Warning: Pokemon GO is a Death Sentence if you are a Black Man

Via @leigh_alexander, thought this was interesting.

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Even keel, even when replying to an ignorant first comment, I am an instant fan.

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Some of the replies to that post (and the obvious trolley therein) are just brilliant.

Facts DO matter.
So I wonder…
How you expect to solidify that message using hyperbole and stats out of context?

Expectations are felt. People know when they aren’t welcome. People do what they must to survive.

You don’t know many people of color do you?

Like, really know them.
If you did you would stop. You would care. You would have empathy. You would listen to them and not buy the bullshit rhetoric that is keeping us stuck.

Your “facts” are half truths at best and blatant spear campaigning at worse. Your post looks like this:

“If women would just keep their legs closed or stop wearing provocative clothing, they wouldn’t get raped!”

STOP BLAMING THE VICTIM!
STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!

This makes me so angry I am physically shaking. No one deserves to get shot during a routine traffic stop! No one deserves to get shot for jaywalking and/or manhandling a shop owner so they can steal cigars!

That is not the way we do things in this country. It is not lawful for any one person to act as judge, jury and executioner.

If they can do that to black people, they can do it to you!
If this is what our society is about than why didn’t Bernie Madoff — who stole MILLIONS OF DOLLARS from MILLIONS OF PEOPLE die in a hail of bullets?!?

THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS BEHAVIOR!

There just isn’t.
You are in the wrong. You are going to be on the outside looking in, because I am done being understanding and patient with willful ignorance.

It is socially unacceptable to condone indiscriminate killing while using childlike reactivity as an excuse.

Sell crazy somewhere else; we’re all stocked up here.

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…Now I know why my parents are paranoid when I go out side wondering around.

Policeman are trigger happy and paranoid of any african americans; especially when they’re the most oppressed “minorities” in america. They fear of a large scale Black revolt, so they kill anyone they suspect of plotting such an crime. In fact, one could assume all policemen were war veterans, so it make sense for them to be all tense up.

However, it’s sad that this article became entrapped in the whole police debacle since the sniper incident soon after. Now everyone is paranoid of a large scale black revolt to the point that it’s possible that they storm any black house and arrest them for mutiny against the whites.

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This broke my damn heart. We were hanging out in prospect park, and when it dawned on me what the groups of people standing around in wide circles pointing their phones at eachother, and perfect strangers passing eachother with a “you playing?” and a knowing smile, were doing it was heartwarming and refreshingly silly. And adults, to boot. And all races, walks of life, gay straight, nerdy looking, tough looking, etc… I actually wanted to write something about how refreshing it was.

This article was a cold slap of reality to the privilege. It was a heartbreaking juxtapoisition of a lighthearted geeky pasttime with brutal reality. I know i wouldn’t be able to play this game because i get super self-conscious about looking like i don’t belong places or I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going. I cam’t imagine feeling the weight of deadly hate and mistrust on top of that. atmospheres of pressure. damn

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I know, right? This would never have occurred to me on my own.

reads headline
“Whaaaaat?”
reads article
“oh.”
hangs head

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I would love to get into this game, especially just having moved to a new place.

But I almost stepped on a poisonous snake walking the trail by my apartment the other day! The locals tell me they are out a lot this time of year, and you can expect to see about one a day on the bike trail.

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and you’re sure it wasn’t just an Ekans?

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Been out yesterday with my dog with Go; caught a few pokemon, but have to retreat due to the fact that I went out too early and my dog got tired.

But this article came up and I figure it was worth a bump to continue our discussion on how rising racial tension and systematic oppression discouraged African Americans from playing “Pokemon GO”. As I stated before, any of the suggestions listed so far is rendered moot due to 2 factors:

  • Segregation still exist due to schemes created by vengeful aristocrats wanting to make the slave descendent’s live miserable (though it was less extreme than the days of yore).
  • The stereotype created from said segregation that equates African Americans to the poor citizens that resort to crime to make a living, especially when the “ghetto” continues to be populated by “minorities”.

These two create a perfect storm of paranoid policemen going after negroes like they’re vicious animals, when all they wanted is to live as much of a prosperous life than their light skin cousins. And even if we did manage to achieve said prosperity, we’re still hunted under the assumption that we got ties to gang members.

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