Resistance blogs:
First, the author notes that she was expelled from high school for truancy. Yet none of the vitriolic responses chastise her for “not valuing education” or “not finishing school” or “not having parents who knew the value of hard work.” All of these sentiments are expressed. However, they are all directed towards black people.
Second, she believes that she has not experienced privilege. One of the main ways privilege functions is through its invisibility. I was thinking about this recently because of a white friend who had been stopped by the police while carrying a large amount of an illegal substance. He wasn’t arrested. Rather, the police officer scattered the drug and told him to stay out of trouble.
And this is one of the ways in which I believe privilege functions. White people give other white people the benefit of the doubt, maybe even when it’s not deserved.
Yes. I saw a similar thing with police and a White guy where the police let him place an open bottle of booze he had in his car in the trunk. The residents of that neighborhood who are mostly African-Americans wouldn’t have been afforded the same courtesy.
As I passed by finally, the officer was sitting in his car doing paperwork and he saw me look in while passing and waved his arm as if to say, shooo!
I’m curious how much the police treat race over other factors when making these prejudicial decisions. I mean, obviously they do make them – but I wonder what subconsciously makes them think “dumb thug who needs to be brought in” vs. “a kid who could be my neighbor who just needs to be straightened out”. Race is obviously a big one – but are there other factors? I mean, not to get into the tacky cliche of “dressing/acting white/black”, but does a black guy with a polo shirt and slacks get the same shiat as a black guy in a “thug life” shirt?
Obviously, this isn’t meant to excuse the phenomena. A person shouldn’t be coerced into abandoning their own cultural background the strong arm of the law. I’m just curious.
Are you this sure this is just about race? My first night in California, a police officer found me and a girl (under 21) drinking wine on the front seat of sports roof car, parked in a public park after dark. At the time, I had an atrocious accent, and a tan dark enough to fail the brown bag test. He took his time explaining what morons we were to break four laws at once, and had us call some friends to drive us home. He did not even have the car towed, which he could have done, and still left us grateful.
I have also seen my very white and blond boss (the owner of a company with multiple plants, dozens of international stores, etc…) get ticketed for failing to signal a turn, parking across the handicapped spot of his own construction site (the plant had not yet opened), and one memorable occasion, made to lie down in the dirt by police responding to a false alarm call. In each and every case, he was broadcasting that “I’m too important for you coppers” vibe.
I have also seen, multiple times, people give police officers a ton of attitude: swaying as they talk, waving their hands way too much, speaking worse English than they could, using jargon that they should avoid around most people, let alone law enforcement.
In a case where we had been rounded up because of a fight, I felt like dropping on my knees and thanking the gods I don’t believe in – I was with the people who had started the mess, and the other party managed to talk themselves handcuffed before the police started asking what happened. Both side were mostly made of minority members – Asians for ours, black for theirs. There were black officers at the scene, and no Asian ones…
I believe that this is more about attitude than about race. And yes, I believe that the two correlate. A person of my age and background has a pretty good chance of believing that the police are the good guys, that they are a doing a hard job, and that we should be making it as easy as possible. I also believe that a disadvantaged youth who listens to gangster rap and who wants to impress his friends is likely to act in a way that will antagonize officers, no matter what their skin colour.
Is it fair? Is it a good thing that minorities have to affect a particular behaviour for the benefit of public servants whom they may hate, sometimes with a good reason?
Well, who cares? It’s simple self-preservation. Police officers are human, stressed, armed and probably primed to violently react to threats to their well being. I do not feel it’s beneath me to make an effort. When I’m pulled over, I stop so that my car can be approached safely, I lower all windows, keep my hands on the wheel, wait until I’m asked before I do anything, and I try to be polite without being obsequious. It also helps if the car is clean, without anything that looks as if it could be covering a mess. I’ve been asked to step out of my car twice – once because the officer had good reason to believe me drunk (I was not) and once because we had a ton of SCUBA gear thrown in a total disarray in the back.
I’ve had one bad very experience with a policeman out of uniform, but I have been treated with courtesy all other times. And I get a ticket maybe once in four-five times I am pulled over.
Respectability doesn’t trump a cop’s racist attitude. I remember hearing about this case of an elderly black couple stopped on their 40th anniversary while their car was searched. Surely, they didn’t represent thug-life. What they represented to the cops were just a couple of n****rs.
http://www.acluva.org/opeds/Aug232000profiling.html
Instead of going “are you sure this is really really racism” just once try “yes this is racism” then evaluate the problem. Because it’s a sure sign of your priviledge if you have the luxury of second guessing people’s very real experiences of racism.
I strongly disagree with the whole dropping/flunking out of school issue. I don’t know if its just the area that I’m from, but anyone who does it is seen as a total deadbeat regardless of racial background
Molly – erm, no. I flunked off school regularly for most of 7 years – I only really stopped in my second year of college – and because I went to a supposedly Good School, they always covered my ass and stopped my truancies from appearing on the records they had to send to the local education authority, because harbouring a truant would have made them look like less of a Good School. That was, I’m sure, about going to a middle-class school as well as about whiteness, but I think the point stands.