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Content warning - Racial trauma
I know I am not alone in saying the weight of the last week has been substantial. Just so heavy and suffocating. The news.....ooopphhfff. I feel like I have to don my armour and brace myself every time I interact with anything outside my immediate household. It is just unrelenting.
Which is why I feel compelled to share my opinion about the INDISCRIMINATE sharing of video evidence of the deaths of Adam Toledo and Duante Wright.
I believe the videos serve a single purpose...they are evidence of longstanding, systemic racism that endangers the lives of marginalized communities. BIPOC people that look like me...my family....my friends..my loved ones. They show the event in a "real" light.
I do not however believe that these videos exist to be "digital" content under the guise of journalism or doing "anti-racism work". This compulsion to share the last few painful and traumatic moments of a marginalized person's life...I will never understand.
How does one justify INDISCRIMINATELY sharing the video content? What purpose does it serve?
In my opinion it is disrespectful and violates the humanity of the dying person. They did not live and exist merely to become a prop for someone's digital content. Death is not an event that requires mass spectatorship; take it from a former ICU RN that has been present when death showed up at my patient's bedside. We would never share footage of any other type of death to appease our "curiosity"....so why this?
I have deep outrage at Adam Toledo & Duante Wright's killings. I don't need to visually experience their death to be outraged and advocate for police reform. The video evidence of their death only serves as a tool of vicarious trauma for me. So again...why watch it? Why do people feel compelled to share it and encourage others to witness it?
If you have an explanation that respects the humanity of both the deceased person and the content's audience, I would love to hear it.
Phew....now....that I got that off my chest...here is a bunch of my illustrations I figured out how to put in a frame/room mock up....it always helps boost my serotonin levels....I hope it does the same for you.
Credit for the mockup - Designed by jcomp/Freepix
