White Friends With Guns by Scott Griessel licensed from Adobe Stock

Understanding the Language of “I Have a Gun in My Purse”

or “Do not Pass Go, Shoot First, What Questions? — “

Toni Crowe wrote a great description of diverse, funny, effective, and cool ways Black people will warn others they are about to step over an invisible line and things are going to get physical.

The only verbal warning, as a white woman, I ever heard and personally used, was “Ya wanna go?” Let’s go.

And I only “went” a couple of times so it does sort of work.

It’s a funny thing, but most people do seek to avoid violence, especially over nothing.

But then there are other people …

I’ve wanted for a long time to write about an incident I’d witnessed at our local Stater Brothers supermarket in Southern California before we moved to Florida. I know I’m not going to remotely do as good a job as Toni. And the story isn’t about a lot of different, creative, evocative and informative warnings not to push things too far.

It’s about why the header picture I found says it all. I learned from Toni’s article that Black people have many ways to warn that things will get physical unless someone changes course.

White people, especially women? In my experience, not so much. Some, I think, are so…