Low Hanging Strange Fruit

As my timeline is filled with think pieces & opinions about the tragedy of Nolan Xavier Wells, being black in predominantly white social groups

& other rage baiting but necessary discussions I see something else.

“Watch the company that you keep” as what my elders instilled in me & my best friend reminded me last night on the phone. Yes, we can bring up Tamla Horsford,

a 40-year old Black mother of five who died on November 4, 2018, at an adult sleepover in Cumming, Georgia to stir the pot & trigger past drama but why stop there?

What about Shanquella Robinson,

who died on October 29, 2022, while on a vacation with six of her so-called “friends”?

Or

Kenneka Jenkins,

a 19-year old Black woman from Chicago, Illinois, who tragically died after becoming trapped inside a commercial walk-in freezer partying with her so-called “friends”.

No, this isn’t that tired “We do it to ourselves” bs, tap dancing coons push on podcasts, but just making this a discussion about race imo is low hanging strange fruit.

Society & peer pressure has children & adults people picking friends & acquaintances that really don’t deserve our light. No way should we be taking a group picture smiling one moment & the next moment everyone in that photo doesn’t know where my black ass is at.

That’s why my circle is a dot & I ask “Who all gone be there?” when I’m invited to events. I don’t trust a lot of you. I also watch how you raise your children & I don’t want my child around yours or be at your house.

Tag me in the discussions about conflict resolution, discernment, vetting people & better buddy buddy systems because if Nolan, Tamala, Shanquella & Kenneka’s so-called “friends” had those skills maybe…….

At the end of the day a child was left dead & the color of the killers doesn’t matter to the parents.

Shawn William is a Grammy Nominated Artist, living in Oakland, Ca. eating tacos, looking at women with nice legs, drinking water & minding his business.