Being a Black Man Does Not Automatically Equate Dangerous Threat

Being a Black Man Does Not Automatically Equate Dangerous Threat

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We live in a world where people expect the logical, but act in an illogical manner. We govern ourselves based on laws that are contingent upon facts and proof, yet many believe gossip, myths and over-generalizations to be truths. Theoretically, the law is designed to focus on facts and evidence, not feelings or perceptions. Yet, feelings and perceptions get people of color killed every day…this is the case with Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

As a person of color, it is extremely difficult to watch an entire community devastated and dazed by actions driven by fear and misconception. Did Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and countless others die because police and society have a negative perception of people of color? Did Alton Sterling and Philando Castile perish due to failed and inaccurate belief systems? The answer to both is an unrelenting, YES!

What or whom is responsible for the negative perception of the black community and communities of color?

We live in a country that perpetuates a daily ravenous campaign against people of color. A media marketing campaign that can be seen every day at 5pm, again at 10pm and then recycled at daybreak. A media marketing campaign that has no regard for the repercussions of the rhetoric or narrative it creates, its only concern is to drive ratings and viewership.

This marketing campaign dictates and breeds fear, hostility, inferiority and violence. The media has developed a marketing strategy that creates belief systems causing people to be on high alert in any situation involving a black male. Belief systems that assume ALL black males are aggressive and dangerous. If a black man is always perceived as a dangerous threat, then is it always justifiable to use deadly force?

Is there now a new understood way of killing black men without impunity? Is the necessity of deadly force the new “Strange Fruit”?

The challenge is to change the narrative that society accepts.  It is no longer acceptable to allow the media to catalyze the negative perception of men of color. It is time that we demand a change in the way the black community is perceived, reported and marginalized. It is time the black community design their own marketing campaigns to counter the negative rhetoric and increase awareness, positivity and invoke a change in belief systems.

It’s time we #GetGoins for change. Goins Law is an advocate for positive change.

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