Me and my SO kinda roll our eyes when we see other black parents make facebook posts about this stuff. I'm not sure if I'd say that the fear is 'irrational'....but the thought that the biggest threat to our children are police officers certainly IS irrational. The biggest threat to youth in our neighborhood is violence perpetrated by other youth. And there is no doubt that is the case. So our focus is mostly on who they're circle of friends are and what type of social events they attend.

That being said. Police shooting an unarmed teenager is the most 'unacceptable' scenario....and it's something that can be addressed with activism leading to changes in laws/police policies. There's a million reasons why police murders are worse than youth on youth murders. For one, we are defenceless and vulnerable against police. For two, the police are more likely to go unpunished than normal citizens. For three, they're supposed to be serving us, not killing us. I probably don't need to point out the obvious anymore....but yah, just because more youth die at the hands of other youth does not mean our activism against police murders is misguided.

So on a macro level....yes, police shootings need to be addressed and I always support/participate in the local activism in my area. But on a micro level....I acknowledge that in terms of actual potential threat to our specific kids....the police are not on the top of that list. The biggest threat to them is making the wrong friends or going to the wrong party. Judging by the facebook posts of some of my acquaintances....they literally see the police as the biggest threat. And yah, that's irrational as hell. As said above by another poster....it's like teaching your kid about shark safety instead of undertow and riptides.