This short video is from the brilliant “Richard Pryor Live in Concert 1977.” Richard informs us that police choking out a black man (to death) is nothing new. Pryor describes what happens when a police officer chokes a black man. “Police got a choke hold they use out here they choke ni**ers to death,” Pryor says in the grim description. After decades have passed, this bit is as relevant as ever. Richard always talked about what he lived, and often lent his comedic genius to grim truths. The grim truth I’m wrapping my head around, is that none of this has changed since 1977. In fact, despite the spotlight on police brutality and murder, it is escalating.
Perhaps Rickard’s perspective back in ’77 was right. Those who lived in primarily white areas had been blissfully unaware of police murder and brutality – until it became epidemic. It is now easily recorded, and has accelerated since the first ‘black’ president took office, some say this is a coincidence, I don’t think so. The election of a man with one black parent seems to threaten a lot of folks – even those who are pledged to ‘preserve and protect.’