How do you feel about this cartoon?

[tblue37]

30. I feel like crying, to be honest. Clearly the cartoon presents a hideous truth, and although

more people who are not black are finally beginning to comprehend this reality, thanks to the ubiquity of cellphones, the fact is that for PoC, especially black people, none of this is new. Until now, many (probably most) white people enjoyed the privilege--yes, privilege[/i, one of many aspects of the much maligned concept of white privilege]--of not having to be aware of how LEOs treat PoC, despite their age, their innocence, or even their total compliance. For those who preferred not to trouble their "beautiful minds" with such unpleasant thoughts, the fact that neither they themselves nor their loved ones had ever experienced or directly witnessed such oppression enabled them to simply refuse to believe it. They could dismiss complaints as exaggeration or deception, or as a version of "playing the race card."

OTOH, many well-intentioned white people were ignorant but not maliciously so, and the countless video evidence has awakened them and led them to become more active in efforts to reform law enforcement. It is also true, though, that every time such a video is released, those who really are vicious racists out themselves in their comments. It is amazing to see how easily they simply deny incontrovertible evidence.

Videos of police abusing and killing PoC are having an effect similar to the effect film shown on TV news broadcasts of police abusing peaceful black civil rights marchers in the South, including children and the elderly, had on people in other parts of the country.