Existing While Black

#TIA – If you’re black you don’t need to read this story. If you’re white it may not change things but it should

Jo Etta M. Harris was nursing her child in her car before a family outing. Gil Perkins was talking on the phone outside of his home. Kelly Shepard’s boys were shopping for video games. And in each instance, someone saw them as suspicious or a threat and called the police.

This isn’t new. It happens every day. The experiences of Harris, Perkins, Shepard – and so many others – are reminders that black people don’t have the privilege to simply exist in peace.
Whether we’ve been pulled over and mistaken for a suspect, followed in stores or disrupted in our own homes and neighborhoods, many of us have had to go above and beyond to prove that we have the right to occupy common spaces. Many of us have had to prove that we are not criminal, knowing that failing to do so could be fatal. The families of Tamir Rice and John Crawford III know that firsthand.

Read more at The Huffington Post