This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. All parents know that

they need to teach kids basic safety. Don't talk to strangers. Look both ways before you cross the street

and for many black parents if

you're not careful cops might arrest beat or even kill you for no reason and

the age when kids get the talk is getting younger.

The 11 year old in Mississippi who called the police for help and ended up getting

shot.

And if I remember correctly, that child did say, why did he shoot me?

That's the time to have the conversation?

The headline's driving the talk and black families coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson.

Stay with us. Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host

Jason Johnson. For Black families, a talk is an

emotionally brutal right of passage. The conversation that parents have with

their children about how, no matter their behavior, law enforcement is

likely to treat them like criminals.

That means teaching your children how to react if they're stopped, threatened, or even beaten and brutalized by law enforcement

for no other reason than their race.

Every parent times is talked differently,

but it's often prioritized for boys

and tied to adolescents

when many kids are taking their first steps out into the world

on their own.

...