I watched the cellphone video, shot by a bystander and widely available online, of the final moments of a black man’s life. I watched Alton Sterling’s killing, despite my better judgment. I watched even though it was voyeuristic, and in doing so I made myself complicit in the spectacle of black death. The video is a mere 48 seconds long, and it is interminable. To watch another human being shot to death is grotesque. It is horrifying, and even though I feel so resigned, so hopeless, so out of words in the face of such brutal injustice, I take some small comfort in still being able to be horrified and brought to tears.
Alton Sterling and When Black Lives Stop Mattering - The New York Times
This piece by Roxane Gay was published by The New York Times on July 6. That evening, a police officer in Minnesota fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop. Philando’s girlfriend, Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds, posted a video of the aftermath on Facebook. Gay’s piece, now tragically applicable to both deaths, examines the emotional impact of the videos on viewers and the potential for systemic change.
Related: Witness has a tip sheet on filming the police.
(Source: The New York Times)
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