Pass The Mic: Am I Safe?- Philando Castile and the Threat to Black Lives
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Jemar and Tyler talk about the events following the death of Philando Castile and discuss the recent RAAN post: “If Philando Castile Was a Threat, Then Black People are Never Safe”
Quotes:
Jemar:
It still didn’t save his life. There was still the presumption of guilt because he was a black man.
There’s nowhere and there’s nothing we can do to truly be safe from the prejudicial thoughts and actions of others.
The criminal justice system in America is a system that was not designed to dispense justice equally. The poor and people of color don’t get the same kind of justice as wealthy people or white people. And so when cases like these go to the courts or when the poor or people of color go to the courts, the strength, the power, is on the side of the courts. And when courts don’t dispense justice, they become one of the oppressors. And so power is on the side of the oppressors. And it’s historically been that way. It doesn’t always in every instance work out like that, but it does enough times for particularly African Americans to have a sense that: if I go to court, its not going to be to my advantage, it’s not going to work out fairly for me because of the way the system is set up.
Tyler:
I don’t feel like I have adequate training to deal with the police, and I’ve been to seminars and I’ve hosted them and I’ve hosted forums. I don’t necessarily know if I’ll panic, if that’s going to cost me my life.
People are still justifying what stares them in the face. And we cannot ignore that. We cant look at that and say “Well you know, it is what it is.” Because these are the people that are making up the juries that convict or acquit those who should be convicted.
How comforting it is to know that there’s that freedom and there’s that ability to enter into that suffering with me without having to pull me out..In that moment you can weep and that’s okay. In that moment you can cry out to God and you can say why. In that moment you can groan. In that moment you can lay prostrate before the Lord. And when you get up, we’re going to give you a big hug and we’re going to sit with you and hear what the Lord has to say in response to your lament.
We can’t even say we’re heartbroken about this without people saying “Well actually…”Subscribe – iTunes – Satchel – RSS
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