One day after the white police shooting Anton Sterling in Philadelphia, another shoots dead Philando Castile in Minnesota. Neither committed a crime. Neither reacted with anything other than calm (or as much as one can be calm when suddenly assaulted by armed me). Both were shot dead because of the panic of the white police officers.
The video footage is devastating. I won't share that here, but I'm sure many have already seen it even if they didn't want to because it is all over the media. It needs to be seen, not for sensationalism, but because this is a reality that Black people in America endure every goddam single fucking day.
I don't even know how to process this anymore. I feel so angry and helpless. I can't even begin to imagine what this is like to live in a world where your institutionalized system of protection in society is the very system of people who will kill you in the blink of an eye. And not be held accountable.
I plan to hear what Michael might have to say about this so I'm starting this thread, but I'll have to wait a bit for my anger and sadness to pass.