By VICTORIA GRIMMETT RABB

I was both impressed and amused when the Gay community came out with a multiple list of categories that best defined a variety of homosexual proclivities.

That’s when it occurred to me; if anyone deserves to be characterized in a more diverse manner it ought to be Black Americans—especially Black males. There is no other racial grouping as varied as Black people are, due primarily to the "one drop rule," still in effect today.

 

This practice of hypo descension automatically assigns people of even the slightest racial mix to the presumed "lowest class" of the races involved. We come in every possible skin coloration, eye color, hair texture, build, height, et al. Yet, every time there is a robbery involving a Black male, cops hear an all-points-bulletin bearing scarcely more description than this:

 

"APB Alert: Black male wearing white shirt and black trousers is 

sought, suspected of robbing a grocery story at Main Street and

Beverly Boulevard. Be on the lookout. Be cautious. May be armed!"
 

The round-up begins. Cops are permitted to roust every Black male wearing a white top and black slacks. I happened to catch a video of a young man who was out in front of his apartment building manicuring the front and side lawns and bushes when a cop pulled up.

The young man looked up and noticed the White cop heading toward him and instinctively pulled and activated his cell phone video. He asked the cop what was going on, and was told he matched the description of a Black male suspect who'd just robbed a grocer. The young man asked how he matched the perpetrator. The cop’s reply: “He is black and wearing black pants and a white top, just like you.”

The young man asked, “Am I under arrest?”

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The cop responded, “No, but I have to detain you until you’re ID’d by the store owner.”

 

The young man said, “OK, man, but I teach tennis at 4 p.m., and I have to finish this yardwork before I go.

It’s already 1:10 p.m. and I still have to finish, take a shower and drive to West LA. I get a break on my rent

for doing this, and I make the rest of my rent teaching tennis—so I gotta finish up and go.”

The nervous cop said, “Look man, I’m not prejudiced or anything, but you fit the description. You’re a Black man with a white shirt and black pants. Plus, those sharp tools you’re using are like weapons. I’m gonna have to handcuff you ‘til they get here. It’s nothing personal, man…”

 

The cop ordered the young man to turn around so that he could shackle him with the hand cuffs that originated during slavery. 

 

All of this occurred months earlier and was now being aired on social media, but fury rose up in me as if it were a live event. I yelled at my phone, "Ask him what shade Black."

Our men are going to keep getting dragged from their cars, finding gun barrels and tasers pointed at them, getting shackled in handcuffs, and made to lie face down on the ground, ignoring the fact that the word used to assign our race (even those with 1 drop of Negroid blood) does not describe us well enough to take any reliable action. Why? Because Black is comprised of all colors. 

 

We therefore cannot be loosely defined without serious mistakes and repercussions. Describing a person as "Black" does not eliminate Caucasian, Asian, Latino or any other non-African features that may be the most prevalent.

Perhaps we should revert to the term “Colored,” because Whites are clearly unable to understand that “Black” as a descriptive term eliminates the variety of hues that Black people come in. Black men should all carry an info sheet with the following descriptive categories. No cop should be allowed to detain a Black suspect without answering at least the first two categories of a "Black Suspect Questionnaire":

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I. What hue Black
Blue-Black
Ground Coffee Black
Coffee with Cream Black
Red Bone
High Yellow
Beige/Light Tan Black
Freckled
Albino

2. Hair

Clean shaven, Bald, Toupee
Straight, Curly, Wavy, Kinky, Afro
Pony Tail Braid, Corn Row Braids, Rasta Braids
Black, Brown, Red, Blond, Gray, Salt/Pepper, Color-dyed
Mustache: Natural, Handlebar, Dallas, Fu Man Chu
Beard: Van Dyke/Goat Tee, Circle Beard, Box Beard,
Stubble, Long, Short

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3. Attire

T- Shirt, Wife beater, Dressy, Pullover,
Short/Long sleeve
Fitted/Sagging Pants, Shorts, Sweats

 

4. Shoes
Tennis, Boots, Dress Shoes

 

5. Jewelry/Ornaments
Ring, Watch, Neck Chain, Earrings

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6. Teeth

White Teeth, Gold Teeth, Missing Teeth?

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7. Age

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Victoria Grimmett Rabb is a freelance journalist based in Southern California.