For empathy to be activated, a witness has to interpret someone else’s pain and see it as similar to their own. When Black pain not only is seen as dissimilar to the viewer but also gives them pleasure—when our bodies have been defined as inherently criminal—it’s no wonder that police body camera footage of an unarmed Black person being murdered so rarely leads to a conviction. It’s no wonder that news stations replay it over and over again anyway. It’s no wonder that our retaliation for being attacked and killed is so consistently made out to be unconscionable.
