I spent my teenage years in the projects. Although they were rife with drugs and violence as people competed for available resources, I grew comfortable navigating the neighborhood. As long as I didn’t mess with anyone or get involved in illegal activities, they didn’t mess with me.
Once I moved to a primarily white neighborhood, a new feeling crept onto the back of my neck when I went for a walk. Unlike the projects, it was a feeling I couldn’t shake no matter how long I lived there. I was especially aware of this feeling when wearing a hoodie. Even on the coldest mornings, keep the hood down.
It was hard to not think about the young Black men like Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery who were killed for not fitting the “aesthetic” of the neighborhood.
Despite my reservations, I didn’t have any major mishaps in my neighborhood unless we count being stopped by a police officer during an early morning run.
I enjoyed running before work, and I mostly just ran up and down my long suburban street. It was early enough that most people were still in bed or just beginning to stir.
For whatever reason, a police officer happened to come down my street that morning. I initially believed someone called them, but I have no way of knowing.
They asked me a few questions, but they were relatively kind in the process. They stopped me when I was in front of my house, and after telling him I was heading in, he went on about his day…you know, after making sure it was my house.
It was a quick and harmless process…I never walked or ran in that neighborhood again.
Harmless.
New day, same story
About a week ago, a young Black man was followed around his Florida neighborhood by a group of white men. According to the young man’s mother, the 18-year-old was walking the neighborhood to get better reception on his phone due to the power outages caused by Hurricane Milton.
In a time of devastation where neighbors, and humans in general, should come together and show empathy, we witness the true colors of humanity. The men start to follow and question the young man, asking if he lived there. Despite the young man answering in the affirmative, the pursuers continued questioning him.
This is why answering so often feels fruitless. It is never enough. Tell us more. Tell us more.
“How long have you lived here?”
“Where do you live?”
“How can you afford that?”
“How many people live in your house?”
No one is required to answer strangers who ask these kind of questions. The men doing the questioning would be outraged if the situation was flipped.
“This is America! What about my freedom!”
They are so comfortable stopping and questioning this young man. I can only imagine they believe it is part of those American rights.
The adult men claim the teenager harassed one of their wives, but it seems he spoke in passing while walking the block. (This is based on the information the mother provided.) The group of white men waited for him to pass by the house and decided to follow him again.
In the video, at least one man tried to become physically aggressive but was held back by a slightly more reasonable associate. Imagine if the camera wasn’t there though.
I would be surprised if your mind didn’t float to Emmett Till, a teenager who was accused of harassing a white woman. He didn’t have a camera and the results were horrific and fatal. It took over sixty years for the woman who accused Emmett to admit she lied.
I am sometimes annoyed at how omnipresent phones have become, but they have saved many Black lives and brought justice to murderers who would otherwise walk away without a slap on the wrist.
In 2020, a video review of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales went viral. Miles Morales, a teenage superhero of Black and Puerto Rican descent, is the protagonist of the video game. When describing the gameplay, one reviewer said,
“The way he leaps off of rooftops and flips backwards to face the camera before falling into a head first dive is just full of the exaggerated swagger of a Black teen” -source
Of course, accusations of racism followed. Although most of the claims were focused on clout chasing, there was a real discussion to be had.
Everyone understood what the reviewer meant when he said the exaggerated swagger of a Black teen, but why did we all understand it and what does it say about how society views young Black men?
Unfortunately, the recent situation in Florida answers at least part of that question. The wife decided to defend her husband by explaining the teenager was walking arrogantly. That is why he deserved to be harassed.
He was too arrogant.
He was too uppity.
The “uppity negro” was a common term by the 1950s. It was one slander among many, but it specifically targeted Black people who didn’t “know their place.”
They were expected to submit to questions like, “Where do you live” without hesitation.
Despite growing up in a primarily Black area, we only had one White student in our entire elementary school. I also picked up on how to make them comfortable. I don’t know where this came from.
I made myself small. I didn’t look White people in the eyes unless I knew them. Is this something my parents subconsciously passed down to me? I’m not sure, but I probably didn’t become aware of it until college. It took me longer to break it.
I am a person who naturally tries to make people comfortable, so I like to attribute some of it to that. Either way, it is embarrassing when I know those people would not and did not do the same to make me comfortable.
However, I’m sure it has saved me a lot of hassle. When I was stopped by the police officer, I was all but saying, “Yessuh, masta,” when he asked me questions. Again, this is embarrassing, but it is true.
If I was the young man in the video, at 18 years old, I probably would have taken them to my house. I don’t think I would have let them in my house, but sadly I can’t say it with certainty. I am sure they would have asked though.
His crime was not bowing to strangers. His crime was assuming he had the right to be treated like any other human walking down the street while using his phone after a horrible storm. I respect the people who raised this young man.
He wasn’t walking arrogantly, he was walking with the belief that his life mattered. He was walking with the confidence of someone who believes they have as many rights as anyone else.
Does it make his life more dangerous?
Maybe. We know many Black people have been murdered no matter how submissive they make themselves. Nevertheless, his mindset is a healthier one. He won’t look back in embarrassment at how he handled this situation.
To all the young Black men out there, it is okay to look up. It is your right to do so.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of LG Ware's work on Medium.