A recent report shows that Police officers, security guards, or self- appointed vigilantes extra judicially killed at least 313 African-Americans in 2012, according to a recent study. This means a policeman or security officer killed a black person every 28 hours.
Given the reality that "driving while black, "shopping while black," and "walking while black" can easily get a black youth killed in the United States, black parents famously give their sons what is known as "the talk."
As one black mother said in a Time magazine interview about "the talk" she gives her son, "I tell him If you are stopped by a cop, do what he says, even if he's harassing you, even if you didn't do anything wrong. Let him arrest you, memorize his badge number, and call me as soon as you get to the precinct."
"Keep your hands where he can see them. Do not reach for your wallet. Do not grab your phone. Do not raise your voice. Do not talk back. Do you understand me?"
But Angela Davis, the nationally know black activist, says that the traditional "talk" isn't sufficient.
"Look, these killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and now John H. Crawford, lll. have grabbed the national spotlight but they're a tiny fraction of what goes on. Look at the Crawford case: It makes absolutely no sense that an unarmed 22-year-old man would be killed doing what any American citizen does every day, shopping at a Walmart store but it happens almost every day," said Ms. Davis.
"The talk must be revised. Yes, keep what is now being told to our black sons, but parents must tell their sons to treat white folks, particularly police, as if they were members of the Ku Klux Klan. They must shuffle around when in police presence, never demonstrate any intelligence, constantly say 'yes sir,' and 'yes boss,' and use their creativity to show total submissiveness to the police. We need to go back to behaviors expected of blacks in the Jim Crow South and during slavery. Our youth need to study them and put them into practice.
Ms. Davis also recommended that "whenever possible black youth should be home schooled so they don't have to leave the house," that an older family member do the shopping for kids "if they want something like 'Skittles.'"
