Racial crime against African Americans by white people has always been a problem in the United States.  "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America" is an article written by Kiese Laymon which describes his life growing up as a black male in Central Mississippi.  This essay deals with present issues with racism like with police brutality, gangs, and the educational system.  White Americans needs to see the world through African American's eyes and walk in their shoes and this essay does that by going through a few events that happened to Laymon over the course of his life and how he got through them. The essay was posted recently after the shooting of Trayvon Martin to show how often these events happen and how he got through them. Laymon is talking about how racism is still alive today and how young black men like Trayvon Martin are targeted and stereotyped more often.

   The first encounter between Laymon and his friend with the white cop took place after grabbing some McDonalds with his friend Troy.  As Laymon and his friend were leaving, they held the door for a white man and he said "thanks partner"(Laymon).  The same white man who they were nice to, says some vulgar comments about their race when he sees them driving.  It turns out the man is an undercover cop.  He starts the whole fight and uses his powers to try to arrest the innocent boy Laymon.  This incident shows how police officers can and will abuse their power when they want to especially white cops against black people. Since the man was a police officer, he should not have called them names and instigated the confrontation because police officers are supposed to serve and protect.  According to Dr. Moskos of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the New York Times, "Blacks are three times as likely to be killed by cops as are whites, on a per-capita basis," (Wines and Cohen).  In another article by The Mint Press News, "in 2010 there were 4,861 unique reports of police misconduct" and "most of those allegations of police brutality involved officers who punched or hit victims with batons, but about one-quarter of the reported cases involved firearms or stun guns" (Rucke).  Just these few statistics show that police brutality is a problem in the U.S. and is continuing to rise.  Americans need to do something about it before U.S. citizens become completely powerless in our society.   This relates to Laymon's story because a cop abused his powers and tried to arrest them for something he started himself.  If the other cops did not show up, then Laymon and his friend could have been unlawfully arrested and would have had no one to believe the truth behind the incident because they are black teenagers.

In the next incident, Laymon and his friends were confronted by younger kids wearing blue rags on their faces.  When one of the kids goes up to Laymon, he acts like he does not know what he wants to do, especially when he finds out Laymon has no money.  The young boy also had a gun with him.  This encounter between two black kids shows how easily it is for anyone to get their hands on a gun.  These young people should not be able to have access to such dangerous weapons.  This adds a lot of danger within the black community.  The gang seems to use them to feel as if they have more power over others.  The gang's behavior acts as a threat to police officers, therefor they act more cautious around African Americans.  This could explain the actions of the officer in the first event.

Since the encounter, Laymon bought a gun to protect him and his loved ones.  The kids in the story might have gotten involved with the gang life to feel protected and have somewhat of a brotherhood.  In Mississippi, these problems are far worse due to the amount of gangs.  Kids are told how amazing it is and that it makes them feel invincible.  The drugs will make everything better.  According to Lee in an article by WDAM, "it can be alluring but as I said it's false, false advertising at its worst, it's a lie."(Lee).  This method of tricking young people into joining a gang is working because of the lies that are told to make it seem like a great idea.  The amount of gang members in Mississippi is very dangerous to themselves and the citizens.    Another thing is that because kids are joining gangs and doing drugs and committing crimes, it sets a bad example of the black community and creates stereotypes. Laymon's reaction to the experience with the gang made him buy a gun.  He did not want to do this because that is not the type of person Laymon is.  Maybe there are other African American boys like him that feel the same way but join gangs in order to feel safe.  Because of the bad examples set by the gang members, Laymon has now become a part of the stereotype.  He may be seen as a thug by people in Mississippi but in reality is an innocent boy.  These actions show he is stereotyped while in college.

Attending a college called Millsaps, Laymon pursues his dreams to become a black writer in Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the white students and professors of the school do not appreciate what Laymon publishes in the school paper.  The President of the college and an English professor send out letters about the young writer.  After calling the news station and exposing how racist they really are, the school suspends him for not returning a book and sentences him to therapy for racial insensitivity.  It is obvious that they are trying to find every excuse to keep him out of the college. It is our right to be able to participate in school without being threatened by the teachers, students, or president of the school.  School should also be a safe environment for any race.

In order to make good grades and graduate, Laymon needs to feel welcomed and comfortable.  The graduation rates of black college students started very low.  The rate is slowly increasing but is still lower than the percentage of white people graduating.  This is due to the college's comfort and how helpful they are.  According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education in 1990, the percentage of black men who graduated started at 28%.  Then in 2005, the percentage rose to 35%.  Every student deserves the chance and opportunity to receive their education with peace and respect.  Laymon told his story about his event at a college because it was unlawful.  The reader of Laymon's article sees through his eyes how his school did not want him to graduate college. This is important because we see how innocent he really is and how racist the school is.  He just wanted to live a normal life and go to college just like everyone else.

Before every story Laymon talks about, he mentions his age.  The ages that these incidents took place take a very important role to his whole story.  He was young in every event, just like the people he mentions throughout the story.  When he states his age during the story, he compares it to the age of a young and innocent black person's life that was taken.  This is very significant due to the things he goes through during his lifetime.  This is significant because of all the recent murders and racial incidents during his time.  No innocent kid should have to go through their life wondering when they will be held at gun point, especially if it is by a cop.  Too many young lives are being taken due to bad people with the use of a gun.  According to ProPublica.com "There were 41 teens 14 years or younger reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012". "27 of them were black"  (Gabrielson, Jones, Sagara).   This statistic is very heartbreaking, no child should have to get shot and possibly die.

As a conclusion, this article written by Kiese Laymon has a powerful effect on our community. This essay is affective because it shows what the average African American boy goes through without many knowing it.  In order to put an end to all of the disgusting racism, America needs this article and more similar to it. Essays like "How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America" provide a great insight of the everyday life of most African Americans.  Everyone should be put into another ones shoes before judging and stereotyping.  This story Laymon wrote was written a few weeks after the shooting of Trayvon Martin.  Laymon wrote this essay after the terrible incident because he wanted to share his stories because not all black teens are up to no good.  Maybe if we all saw life through their eyes, people would be less judgmental.

