Don't shoot... just black and existing."

We thought our fight was finished in 1964 with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. But we find ourselves in 2021 with the same issue and new specifics.
 
Growing up as a black boy I truly saw my future being incarcerated or dead. Pause and reflect on that… as a child that’s what I thought the end of me would be! What a terrible internalized thought for anyone let alone an innocent kid to have!
 
My recent experience with the cops could have brought me to one or both of those childhood fears… and I don’t take that lightly. There are moments since my police interaction when I see a cop car or a vehicle the resembles a cop car and anxiety hits me. 
 
“Don’t shoot… just black and existing” was a shirt that I made in 2019 as an outward cry of an inner frustration.  The one you see me wearing in this post was the only one in existence until NOW. 
 
The interest in buying the shirt is both heart warming and disheartening. Of course every entrepreneur wants to push and sale product. But this shirt with these words display a sad reality that we live in. That one would have to pre alert another of their humanity and right to exist. However, as this is the current state of affairs we will persist until change!