Black Men Be Careful Around Whites In This Trump Headed Racist Environment

THE TALK OUR ELDERS GAVE US WASN’T PARANOIA, 

It Was SURVIVAL

by Bishop Talbert Swan

For generations, Black families have had “the talk.” Not just about police encounters, but about navigating spaces where we may be isolated, outnumbered, and vulnerable. Many of us were taught as children: be careful where you go, who you go with, and never ignore your instincts.

The brutal 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr. remains one of the clearest reminders of why that lesson existed. James Byrd accepted a ride from three white men who instead kidnapped him, chained him to their truck, and murdered him in one of the most horrific racist hate crimes in modern American history.

Lauren Smith-Fields met a white man through a dating app. She died after spending time with him, and while the medical examiner ruled her death accidental, her family’s concerns centered on what they viewed as a deeply inadequate and dismissive police investigation.

In April 18-year-old Daniel Erving went on a swimming and fishing trip with two white men. They returned without him, and authorities later learned that Daniel had drowned. The men disposed of his clothes and belongings, claiming it was an accident. They never reported his drowning.

On July 4th weekend Nolan Wells traveled to a remote island with three white men and was later found dead. The men were in possession of his phone and deleted his social media accounts and text messages.

These cases remind us of something many Black parents have passed down for generations: exercise caution when entering unfamiliar environments where you are isolated and without people who know you or can advocate for you. That isn’t about fear. It’s about history.

History has taught Black people that our safety cannot always be taken for granted, that our disappearances and deaths have not always been investigated with equal urgency, and that justice has not always been applied equally.

The lesson is that situational awareness has long been a survival skill in Black America. Our elders didn’t teach those lessons because they were paranoid. They taught them because they lived through experiences that made those lessons necessary.