*As Lauper's "Time After Time" plays in the background*
http://www.theroot.com/id/46086
If They Are So Scared, How Come We're The Dead Ones?
By Kai Wright | TheRoot.com
The cops in the Sean Bell case walked because the judge said it was reasonable for them to be scared of three black men in a car. This paranoia defense has been used to forgive the murders of black people for a long time.
Ida B. Wells, at the turn of the 20th century, called it a "threadbare lie." She was talking about how lynch mobs masquerading as law enforcement justified their actions by claiming black men were raping white women. But Wells was on to a larger delusion, one that not only inspired sexual hysteria 100 years ago, but that continues to legitimize all manner of brutality against black men today. The simple and sadly lasting truth is this: We scare the shit out of America. And that fear excuses just about any reaction it spawns.
Sorry, T La Rock, LL killed it. 
Hybrid Mode
