alternet | The following is the latest in a new series of articles on AlterNet called Fear in America that launched this March. Read the introduction to the series.
When
black people wake up and begin the day, we have a wide range of issues
we have to think about before leaving our homes. Will a police officer
kill us today? Or, will some George Zimmerman vigilante see us as a
threat in our own neighborhoods and kill us? We brace ourselves for
those white colleagues who are pissed Barack Obama won both elections
and take out their racist rage on us. When we drive our cars, we have to
wonder if we’ll be pulled over because our cars look too expensive for a
black person to be driving. If we’re poor and sick, we wonder if we'll
be able to be treated for our illness. We have a lot on our minds, and
sometimes it’s overwhelming.
Here are a few examples of things we have to be afraid of that white people don’t (or not nearly as much).
