Yes, slave catchers sometimes tricked free blacks. There's a whole movie about that called Twelve Years a Slave. But it wasn't just that...
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Replying to @aurabogado
Slave catchers would travel north and watched black people for erratic behavior, furtive moments — all subjective observations.
1 reply 35 retweets 28 likes -
Replying to @aurabogado
If a free black person was maybe a little nervous, shy, or introverted, slave catchers could begin to hold that person suspect.
1 reply 34 retweets 29 likes -
Replying to @aurabogado
Fast forward 150 years: so-called erratic behavior is criminalized — to the point of death — in black bodies.
1 reply 37 retweets 25 likes -
Replying to @aurabogado
If you're black and are deemed by cops to have erratic behavior, make furtive moments, are shy, are nervous, that can be a death sentence.
1 reply 41 retweets 37 likes -
Replying to @aurabogado
Case in point: cops say Alfred Olango's "erratic behavior" is essentially what got him killed. The same isn't true for whites in San Diego.
1 reply 35 retweets 38 likes -
Replying to @aurabogado
Remember the Stop Kony 2012 dude, Jason Russell? He walked around San Diego SCREAMING OBSCENITIES, NAKED AND MASTURBATING. He didn't die.
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Replying to @aurabogado
Jason Russell, who is white, was screaming, naked, and masturbating in public. He was gently approached by cops, placed on psychiatric hold.
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Replying to @aurabogado
Alfred Olango, who is black, was not naked and masturbating in public. But he was shot dead by cops.
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Replying to @aurabogado
Jason Russell is from El Cajon, by the way. Alfred Olango was from El Cajon, too. Their skin color sets them apart: life and death.
1 reply 29 retweets 25 likes
Until we confront history (especially its more uncomfortable parts) and begin to understand how it informs the present, little will change.
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