New Kids' Book Wants To Aid Parents When Having 'The Talk' On Police Brutality
Illustration by Kim Holt
Illustration by Kim Holt
A Tennessee native has created a book that hopes to make having "the talk" between black parents and their children about police brutality a little easier.
Mother and former social worker Sanya Gragg recently released her children's book, Momma, Did You Hear The News? where black children ask their parents about different incidents of police brutality (one page shows a child referencing Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, although with Davis his shooting was not police-related).
Gragg said she was compelled to create the book following the shooting of Terence Crutcher last year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Gragg has two grown sons and one three-year-old daughter.
"I knew there would be many families having 'the talk' with their children," Gragg said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "It confirmed that this was my assignment."
"The most difficult part for me is knowing my sons and yours can do everything right and still end up in a tragic situation," she continued. "That just makes me really sad."
The book also includes a five-part mantra that Gragg encourages children and adults alike to memorize whenever they find themselves in a confrontation with a police officer.
A - Always use your mannersL - Listen and complyI - In control of your emotionsV - Visible hands alwaysE - Explain everything
A number of police brutality incidents against black people has already occurred this year.
One incident was caught on video that shows Ohio cop Zachary Rosen stomping on the head of an unarmed and handcuffed Demarco Anderson. Another incident was caught on video in Sacramento where a police officer confronts Nandi Cain Jr. as he crosses an intersection. After some words are exchanged the officer proceeds to throw Cain to the ground and begins to punch him in the head.
