The Bee’s Knees: Brutality and Mercy
Ross Gay’s “Some Thoughts On Mercy” is an essay written and published in 2013 about himself and the black minority he is apart of in the United States. Gay writes about his story of being pulled over by the police, and then continues to talk about his experience growing up and living in predominantly white cities in the United States, and henceforth being treated as criminal because of his race. Gay also touches on police brutality of the black minority in the United States, of how most are scared and apprehensive of the police force because of how they have treated the minority historically. In his essay, Gay uses the metaphor “bees” in two ways, one representing the police, to demonstrate how the minority feels about the police, but …show more content…
“ They knew inside me was a truth other than murder. They had mercy. And once the hive was all closed up, they went back to their business” (Gay 4). As mentioned earlier in the essay, Gay speaks of how the black minority are seen as “muderable” when suspected to be in possession of a weapon, or other illegal substance, but at the end, as shown in this conclusion of the essay, he exhibits the “bees”, or police, in a new light, that not all “bees” are going to harm you, and sometimes they are just doing a routine check, and it is not because of your race, rather, they just want to keep the community safe. They know the truth that the black population is not trying to harm anyone, they are humans just like everyone else, and their skin does not make them more criminal than any other. Gay reminds us that some “bees” are good guys, and simultaneously demonstrates this using the metaphor of the “bees”, and shows that the stigma of police brutality is not always
Ross Gay’s “Some Thoughts On Mercy” is an essay written and published in 2013 about himself and the black minority he is apart of in the United States. Gay writes about his story of being pulled over by the police, and then continues to talk about his experience growing up and living in predominantly white cities in the United States, and henceforth being treated as criminal because of his race. Gay also touches on police brutality of the black minority in the United States, of how most are scared and apprehensive of the police force because of how they have treated the minority historically. In his essay, Gay uses the metaphor “bees” in two ways, one representing the police, to demonstrate how the minority feels about the police, but …show more content…
“ They knew inside me was a truth other than murder. They had mercy. And once the hive was all closed up, they went back to their business” (Gay 4). As mentioned earlier in the essay, Gay speaks of how the black minority are seen as “muderable” when suspected to be in possession of a weapon, or other illegal substance, but at the end, as shown in this conclusion of the essay, he exhibits the “bees”, or police, in a new light, that not all “bees” are going to harm you, and sometimes they are just doing a routine check, and it is not because of your race, rather, they just want to keep the community safe. They know the truth that the black population is not trying to harm anyone, they are humans just like everyone else, and their skin does not make them more criminal than any other. Gay reminds us that some “bees” are good guys, and simultaneously demonstrates this using the metaphor of the “bees”, and shows that the stigma of police brutality is not always