In America, Black People Are Not Expected to Protect Ourselves
Black self-defense is yet another freedom Black people must fight for. This means guns.
Believe it or not, I got in trouble for taking a photo with a gun. It happened when I was in the Army. My military unit temporarily took all my guns from my home despite the fact that I issued zero threat to anyone at all. All I did was take a photo with my legally owned weapons like White people do. This was in Arizona, too, a “cowboy state” when it comes to gun laws.
I broke no law holding my legally owned firearm in my own home, yet I got in trouble to the extent that I had to be disarmed. Being Black in America means you’re not expected to engage in regular forms of self-defense or even the appearance of the same. Black people seem to register in White minds as infinite threats. We need to dismantle this paradigm.
While Black people can technically own guns, the White zeitgeist (or “Whitegeist”) isn’t ready to accept the idea that we apply for permits, take classes, purchase expensive weapons, and defend ourselves — or perhaps shoot deer for dinner.
In America, we as Black people are initially given the same information White people are given: Constitutional rights are not to be diminished. From this standpoint, we…
