Wearing Black for Sean Bell

For Timothy Thomas and Roger Owensby and the other 13 who made the news only for the white media to prove their infamy not out of any sense of wrongdoing on the part of the police.

For the happy fat man who danced at White Castle. As a fat woman, I took this kind of personally, especially since I know I'm regarded as more "aggressive" because of my race and size. Not even a part of the number cited as "15 Black Men killed" yet he is gone.

And also for the the Naked Man. Again, not a part of the 15, but just as dead at the hands of Cincinnati Police.

And Amadou Diallo, truly an innocent man if there ever was one and yet the cops who shot him were found "not guilty".

And for all the black families in any ghetto, any suburb, any city USA where the lives of black men are cheapened and lost because even the most violent of white criminals will be assured that they will be brought in alive whereas a black man merely celebrating his upcoming wedding with his friends will be accused of having a gun and being shot to death whether it's true or not.

In solidarity with my people, I wear black today. Ye Olde Matey and I both got text messages from friends last night. Are you watching Rev. Wright on CNN? Don't forget to wear black for Sean Bell tomorrow. And so I am.

On another note...After the riots and the resulting police slow down and then the so called "Collaborative Agreement", it dawned on me that in order for "equality" to prevail in police treatment of citizens, the police would not have to terrorize black people less, but simply mistreat, brutalize and kill more white people for their behavior to be seen as standard operating procedure, not abnormal.

Lately I hear more and more stories from my white friends about small slights and ill treatment during routine stops by police. If you google "black man shot by police" you get millions of returns but simply google "man shot by police" (the media does not use quantifiers for white people unless absolutely necessary) and you will find a ton of entries that having nothing to do with black people

I fear for my white friends and neighbors. Whether you realize it or not, we're all in the same boat and it's sinking friends. It's sinking and we can only buoy it up again together.