I hope that audiences understand that there is a precariousness to black lives in this country that we need to address, that there has always been a precariousness to black lives in this country that we need to address. In fact, our country is built on the precariousness of black lives, the disposability of black lives.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the inherent vulnerabilities of Black lives in America and the urgent need for societal change.
Yance Ford emphasizes the historical and ongoing precariousness faced by Black individuals in the United States, suggesting that their lives are often viewed as disposable. This acknowledgment calls for a deeper understanding and recognition of systemic issues that perpetuate this vulnerability, urging society to confront and address these injustices.
In practice
This quote can be shared at a social justice rally to highlight the importance of addressing racial inequalities.
Everyone in the street where I grew up was given the same message: You can be anything; you can do anything. That wasn't extraordinary; that was ordinary for us. My folks didn't believe in black exceptionalism. There's nothing exceptional about 'You can have that, too' - except when it comes to justice. You can't have that.
Hence I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.
The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison.
You have someone like Colin or many of the other athletes who have knelt, especially athletes of colour, and if you're not respecting what they're saying, if you're not believing their charges of police brutality or racial inequality, you're saying that they're lying.
We should be uncomfortable with the growing gaps in our society, and we cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to these injustices.
You have young men of color in many communities who are more likely to end up in jail or in the criminal justice system than they are in a good job or in college. And, you know, part of my job, that I can do, I think, without any potential conflicts, is to get at those root causes.
The appalling racial injustice inherent in the Trayvon Martin tragedy reminds us that there is still much to do.
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