An incredible read. Be conscious of this: just because something *feels* a particular kind of way does not mean that it is. Many Black folk have absorbed so much poison about the perception of our collective humanity, we have come to believe the "truthiness" (which isn't TRUTH) about Black people as well.

What am I saying? When we hear a news story about a heinous crime that a young Black male criminal, or a crew of young Black male criminals have committed, our brains cross-reference violence, chaos and neighborhoods sliding down the path to doom. I am guilty of this myself at times.

From the article that you're about to read: "America is safer than it was 20 years ago. Really. Still, white Americans (and many black Americans, for that matter) believe there's more violent crime than there actually is, and that blacks are largely responsible for it."

When we talk police reform, what we are actually doing is the equivalent of moving deck chairs around on the Titanic. Our discussions get into incidental matters of processes and tactics but yet never confront the issue of threat assessment - and Black people are always, always, considered that greater threat. Until racial prejudice is seriously confronted, most everything that we talk and complain about in community forums and even the private meetings - "Black Lives Matter" will continue to remain a slogan merely for protesters. Our law enforcement infrastructure has shown little willingness to confront this on an institutional level.

Link to the Gawker Media article by Donovan X. Ramsey here