This won’t be long, because I am not going to belabor the point.
Much in the same way white people have weaponized the police against Black bodies, they have also adopted the language of those who protect and uplift whiteness and white supremacy—the police.
Historically, we’ve seen that the only thing a cop needs to say in order to get away with killing a Black person is “I feared for my life.”
Similarly, white people are using “I felt threatened” or that their life was in danger or that they thought someone had a gun, to get away with the extrajudicial killing of Black people.
When Amy Cooper encountered Christian Cooper in Central Park, she didn’t like it that a Black man asked her (no matter how politely) to leash her dog. Never mind that they were in an area of Central Park where dogs are required to be leashed; Amy decided this uppity-ass nigger wasn’t going to tell her what to do. Not tuh-day, honey. So she went into white woman-mode, put on her best victim voice and lied and told the police that Christian was threatening her and her dog. She made sure to mention that he was a) a man and b) Black, and she included the lie that he was threatening her because “Black man” and “threat” are a racist dog whistle to cops—especially cops who disregard Black lives and don’t mind taking them.
Her stupid-ass apology aside, Amy knew exactly what she was doing when she weaponized the cops against Christian, and she knew that in doing so, it could result in bodily harm coming to him. She wanted him to be put in his place, and she wanted him to see and be aware that she could make that happen.
It was a gross display of white supremacy, white woman victimhood and white privilege.
She knew whiteness would protect her, and she knew the police would land on the side of her whiteness.
Similarly, when George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin in 2012, he said he did so because he felt threatened. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law had his back, making it possible for a grown-ass man to get away with killing the 17-year-old Black boy he chased and stalked against the advice of 911 dispatchers.
The thing is: when you feel threatened by someone or something, don’t you move away from it?
I am allergic to bees. When I see bees, I get the fuck out of the way. I don’t be bullshitting, either. We could be in the middle of a conversation, and if I see a bee—bitch, fuck whatever it was you were saying. I’m moving away from said bee even if that means moving away from you right when you are (finally) getting to the juicy part of the story.
Similarly, when people are afraid of dogs, they don’t go running toward them. They run away from them.
All that said, make this make sense:
A Florida man (lol) was caught on video losing his shit in the middle of Costco after a nice elderly woman asked him to please wear a mask.
When Mr. Roid Rage became aggressive with the woman who asked, a kind bystander stepped in to defend her. Said bystander also started filming with their phone.
Wearing a red T-shirt with the words “Running the world since 1776” (the irony is making me constipated), Roid Rage charges toward the person filming. He first yells “You’re harassing me,” and when he is told that he is not being harassed, he begins advancing menacingly toward the person filming and yells “I feel threatened! Back off! Threaten me again! Back the fuck off and put your fucking phone down!”
From the way the video is shot, you can tell that as Roid Rage advances, the person behind the camera continues to try and retreat away from him.
How are you being threatened by someone who is running away from you?
That is a question for every cop, and I suppose now it will become one for everyday regular degular white people, too.