"You know that feeling. It's the one that makes us hear about Trayvon, and now about Jordan Davis, and reach back across decades into our history, for the name of another boy named Emmett Till. Then, it was a whistle at a White woman. Now, it's a hooded sweatshirt, or music being played loudly from a car. But always, this one thing has been the same--no presumption of innocence for young Black men. No benefit of the doubt. Guilt--not determined by what they did or said--but presumed to be inherent in their very being. They need not wield a weapon to pose a threat. Because, if you are a young, Black man, who you are is threat enough. And in yet another case, it seems, that perceived threat is justification enough for someone who would play judge, jury, and executioner."

--Melissa Harris-Perry

(via Sister Outsider)