The Trees

by Percival Everett

“Mr. Mayor, this here is the sovereign state of Mississippi. There ain’t no law enforcement, there’s just rednecks like me paid by rednecks like you.”

“Special detectives,” Jetty repeated. “And that’s not just because we’re Black,” Jim said. “Though plenty true because we are.”

You know, a stupid redneck with a gun.” “That’s redundant.”

“Yes, we’re cops,” Jim said loudly. “And we don’t like it either. Everybody carry on. Have fun. Break the law, if you like.”

“Long time ago. It was their daddies who killed Emmett Till back in the fifties,” Hayes said.

don’t scare the hillbillies too bad. They’re not used to a Black woman with a Glock.”

Teddy Roosevelt claimed the main cause of lynching was Black men raping White women. You know what? That didn’t happen.” “Why do you think White people are so afraid of that?” “Who knows. Sexual inadequacy, maybe. An amplification of their own desire to rape, which they did.” Mama Z puffed out smoke. “But I think rape was just an excuse.”

“Everybody talks about genocides around the world, but when the killing is slow and spread over a hundred years, no one notices. Where there are no mass graves, no one notices. American outrage is always for show. It has a shelf life.