The Talk: If you get stopped by police

“I want to live in a world where my son isn’t presumed to be guilty as soon as he is born.” `

Clint Smith –TEDTALK - 2015

Let’s play a word association game. The words are “The Talk.” If you are a fan of daytime television, you might first associate those two words with a popular afternoon CBS program of the same name. Some of the topics are serious with a sprinkling of celebrity interviews and zany conversations. But, if you are the parent of a black child, “The Talk” is a matter of grave importance. It is a conversation, or a series of conversations, that begin at a relatively young age, around puberty.

The parent tells the child how to conduct themselves when confronted by law enforcement: to do what the police say, not to argue, and to always have their hands where the police can see them – no sudden moves. The parent stresses that it does not matter whether the child thinks or knows he has done nothing wrong. The objective is two-fold: to stay out of jail and, most importantly, to survive: to get home safely without triggering a violent reaction on the part of the law enforcement officer. For parents of Black children, "The Talk” is a response to an issue described in a PBS documentary as “catastrophic in America” – the killing of unarmed black people, mostly males, by white police officers.

Parents interviewed in the documentary differed on the approach their child should take in an encounter with law enforcement officers. But they all seemed to agree that Black children should always operate under the assumption that, in an interaction with police, everything the child says or does can be a matter of life or death. The following are links – three of many – to other discussions on “The Talk” – a troubling conversation that has taken on more urgency in light of the continuing tragedy of law enforcement killings of unarmed Black people – males and females. 1.) THE TALK FOR BLACK CHILDREN (2016):

2.) THE TALK BY BLACK PARENTS – NEW YORK TIMES (2015)

3.) TED TALK: CLINT SMITH ON HUMANITY, POLICE KILLINGS AND LESSONS FROM HIS FATHER