I should start by saying that the way black people are treated by the media, while important, is not my paramount consideration given the last few days of headlines reinforcing how dangerous American streets are for young black men—not just those in Ferguson, but here, and here, and here, and, as ever, here. The problem I seek to solve isn’t the most pressing; it’s merely the one into which my expertise emboldens me to insert myself.

If this is reaching you, you’ve probably seen the insightful (and seemingly organic) ‪#‎iftheygunnedmedown‬ hashtag. If you’re anything like me, you’re encouraged to see black and brown youth repurposing their social surfaces to comment on a social injustice—indeed, perhaps a bit thrilled that they’re doing so concurrently, and at such scale. It’s in these moments that meaningful solidarity is forged; and in which the broader acknowledgement black people so desperately deserve, and the confrontation with the truth all people so desperately need, is forced. And that solidarity’s symptoms, even those merely cosmetic, are still emotionally potent, and therefore, potentially powerful.

It was with that in mind that I found my mood dampening, even as I admired these young people.

…Something was off.

The problem, I concluded, is that as a statement, while it effectively teases the truth, #‎iftheygunnedmedown‬ as a practice does not offer any take on what the truth should be. Moreover, its passivity leaves us in the passenger seat of our own representation, even posthumously. While its insight is obviously legitimate, #iftheygunnedmedown is a naggingly incomplete and deeply self-negating place to leave the conversation.

I wondered how these men would see it.

I wondered whether they’d think it soft, both in its form—as a question—and in its function as an act of resistance: one that not only presupposes these youngster’s lives are lived at the whim of others, but their legacies would be managed as such too. I wondered how forward-looking these men were. Did they know at the very moment the shutter snapped that their legacy would be calcified as such? That their moral superiority was then permanently preserved?

Did they choose their shirts and belts that morning knowing that today was the day they’d take a picture that would supplant their military dress portrait or wedding photo as their most lasting? Did they fold their pocket squares just so, not out of vanity, but with the knowledge that their appearance that day had much wider implications than they could even foresee? Did these men know that they’d transcend being mere articles of history—an accusing finger that pointed directly at the injustice they faced just out of frame—to a citation of and weapon against future injustice?

I decided that they must have. And so I pondered this picture more deeply. As I helplessly watched Ferguson become Fallujah, these men spoke directly to me. And they gave me their blessing for what’s below (yes, even the transplantation of the underline).

I didn’t have time to build out all the architecture around it, like the form letter you can add everyone’s email to that asks them to ensure your posthumous media pic gets to appropriate outlets should blue-suited terror strike. I’m hoping one of you will.

All I have to offer is this image, which I hope reads its own reason to be loudly and clearly. Life insurance is a simple concept; prepare now for things to go a specific way when your influence wanes completely. So is this.

So, of my mother(s), my wife, my uncles, brother, and sisters; my best friends, casual friends, and fair-weather friends; even my Linkedin connections, I ask: if in fact I am murdered by anyone whose uniform should speak to their integrity, please make sure that this is the picture that hovers over Anderson Cooper’s right shoulder. As these young kids seem to know, I can’t afford to leave it to chance.

If my life is taken, may my legacy blow breath to righteous responses. I entrust to you the tool to make it somewhat so.

Use this pic of me/ If the police get to me

‪#‎usethispicofmeifthepolicegettome‬

Template here, in case anyone else is feeling…

…underinsured.