from Walking While Black: The
from Walking While Black: The Bill of Rights for Black Men by Bryonn Bain in the Village Voice April 26 - May 2.
While home from his first year at Harvard law school, Bain was arrested for a crime he witnessed someone else commit. In his article he describes the special Bill of Rights for nonwhite people in the US that is applied with particular severity to Black men.Amendment III: No nigger shall, at any time, fail to obey any public authority figures-even when beyond the jurisdiction of their authority. "You boys out here throwin' bottles at people?!" shouted the officer. Asking any of the witnesses would have easily cleared up the issue of who had thrown the bottles. But the officer could not have cared less about that. My family and I were now being punished for the crime of thwarting the bouncers' unauthorized attempt to apprehend us. We were going to be guilty unless we could prove ourselves innocent.
originally posted by hcog