Story Time: A Homeless Black Man Touched Me & I Called The Cops

I have said many times in the past that black men have a special entitlement towards black women that is not always apparent in how they behave around other races of women. I will also shout the same disclaimer over and over again: yes, black men are capable of treating nonblack women badly and they have done so. But still, as a black woman I will not allow these very real experiences to gaslight myself out of my theory.

One afternoon I got so fed up with the behavior of one particular black man that I called the cops to remove him from the 7–11 near my job. All it took was a casual touch on my bare shoulder without my permission for me to be enraged at him (and frankly, the black male collective) for thinking I can be handled in any fashion just for existing as a black woman.

A White Woman Asked Me, “Why Did You Mention His Race?”

On this afternoon in particular my coworker and I decided to head downstairs to the convenience store to grab a quick snack. While I usually dread accompanying her to 7–11 because the sketchiest people hang out around there, the evening lethargy was setting in and I needed a…