Nowadays, before I turn on the television I ask myself, “I wonder who was shot today?”

All too often when I turn on the telly I find a News Anchor saying something like “News just in. Blank, blank. An unarmed teenager has been shot by police—"

I wait for the news segment to begin and, of course, when the identity of the youth or man or child is announced, the victim has always been a person of colour. Some blame this on media bias. It’s another form of bias that appears to be at the core of this continuous moral sickness.

When my fears turn out to be valid an awful sickness spreads throughout my entire being. Sometimes it’s impossible to feel like there’s a war zone going on in this country, just around the corner, almost out of sight, with faint rumblings passing through the ground. Not every week brings a shooting of course, but the all too short periods in-between shootings feel horribly regular.

I have to assume that white, unarmed youths are being shot in the US by cops. They must be! But you wouldn’t know it from the TV coverage.

I know that black cops have guns. I find it hard to believe that black cops never shoot white. people or (specifically) white youths? And yet all I encounter on the TV screens are reports of White Cops killing Men and Boys of Colour??

I can’t believe this is the whole truth of violent race relations in America but it’s certainly the current dominant narrative. I wonder what is the purpose of this narrative and whom it serves. This whole situation feels very strange.

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I moved to Jersey City in June 24 2014. The following deaths have occurred since then.

July 17, 2014, Eric Garner

August 5, 2014 John Crawford

August 9, 2014 Michael Brown

August 11, 2014. Ezell Ford

November 20, 2014, Akai Gurley

November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice

December 23, 2014 Antonio Martin

06 March 2015 Tony Robinson

SR#5 Black Man Down