I came across some very moving comments this morning while listening to my favorite podcast, Citizen Radio, hosted by my friends Jamie Kilstein and Allison Kilkenny. Jamie read a listener’s email out loud and it went something like this:

The Dallas police, who are notorious for their racism, seem to be a lot more up front about it and are getting less coverage. I’ve been picked up by cops twice in one week for “suspicious behavior”, which I’m still wondering if that’s a real crime. It’s almost like they sense how tired my community and its really easy to keep a weak unit down. Hearing about the shootings of unarmed black teens is getting too frequent. I’m seeing me and my friends questioned and stopped more than ever and even though no one in the community wants to admit, I’m scared. I’m scared of leaving my apartment and being shot, I’m scared of being mistaken for another black person and arrested. I’m scared because it seems to be acceptable by people of all races.

This is the heartbreaking reality of what poor black communities in America have been facing since the intentional formation of inner city ghettos in the 1960s and 1970s, communities that more closely resemble militarily occupied regions of the world than the stereotypical American neighborhood. And the majority of Americans, particularly white Americans, have no idea.

The individual who I quoted above is not exaggerating. Most people probably picture Dallas as an embodiment of Texas culture as portrayed by television and movies (rich oil tycoons, lots of churches, big hair, white men in cowboy hats, you get the picture). But poor minority neighborhoods in South Dallas are much different.

In July of this year, a Dallas police officer chased down and shot dead an unarmed black resident, 31-year-old James Harper, in his South Dallas neighborhood, marking the 14th Dallas police officer-involved shooting in 2012. Harper’s death made headlines, not because another unarmed man of color was killed, but because the surrounding community flooded the street in protest. They were met by police from at least seven Dallas substations decked out in riot gear and backed up by at least three dozen officers from the department’s SWAT team.

It’s no wonder the Citizen Radio listener quoted above lives in constant fear.