Shadows are insubstantial. They are inconsequential. But they are menacing. They loom disproportionately large. Light from the right angle in a darkened bedroom makes a teddy bear a grizzly.
All black men speak the same language.
Black men can do this by rote. In the 1960s, the black comedian Godfrey Cambridge used to tell his audience that there was only one way a Negro man could get a taxi in New York. It took some effort, he said, but it would work every time. You take all your clothes off. You wrap yourself in a bedsheet.