Bahamas warns visitors to USA: don’t be black
Your writer spots the Bahamas’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on black men heading to the USA. Following the assassination of five white police officers in Dallas by black Micah Johnson, and the police killings of black males Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana, the ministry warns against tourism while black:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration has taken a note of the recent tensions in some American cities over shootings of young black males by police officers…
We wish to advise all Bahamians traveling to the US but especially to the affected cities to exercise appropriate caution generally. In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational and cooperate.
US police officers are aggressive and menacing to pretty much everyone. They are the rudest, most offensive police force I have ever encountered. They are also heavily armed. Marjorie Cohn, of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, adds:
“I don’t think it’s victim blaming, but it’s advising them [black men] to the extent that they could become paranoid. A lot of the black men stopped by the police or who are racially profiled are doing nothing wrong, illegal or out of the ordinary.
“They are ‘driving while black’ and ‘walking while black’ and nothing they do can prevent that, unless there are structural changes to policing.”
It’s not paranoia. It’s self-preservation and common sense.
Posted: 10th, July 2016 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
