Phillip Russell
Ohio University alum Phillip Russell, a writer based in Seattle, authored a cover story at Unwinnable Monthly headlined “Watching Myself Die.”
Russell, who earned an M.A. in English in 2018, begins his story be recounting feeling represented in 2013; Barack Obama was in the White House, and Sam and Henry were major characters in The Last of Us.
Then came 2014.
That same year in real life, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Kendra James and many more Black people had been or were soon to be murdered. Sending shockwaves around the country, largely to white people, about the immensity of injustice and terrorism Black people face daily. While watching television, or scrolling through my social feeds, or listening to the radio, or playing videogames, I recoiled at the constant reminders of Black death in America.
My body, which once felt safe suddenly felt marked for death as I navigated the world outside.
Read the excerpt of Russell’s article at Unwinnable Monthly.
Comments