In March 1991, I wrote about watching 17 police officers paid to protect and serve watch four other officers paid to protect the video at a friend's house in a Jackson, Mississippi, neighborhood called Presidential Hills. There were four of us, all Black boys, standing in front of what was then the biggest television I'd ever seen in my life. That night, I didn't craft an essay or even a paragraph. On the back of a trigonometry test I'd failed, I wrote, “They all just watched.”
I was 16 years old.
I did not describe the particularities of the officers who watched. I did not describe the blows to King's forehead, ribs, legs, neck, eyes, and arms. I did not describe the cars that slowed down to watch before continuing down the road. I did not describe how I felt.
I could not describe the way Rodney King ran.
They all just watched.
All four of us had seen folks beaten up, shot, stabbed, and stomped out at concerts. But in every one of those scenes, those seeings, someone somewhere always came to the person's defense.
By 16, we knew we had to make ourselves meek, small, subservient, docile, and grateful to survive encounters with the police, white mobs, white teachers if we wanted to make it home to Mama, Grandmama, and them.
We knew, just 150 miles from where we watched those 17 police watch Rodney King run, Emmett Till was murdered for being Emmett Till. Ninety miles from where we watched those 17 police officers watch one of their own almost kill, Fannie Lou Hamer was beaten damn near to death in a Winona jail for being Fannie Lou Hamer. We knew that 21 years earlier, five miles from where we watched those 17 officers watch Rodney King beg for his life, police shot up a dorm at Jackson State University, where my parents went to school, killing two students and injuring 12 others.
They all just watched.
Denne historien er fra April 2022-utgaven av Harper's BAZAAR - US.
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Denne historien er fra April 2022-utgaven av Harper's BAZAAR - US.
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The STATES of REPRODUCTIVE Rights
The STORIES from a POST-RUE AMERICA are HARROWING and HARD TO BELIEVE. That's why we MUST LISTEN..
The Whole TORY
TWO DECADES in, TORY BURCH, the BRAND, is once again one of the most TALKED-ABOUT labels in FASHION because TORY BURCH, the WOMAN, did what she's ALWAYS DONE in times of uncertainty: BET on HERSELF.
The VANGUARDS
WHO DO YOU look up to when you're the one name-checked as the first, the best, the source of inspiration? That's the question everyone at the vanguard of things contemplates at one time or another.
Like NO OTHER
She BROKE BARRIERS and REWROTE the RULES. Fell DOWN, got back UP, and did it all in NINE-INCH HEELS. This is NAOMI CAMPBELL.
WHEN in ROME
REDISCOVER the ETERNAL CITY through a slew of NEW properties that OOZE SPREZZATURA
ICONS Only
What makes an OUTFIT live on in HISTORY? Which outfits CHANGED the way we THINK about GETTING DRESSED? Bazaar assembled a team of EXPERTS to determine the 25 MOST ICONIC LOOKS of all time.
The LEGACY of LIZ TILBERIS
In honor of OVARIAN CANCER Awareness Month, CHRIS TILBERIS recalls the work of his late mother, who ushered in a new GOLDEN AGE for Harper's Bazaar in the '90s while waging her own BATTLE with the disease.
NATASHA LYONNE, CARRIE COON, and ELIZABETH OLSEN on challenging AUDIENCES-and EXPECTATIONS-in Hollywood
There are actors, and then there actors-the type of performers who bring a life and vitality to each and every role, no matter how small or large, and routinely take on gutsy projects that inspire extraordinary devotion and passionate defenses.
THE PEOPLE and IDEAS SHAPING the CULTURE - CLOSE Encounters
In the first edition of his new column, THE DISPATCH, DEREK BLASBERG talks to GLENN CLOSE about LONGEVITY, OSCARS, and her most ICONIC roles—and why it's always important to DRESS the PART
What Are You Wearing?- Activist Amanda Nguyen on turning that question into a rallying cry for survivors of sexual assault everywhere
Activist Amanda Nguyen on turning that question into a rallying cry for survivors of sexual assault everywhere. Walking down the runway in a custom dress designed by artists Suzanne McClelland and Alix Pearlstein and adorned with the text of the Survivors' Bill of Rights, I was overwhelmed with a mix of emotions. Alongside me were other survivors and allies, while ambassadors from the United Nations, diplomats, policymakers, and influencers all came to watch.
