WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.469 - I told my son, I'm like, 00:00:01.469 --> 00:00:04.414 when you get in trouble for not picking up your toys, 00:00:04.414 --> 00:00:07.393 do you want me to kill you? 00:00:07.393 --> 00:00:10.127 And he completely understood what I meant by 00:00:10.127 --> 00:00:13.199 we shouldn't just shoot people 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.866 because we think they've done something bad. 00:00:20.443 --> 00:00:23.603 - Shannon is the world, the stars, the moon, the galaxies. 00:00:23.603 --> 00:00:26.801 - My son is the reason why I'm breathing. 00:00:26.801 --> 00:00:28.428 He reminds me to breathe, actually. 00:00:28.428 --> 00:00:29.790 He tells me to take deep breaths. 00:00:29.790 --> 00:00:31.364 - And I love every moment with him. 00:00:31.364 --> 00:00:33.801 - The idea that she could be taken from me. 00:00:33.801 --> 00:00:36.495 The only reaction I have is to fight that. 00:00:36.495 --> 00:00:39.912 Like why would somebody take her from me? 00:00:43.055 --> 00:00:46.437 - What makes me hesitant or uncomfortable 00:00:46.437 --> 00:00:50.315 about raising another black child in American society 00:00:50.315 --> 00:00:54.482 is that by sheer virtue of my child having brown skin 00:00:56.283 --> 00:01:00.034 or black skin, they'll be seen as a threat. 00:01:00.034 --> 00:01:02.567 - In our own space, at home, there's peace, there's love. 00:01:02.567 --> 00:01:04.658 But in terms of the outside that space, 00:01:04.658 --> 00:01:06.536 and we live in a system of white supremacy, 00:01:06.536 --> 00:01:09.129 so it's definitely uncomfortable. 00:01:09.129 --> 00:01:11.342 - It's not just police brutality I'm worried about. 00:01:11.342 --> 00:01:14.430 I'm worried about the system and the practices 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:17.969 and policies that put black children 00:01:17.969 --> 00:01:20.969 at a disadvantage from an early age. 00:01:24.671 --> 00:01:25.778 - Our life doesn't matter. 00:01:25.778 --> 00:01:26.890 White people are more important. 00:01:26.890 --> 00:01:28.458 I'm not pretty, I'm not valuable. 00:01:28.458 --> 00:01:31.364 I was trying to talk to a bunch of mothers and fathers 00:01:31.364 --> 00:01:33.071 at once, just brothers and sisters, 00:01:33.071 --> 00:01:34.897 and I was trying to get them to say I have value. 00:01:34.897 --> 00:01:35.889 And they couldn't even say it. 00:01:35.889 --> 00:01:36.910 Some couldn't even write it down. 00:01:36.910 --> 00:01:39.136 - My heart breaks for like Tamir Rice. 00:01:39.136 --> 00:01:41.180 A child was murdered in cold blood 00:01:41.180 --> 00:01:42.506 in broad daylight at a park. 00:01:42.506 --> 00:01:44.248 I saw my son in him. 00:01:44.248 --> 00:01:46.428 - I read that the four year old daughter 00:01:46.428 --> 00:01:51.366 of the man that was killed had to console the mother. 00:01:51.366 --> 00:01:53.454 - My son's two, is about to be three. 00:01:53.454 --> 00:01:55.764 I can't imagine him witnessing my own death. 00:01:55.764 --> 00:01:56.925 - I think there are a lot of messages 00:01:56.925 --> 00:01:58.323 that parents are taking from this. 00:01:58.323 --> 00:01:59.695 You have some that feel, oh, 00:01:59.695 --> 00:02:02.413 if I just make sure my child is educated. 00:02:02.413 --> 00:02:04.844 Oh, if I just make sure my black child 00:02:04.844 --> 00:02:06.260 lives in a better neighborhood. 00:02:06.260 --> 00:02:08.913 Oh, as long as I make sure, you know, 00:02:08.913 --> 00:02:11.501 my child knows what it is to completely comply. 00:02:11.501 --> 00:02:14.019 I mean, they might as well just say "yes, master" to me. 00:02:14.019 --> 00:02:15.345 - You do have this list of things 00:02:15.345 --> 00:02:16.884 that they tell black people to do, 00:02:16.884 --> 00:02:18.249 like, you know, always be respectful. 00:02:18.249 --> 00:02:19.663 Yes, sir, put your hands up. 00:02:19.663 --> 00:02:21.236 Don't do this, don't do that. 00:02:21.236 --> 00:02:23.716 But we know that's a lie. 00:02:23.716 --> 00:02:26.487 They kill you for no reason, literally. 00:02:26.487 --> 00:02:28.920 Just because they may, oh, I feared him. 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:32.766 - Well, I know for the parents around myself, 00:02:32.766 --> 00:02:35.876 we are being activated into organizing 00:02:35.876 --> 00:02:38.058 and bringing our children with us. 00:02:38.058 --> 00:02:40.993 - And let her know to take pride, take pride in her skin, 00:02:40.993 --> 00:02:45.160 take pride in her hair, take pride in all that she is. 00:02:47.652 --> 00:02:49.364 - I don't have an answer. 00:02:49.364 --> 00:02:50.516 - I'm instilling in her 00:02:50.516 --> 00:02:53.579 what she needs to know to protect her, 00:02:53.579 --> 00:02:56.162 to reaffirm that she is mighty. 00:02:57.112 --> 00:03:01.464 So in the event that she becomes, you know, 12, 16, 17, 00:03:01.464 --> 00:03:05.190 she's walking out in the street and someone guns her down, 00:03:05.190 --> 00:03:07.231 I know that that was beyond my control. 00:03:07.231 --> 00:03:09.163 - My son can die at the hands of the police. 00:03:09.163 --> 00:03:11.363 I can die at the hands of the police. 00:03:11.363 --> 00:03:12.739 Just for being black. 00:03:12.739 --> 00:03:15.083 That's a reality that I have to live with. 00:03:15.083 --> 00:03:16.439 - My five year old, he understands. 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:20.888 He asked me, "Mommy, are you gonna get shot by the police?" 00:03:20.888 --> 00:03:23.656 And he was playing with his white friend around the same age 00:03:23.656 --> 00:03:26.211 and the white friend, you know, pulls up his hand 00:03:26.211 --> 00:03:28.661 and is like, "Oh, I got a shot by the doctor." 00:03:28.661 --> 00:03:31.294 And you can just see the disparity 00:03:31.294 --> 00:03:34.275 of the lives that they're living. 00:03:34.275 --> 00:03:37.230 - You don't think, oh, my child can't walk to the store. 00:03:37.230 --> 00:03:39.477 And he's gonna die on the way back. 00:03:39.477 --> 00:03:40.519 You try not to. 00:03:40.519 --> 00:03:42.429 You want them to have the best quality of life 00:03:42.429 --> 00:03:43.544 and the best quality of life isn't 00:03:43.544 --> 00:03:45.201 being like nobody can't go outside. 00:03:45.201 --> 00:03:47.368 - We don't have time to be 00:03:48.272 --> 00:03:50.997 engaged in intellectual masturbating. 00:03:50.997 --> 00:03:53.566 - Dealing with this system in terms of police brutality, 00:03:53.566 --> 00:03:56.299 we need a standard, at the federal level, 00:03:56.299 --> 00:03:58.092 some type of standard protocol 00:03:58.092 --> 00:04:00.516 in which every police department has to abide by. 00:04:00.516 --> 00:04:03.558 - I can't imagine the system that we have right now 00:04:03.558 --> 00:04:06.534 for my son to grow up safely. 00:04:06.534 --> 00:04:09.318 - I'm gonna try my best to share with my son 00:04:09.318 --> 00:04:12.122 the realities of his life, and hopefully, 00:04:12.122 --> 00:04:16.273 he'll be able to navigate it with wisdom and in love. 00:04:16.273 --> 00:04:20.440 - If we just internalize and became so aware of black power, 00:04:22.921 --> 00:04:25.444 one, we wouldn't be sitting here trying to convince people 00:04:25.444 --> 00:04:27.108 who we are and that we have value. 00:04:27.108 --> 00:04:28.635 We'd like, okay, you know what? 00:04:28.635 --> 00:04:30.297 You come see me when you're ready to make some changes.