I start this post off by sharing this tweet (which was re-tweeted by #45)
Of course, Stephen Jackson (his friend) correctly predicted this type of conversation about George Floyd at an earlier press conference, he said this:
Anyway: Here is a thought I would like to share.
If you had kids, you probably remember when a spider got into their room. All of a sudden, the screams began and there was an insistence that you kill the spider. Until you do that, there will be no peace in the house.
In fact, some kids may even insist that you show them the dead creature so they know the spider is dead.
But, when they encounter that neighbor they cannot stand, or that one person in your/their circle that they absolutely HATE, there is no such demand that this person be killed. In fact, if you asked your kid if you should kill them, they would look at you as if you are crazy. Years later, they may get to know and understand that person better and maybe even befriend them.
It seems to me that when you fear something, this is something that must be eliminated, or locked away. “Law and Order” is established, the threat is eliminated.
It also occurs to me that when something it is simply hated, this is something that must be avoided. For normal people, killing something or someone you hate (or just uncomfortable with) is not an option. The conversation is “Let’s go somewhere else”, or (for the bold), ask the object of your hatred to leave. BTW: The fear is when people are calling the cops because people are barbequing on their front yard (Lock them up!)
Which leaves me with a question: Is it better to be hated or to be feared?
I am noticing during this crisis that every time we talk about “unarmed black man” we also must have an adjacent conversation with the world to convince them that he was a good guy or (being more candid) someone who deserves to be alive. The first link, while the participants can plausibly deny that that is NOT what they are saying, seems to want to begin pursuing that conversation. They are saying: He’s a bad guy, what’s the problem, here? Why are you protesting HIM?
And the narrative is this: Black people, especially black men are dangerous! Be afraid! That “unarmed black guy” must have been doing something wrong!
Which brings me back to the first conversation and another question: Is the assessment (by some) that this is not a good person a justification for killing him?
And BTW, the assessment was WRONG. In Houston for decades—George Floyd was mentor to a generation of young men and a “person of peace” ushering ministries into the area. Bad guy?: I don’t think so! (Why doesn’t the media tell us that story? But that’s another post)
Consider that to Officer Chauvin that he was scary, he was that spider. His mind-set was to eliminate the threat. And he did was he was conditioned to, and some in polite society would expect him to do. This fully explains his nonchalant demeanor during the incident. No worries, no one will prosecute me, I am just killing the spider.
George Floyd became a spider. He looked like what a spider was supposed to look like, so…”Law and Order”
Personally, I think being hated is better than being feared. Hatred can be handled through conversation or experience. Just being around someone for a while can help build at least some kind of relationship, if not friendly or warm, but just an understanding that can be lived with so we can work together or live in the same area.
Accordingly, I wish people would stop saying we need to ONLY eliminate hatred. Hatred is not the problem. The problem is FEAR!
Because what we are afraid of, we want dead, or locked away! And it is arguable that we have within our law enforcement infrastructure elements that handle what the rest of us are afraid of. (Maybe that explains those tanks and military equipment some departments invest in).No wonder the cops are confused, to them, they are just doing their job. They are “protecting and serving”. They are handling “dangerous” people, right? (Well, a lot of times they actually are, so thank GOD we can call them! Most cops are decent people, we need to keep that in mind)
The hint that we are ok with the elimination of those scary people is that not many people seem to be concerned that we are devastatingly effective at it.
I think that what we need to do is to start training our society to have the going in assumption that Black men are not spiders, they are people, fully human that deserve respect as a full human being.
I know it is a pipe dream, but I think that if we can get the fear of black men out of our culture, then we go a long way to not having many more George Floyds or Ahmoud Arbery’s.
The media is best equipped to help with this we need to see more commercials/movies and other stuff like the commercial at the end of this post.
Full disclosure: I am a LIFETIME and PROUD Ford employee, but this is the commercial that touched me as much as any other commercial I have ever seen and more of it (and less of the gangtsa vibe the media loves to picture Black men in) can only help IMO.
Why? Because it humanizes Black Men and boys. It has a Black Son, A Black Mother, a Black Father, thus a unified Black Family and that there is hope for that!
Ingrain in society that Black men are fully human and tell the truth about who we really are! That, to me, is the first step.
Enjoy the commercial!
Quiet Thunder 
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