Hi. I'm a bullet, zooming through the air. The gun I was fired from was a cop's. An angry/scared white cop. Guess where I'm heading? I regret being here. I'm hollow-point, designed to expand when I hit and explode like a bomb. I hope the unarmed person of color I'm heading for isn't a 12-year-old playing with a toy in a park, or someone reaching for their wallet or a bottle of pills. They'll probably say the victim was coming at them with a knife, and that a struggle ensued. What I really regret is ripping into the body of a black man and having the white cop say, "The gun just went off."
I'm not magically here, though, speeding through the air. It might be a short flight if the unarmed target is at close range. I was cocked and loaded into the chamber. When the cop pulled the trigger, the hammer dropped and pushed a firing pin into my primer, causing a little explosion and igniting the powder that shot me off. I didn't have a choice; it's like a chemical reaction. These white cops, they have a choice. I think it's time to start talking about their chemicals and reactions.
As a bullet that's tired of ending up in innocent black bodies, I want someone to invent a smart gun that shuts off when threats aren't real. Until then, these white cops shouldn't even be shooting sponge balls. It's time for white cops to put more thought than fear into the finger on their trigger. Because a white cop's fear shouldn't be greater than a person of color's right to life…
