I was asked to write this and I was emotional and angry. Tired, really. But I wanted to share my thought process when writing these 750+ words about the proximity of premature death/racism in Dallas and in this country. THREAD. dmagazine.com/frontburner/20…
I’m an artist & MC. I always think about ideas in song lyrics. No other song title conveys proximity to premature death better than 2Pac’s “Death Around The Corner”(especially since his best work, ME AGAINST THE WORLD, released when he was in prison):
I decided to start with Tupac’s words because, in his lyrics, he located how CLOSE death was in his lived experience. Racism has a way of making that easy for you. He understood a radical political framework, predicted his premature death in this country and was killed at 25.
I started with a series of questions that combined the contradictory way the U.S. is behaving in a pandemic producing vast Black death, with the sheer violence & disregard for Black life that the system of policing has demonstrated. This quote is from: chicagopatf.org 
It was important for me to say the names of #GeorgeFloyd, #BreonnaTaylor, and #AhmaudArbery. Especially Breonna Taylor. As I have learned from @sandylocks and @dreanyc123’s book, INVISIBLE NO MORE, Black women are often left out of the narrative of victims of police violence.
It is still unfathomable that more than 100,000 people in this country have died in less than 4 months, and that we seemed to get numb to #COVID19 as more Black people died. I had to remind myself.
My father, full of life, charm and charisma, also died a premature death. Born into abject poverty in Chicago’s Harold Ickes Homes projects and a believer in the fallacy of the American Dream, his poor health didn’t allow him to see his grandkids or his 52nd birthday.
It is also important during this time of Black people and other peoples saying they are tired of racism and police violence, that as @prisonculture has taught us, policing is BY DEFINITION VIOLENT and can not be reformed. It must be defunded & abolished: slate.com/news-and-polit…
#COVID19 has also laid bare the structural racism in this country’s foundational instutions, expecially the church. @PewReligion says Black people are the most religious racial group. I was stunned by this article & the silence of the white church is loud: google.com/amp/s/www.wash…
Because we have been asking @DallasMayor and @JudgeClayJ for complete #COVID19 race/ethnicity data in Dallas County for months to no avail, I wasn’t suprised to see this @NPR article, which should be embarrassing to Dallas: npr.org/sections/healt…
I saw this tweet and was shook at how I resonated with this young Black man, full of life, describing being born Black in America, as being “born dead.” Hard to feel safe.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore is simply one of our best thinkers, scholars and explainers. Black women teach us. Her definition of racism is the best way to describe what I was feeling, and what this country saw with our own eyes. Read more about her work here: nytimes.com/2019/04/17/mag…
The spirit of Jane Elkins speaks to me. She lived as an enslaved person EXACTLY where I live now & she was executed on my BDAY in 1853, becoming the 1st woman in Texas legally hung. She was the 1st bill of sale in Dallas County & a sexual violence victim. humanrightsdallasmaps.com/items/show/2
#AtatianaJefferson’s murder by police in Fort Worth cut deep. 💔Her Black neighbor though he could trust the police. He now regrets it and feels guilty for her death. He shouldn’t. Racism is so insidious. Her father and mother died shortly after she did. washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11…
The Allen Brooks lynching is one of the most infamous in this country and is also featured in the #1619Project. I’m always struck by the white kids in the foreground. Learn more about this racist day in Dallas in this @KERA interview feat. @jehiahdowdy: keranews.org/post/inside-si…
The murder of #BothamJean by police violence still traumatizes Dallas. It also laid bare that the Black immigrant experience is different than others. I remember being crushed by my sister Lelani’s testimony after getting pepper gased by Dallas PD.
I know a parent’s fear and pain. I remember taking my daughter @trinitybellaa to her first protest almost 6 years after #EricGarner’s death because of police violence. I WAS TERRIFIED for her but proud. Surrounded by lights and guns. Salute to protestors.
Read this and see why Dallas is home to the @CottonBowlGame. Dallas was King Cotton. Texas still produces the most cotton in the United States. texasmonthly.com/the-culture/th…
Last but not least, thank you to @DMagazine for the opportunity. Thank you to @GilleaA, who has the biggest heart, and @ChristineDMag for the opportunity. Read this article in D about Dallas’ Klu Klux Klan legacy. No justice. No peace. dmagazine.com/publications/d…
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