No Man Should Ever Have To Receive A Text Like This From His Child

Stephen Jackson posted the above text from his oldest daughter on Instagram Thursday, explaining how he received it just hours after a police officer shot and killed Philando Castile, a black man, while he reportedly reached for his registration in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Hours before Castile’s death, police shot and killed Alton Sterling, another black man, while he was on the ground in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

It is always scary to be black in America, but especially this week, when multiple men lost their lives for reasons that appear murky, at best, and unjustifiable, at worst. No one should ever have to receive a text like this from his child, but for Jackson, it’s a reminder of the dangers black men and women face every time they leave the house, and sometimes even when they don’t. Being a former NBA player doesn’t change that. Nothing really does.

h/t Stefan Marolachakis