The Lessons From Darrien Hunt, Victim of ‘Cosplaying While Black’
Ever since I can remember I’ve felt safe in the world of nerds. I became a nerd September of 1990, aka: the day I popped out the womb. I grew up in the stereotypical, all-American family with a Star Trek loving, retired military, computer engineer for a father and a home-making, social butterfly seamstress for a mother. Needless to say I had a pretty good start when it came to geek trivia, cosplay and all things technology related. But if there’s one thing that stood out about my family it’s the fact that unlike most families that fit that stereotypical caliber — we’re black.
In a community where everyone has something new to bring to the table and everyone is so accepting of others I never once questioned that my race would ever be an issue. Sure, as a nerd of color I had heard of people getting the occasional load of crap for cosplaying as a character of a fairer complexion but I’m happy to say that I hadn’t personally experienced any of that. Or at least I hadn’t taken any of it personally until September of 2014.
While there is much speculation as to whether or not 22-year-old Darrien Hunt was actually cosplaying as Mugen, a character from the Japanese anime Samurai Champloo, one thing is for certain: Darrien Hunt was a young, black man carrying a toy sword who was shot six times in his back by Utah police. I remember reading various articles and trying to make sense of the matter. For starters as a black female growing up outside of Washington D.C. hearing about a black man being shot is nothing new for me. However, in the past five years there seems to be more stories of the young black man getting murdered in cold blood for confusing and idiotic reasons. Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown are just a few of the many that have been killed without proper cause. While the reasons always vary at the end of day it always seems like some unnecessary use of force is taken, resulting in months of political and racial banter.
When I found out that Hunt was allegedly cosplaying and therefore carrying a toy katana — a Japanese sword — I became very weak, confused and enraged. The only way to describe my feelings were a complete invasion of my world and utter denial. I didn’t think a cosplayer could ever fall victim to being brutally gunned down by the very people who are supposed to “protect and serve.” This is my safe haven, somewhere I can be myself or I can be someone completely different, free of judgment. To hear that not only a fellow nerd’s life was taken away but to hear that said person was also a person of color was too much to handle.
Hunt was rumored to have attacked the Utah police with the toy sword but as confusing as a random attack like that would be the autopsy reported that all six shots entered Hunt’s body from behind. Quick trivia question for you all: Did you know that in many states if someone breaks into your home it is illegal to do harm to anywhere on their backside? Why? Because it shows that the person wasn’t directly harming you and therefore they could’ve been trying to leave the premises. If this is the case for a burglary, then why wasn’t it the case for Darrien Hunt? He was fleeing the police. While whatever previous actions committed needed to be answered for, why did it take six fatal shots? Are police not trained to take one shot and make it count, possibly just giving the person in question an injury? And for that matter the witnesses that gave remarks all seemed taken aback by the amount of force taken as well. The story has quite literally changed so many times that you might as well say it never happened and it was figment of everyone’s imagination! I certainly wish it was a figment of mine.
This whole incident is a fear that I never dreamed would happen turned into a cruel reality that the person of color isn’t even safe in even the friendliest of communities. I have an older brother who is just as geeky (if not more) than myself and I actually worry when he goes certain places. My brother is an Eagle Scout, college educated, has a stable job, and has never committed a crime — but surely if my brother went to a convention and walked around the area in cosplay and carry around a toy gun or sword I would wish and hope he never walked past any trigger happy policemen. Same goes to any of my black male friends.
My heart goes out to the Hunt family in this tumultuous time. I can only comment on what I know of this situation and like I said previously this story has taken many faces. But what I do know is that no matter what kind of person they may be, the war on the young, black man needs to be put to an end.
