Coffee with Chuck

“The Policing of enslaved Black women and girls contributed to the sustaining and further development of racial capitalism. This is the history on which more recent police violence against Black women and girls”. Treva Lindsey, America Goddamn:Violence, Black Women, and The Struggle for Justice, 2022, p.45

This past week I was on vacation down at the Jersey Shore. Going into the trip I was expecting to just chill out, be a beach bum, eat good food, and share in new moments with my friends. All those things did happen, but something transformative also took place. I was on the beach by myself one day while my friend was finishing up work. It was so hot and the sun had my skin sizzling, so I decided to take a quick dip. As I walked into the 67 degree water and felt the water rise above my knees I had a moment of reflection. When I was in that water I looked down and I thought to myself ” How could I be enjoying the water knowing that so many of the ancestors died in this water while in transit”? I also thought about how Black women would be thrown off the slave ship while experiencing their menstrual cycles. The Atlantic gives life but it also took a lot of life. It is important to recognize the history of the Atlantic because it has predicted the denial of life for Black folks.

After having this thought I rushed back on to the beach and planted myself into my beach chair. I dried off my hands and opened Twitter on my phone. The first post I saw was the headline about the murder of Sonya Massey which was committed by an officer of the law. As the story goes Sonya called the police for help. When they arrived Sonya asked the officers not to harm her. The police reassured her that they wouldn’t because they were there to help her. The police did not harm her, THEY KILLED HER IN OUR HOME. The police are supposed “to protect and serve”. But when you are Black this protection is not always granted as Black folks are read as criminals. Thus we are illegible for protection. Asking for help, failing to use a turn signal, or sleeping is a death sentence when the police are involved.

I finished reading the story and I continued to scroll my feed and I kept seeing video after video of the body cam footage of the murder. I refused to watch the video on the beach that day because I have no more capacity and emotional bandwidth to watch Black people getting killed. It can be exhausting and traumatic to be Black. I am tired of being tired. After every killing I begin to think there is no possibility for change and life. But I am not pessimistic. Ultimately, I do have hope though. However, that hope is not in the current systems that govern us. Our hope has to be placed in imaging a new way of the world. Hope is just not wishful thinking. Hope is actionable. Hope is the ability to visualize and manifest justice, freedom, equity, and life.

“Revolutionary suicide does not mean that I and my comrades have a death wish; it means just the opposite. We have such a strong desire to live with hope and human dignity that existence without them is impossible” Huey Newton, Revolutionary Suicide, 1973