I saw that earlier. He says he didn't write it but he agrees with the sentiments.
I have to say I disagree with the sentiments. The basic thrust of it is, if you're black you live a life of constant suspicious glances and ill treatment.
I realize I'm a white guy and I can't speak from personal experience the way a black guy could... but I can point out some things I have noticed in my life.
When I was in the Navy, some of my best friends were black guys. They were also very intellectual, and nice, affable guys.
One of the best ways to put it is, they were the kind of guys who did not care *one iota* about whether they seemed cool, or "hard" or like a tough guy badass of any sort. One of them would wear tweed jackets and corduroy pants... he'd hang out at jazz clubs and read The New Yorker. This was a 21 year old guy. He laughed readily, and had a glowing, open, NICE personality. I cannot imagine a person on this planet who, within moments of seeing him for the first time, would find him intimidating or threatening in any way. He was dark-skinned, too.
The other main guy I'm referring to was tall, lanky, and nerdy. He was a huge League of Legends addict and loved anime, would typically dress in jeans and a t-shirt... again, like the other guy, made zero effort to intimidate or appear cool, or gangsta, or anything like that, at all.
Where am I going with this?
I do concede with what this author is saying to a degree... I do agree that black men face more suspicion and rougher treatment from police, etc. I concede that a certain percentage of this is racism.
However, for the MOST PART, I believe it is much more to do with how someone presents themselves and how they approach the society around them. How they act, how they dress, how they carry themselves. How they speak.
If I see a white guy covered in tats and piercings, with a backward baseball cap and a wifebeater... sagging, and I do see white guys like that from time to time... I have a very strong repulsion reaction automatically. I keep an eye on white guys like that, and wonder if they're going to do something I should be concerned about. I remember one time in particular, about a year ago... I was headed into a grocery store and a white guy like that, driving a crappy car and looking around like he was making sure nobody was watching him... wife beater on, little trimmed gangsta goatee... and I made sure to take my GPS down and put it away in my car before I went in. I was concerned he'd break into my car. He and I were exactly as white as one another.
I feel that there are ways of living life which are available to everyone, some of them broadcast you are a societal miscreant and need to be watched, others broadcast you are a harmless, good-natured person and nobody has anything to fear from you.
The question is, what percentage of what this Lance Gross guy is talking about, is attributable to race, and what percent is attributable to those life choices?
I personally believe, partly because of my experience with those friends I mentioned, and also because of how I personally react to people (including being extra nice to black people, holding doors open, trying to be extra personable etc... which is a holdover from when I was a liberal) that it is FAR MORE to do with the way the person presents themselves.
As I said more than a year ago in this thread, who honestly believes GZ would've found TM suspicious if he was dressed like Steve Urkel and walking purposefully to a destination? And it's okay for people not to be Urkel! It's also okay for people to mistakenly profile someone as a thug and be wrong... those sorts of misunderstandings can and should be cleared up through talking!
That's the thing so many people just don't want to come to grips with... TM didn't die because of his race, his hoodie, his age, or because of GZ's profiling... he died for one reason and one reason only: the vicious physical attack.