carry. He wasn’t harmless and therefore a threat. 5/

What if it is a black man who is legally concealed carrying a firearm like so many other Americans? Does he deserve less of our compassion or understanding? 6/

If George Floyd were legally carrying a firearm would you be more understanding of the police sitting on his neck for 9 minutes? If Ahmaud Arbery were legally carrying a firearm would you feel he deserved to be hunted and murdered? What about Eric Garner? 7/

Breonna Taylor did have a firearm in the house & Kenneth Walker used it to try to protect them both. Did she play a role in her own death by legally having a firearm? Not at all. 8/

The saddest part about this mindset is that historically it is not the position that most of our ancestors held. Our ancestors believed in standing up for themselves and took as much pride in gun ownership as they did in voting. 9/

Frederick Douglass verbalized it as “A man’s rights rest in three boxes. The ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box” (this is a magazine/gun “clip”). 10/

Ida B. Wells stated it this way “A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.” The Winchester rifle was the AR 15 of her day. 11/

Fannie Lou Hamer when asked how she survived midnight raids said, “I’ll tell you why. I keep a shotgun in every corner of my bedroom and the first cracker even look like he wants to throw some dynamite on my porch won’t write his mama again.” 12/

I could go on and on with quotes and examples showing the pride we always took in arming ourselves for self defense. Today I see this pride in some of us, but I see more fear that if you don’t show how harmless you are then something will happen to you. 13/

That’s why now when I hear “unarmed black man” I hear the implications that he did not deserve to die because he was unarmed & therefore harmless. This is the mental stripping of our own rights and we hear it everyday. 14/

So the next time we hear “unarmed black man” let’s realize exactly what that is saying. 15/

@MAJTOURE This thread is what I think of that “unarmed black man” phrase we hear so much. The more I think about it the clearer it is how it low key strips power and rights.