What happens when you are expected to follow the rules, but the rules are not applied to you?
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When most white people wake up in the morning, they think of what awaits them in the day. They think of going to work and maybe meeting friends later. They don’t plan for tragedy or anything to befall them. In fact, it rarely crosses their minds. They usually just think of picking up some milk and going to a retail store to buy something.
However, as an African American, I can tell you that when the average black person wakes up, these are not our thoughts.
Usually, when we first open our eyes, we’re thankful to be alive. Then we wonder, instinctively, if this will be our last day on Earth. It’s as natural as putting on socks, almost by reflex, because as a black person we already know we have far more to worry about then the average white American.
We think of the things we have to do that day, but always with the thought in the back of our minds that these are our plans, unless something goes awry. Something going awry usually being a run in with the police, or a situation that may lead to police involvement.
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As a white person, when you see flashing red lights, you might think, “Oh god what did I do? Why am I being pulled over? How much is this going to cost me and what will it do to my insurance rates?”
As a black person being pulled over, we know that our lives are at risk from the very moment the officer walks up to the window. We know the simple act of reaching into the glove compartment to get our drivers license can result in our death. Something that probably never crosses a white person’s mind during a traffic stop.
When you’re pulled over, whites simply ask; what have I done officer? It’s usually explained away, information is exchanged, and you’re on your way.
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The simple things most whites take for granted, as black Americans we have to think twice about. Something as simple as getting gas at the local gas station could result in our death, or at the very least being shot several times by some trigger happy cop.
When you’re pulled over, whites simply ask, “What have I done officer?” It’s usually explained away, information is exchanged, and you’re on your way.
However, for blacks it’s different. You are usually met with the exceedingly insulting question of, what “P” are you on? Meaning, are you on parole from prison, or on probation for a minor offense. This is usually because police automatically expect a black person to be in the system.
There are no pleasant exchanges because the police see African Americans with suspicion and fear at all times. In fact, trying to be pleasant to the police will make them even more suspicious of you, in most cases, so you really can’t win. If you act nice to the police, you’re suspicious. If you seem hostile, you’re a threat. Either way you go, the chances of a police encounter turning out bad are very good.
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If crimes are committed against you and you try to contact the authorities, usually, nothing is really done about it, because after all you’re just a black person and any misfortune that happens to you, you must have incurred by some fault of your own.
A good example of that is when my brother had his identity stolen. His identity was used without his knowledge to open a series of bank accounts and when my brother discovered this, he immediately went to the police to file a report.
The first time he went to the police, they were very reluctant to take a report. After much urging the Menlo Park Police Department, of Menlo Park, California, finally began an investigation.
Later, when it was discovered that the perpetrators were white, the investigation seemed to stall. The police had clear evidence; handwriting samples, even the documents used to open these fraudulent bank accounts. Yet in the end. nothing was done. For a white person, the police not doing something, would be unthinkable. Unacceptable. In my brother’s case, no charges were filed and no one was arrested.
The system always seems to fail black people in some form or another. How can black people have faith in a system that continually fails them? You put your trust in the system and hope it works equally and justly for everyone but deep in your heart, you know this is not the case if you’re black. Issues raised by black people are never viewed with the same gravity as the ones raised by whites. Even if it’s the same issue.
When a white person complains about an issue, something is usually done. When a black person complains about an issue, he just complains and nothing is done.
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What you soon begin to feel as an African American is that the same liberties, rights and respects that are promised to you by the constitution do not really apply to you as an African American, even when reporting a crime. The police are so used to arresting black Americans that when one comes in to report a crime they almost seem baffled there are African Americans who try to be law abiding.
The more insulting thing is, while you are reporting a crime, the police are running your name in their computer system to find out if you have a record or had any run ins with the police. If you have, no matter how far in your past these things may be, your complaint will fall on deaf ears. No one will care.
This is why African Americans routinely don’t want to cooperate in matters of court or anything legal because as an African American, we already know that anything we say or testify to will be suspect and never taken as the truth on face value.
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The result is that African Americans have a deep seated distrust of the police and the system due to the fact that the system has marginalized black Americans in most areas of life that whites take for granted.
As an African American, you start to believe the system is against you and does not work for you as it does for white Americans, whether it’s true or not. When something may happen that is criminal, you are less inclined to cooperate with the police because you automatically know from years of experience that if you try to cooperate, it will somehow invariably come back to hurt you.
This is why African Americans routinely don’t want to cooperate in matters of court or anything legal because as an African American, we already know anything we say or testify to will be suspect and never taken as the truth at face value.
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I had a school friend once who witnessed a crime at a convenience store, he witnessed it first hand and after it occurred he wanted to leave the store before the police arrived. When he was asked why, he told the convenience store clerk, “Nobody ever believes the word of a black person. Everyone automatically assumes we’re always lying. So why bother putting myself through the headache of trying to do the right thing?”
It would never cross a white person’s mind that their testimony would never be accepted at face value as the truth.
Ironically, when the case did go to court, they never called upon him for his testimony, even though he was present in the convenience store and saw the whole incident. My friend suspected it was due to being black, and as such, most District Attorneys never see blacks as credible witnesses.
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White America never seems to be able to attribute good deeds to black Americans, unless they are sports stars or an entertainer. Everyday, black Americans don’t get the same considerations.
If you saw Kobe Bryant or Morgan Freeman walking around someone’s house peeking through the windows, you would assume he must be looking for a friend who lives at the house or that he was interested in buying the house. However, if you see an unknown black person doing exactly the same thing, many white Americans assume he is “casing the joint out” about to commit a burglary, or up to no good in general.
It’s perception, and while not all blacks can be celebrities, being such works to change peoples perceptions of blacks in many cases, but that begs the question, what about everyday black Americans? Why don’t they get the benefit of the doubt? The perception white America has is, if you are not doing anything wrong, or have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about. Sadly, this does not apply to black Americans. So when I hear white Americans say this, my first thought is, oh how naive you are my white friend.
The next perception that is almost equally irritating and insulting as a black American, is when there is a media report of a police shooting, whites are always quick to defend the police by saying, “Well he must have done something wrong,” or the next quip is, “The victim should have obeyed the police and this would not have happened to him.” White America refuses to see that, whether a black person cooperates or not, he can easily wind up dead. Yes, blacks are very defensive but it’s because we always feel threatened. We know that at any moment a cop can falsely accuse us of anything and nine times out of ten, will be believed. If you doubt this, you may want to Google “Marcus Jeter”. One may find his story enlightening as to the perils of being black and just out on the town doing regular things that whites take for granted.
For me the greatest fear I have as a black American, is if I am out walking my dog and happen to find a dead body. If I choose to just keep walking and not call the police but happen to leave a footprint or some DNA, I am now suspect number one.
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We all remember the LA riots and seeing the video footage of Reginald Denny, the truck driver who just happened to take a wrong turn and find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. What many forget is that during the violence that he found himself victim to, it was a black man who came to his rescue and got him out of the area and then got Mr. Denny to the hospital emergency.
This black man left Mr. Denny there and took off. Why? He was a hero right? Why would he take off and not bask in the moment of being deemed a hero? Two reasons, one, the then unknown black man who saved Mr. Denny had a warrant for his arrest and he knew by sticking around, even though he did a good deed, he would wind up in jail. The second reason is that America never seems to recognize the possibility that black Americans are capable of good deeds without ulterior motives, the belief being that if someone black does something good, it can never just be that maybe there are good black people out there, some who may make mistakes but overall are trying to live as law abiding citizens.
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For me, the greatest fear I have as a black American, is if I am out walking my dog and happen to find a dead body. If I choose to just keep walking and not call the police but happen to leave a footprint or some DNA, I am now suspect number one. If I try to do the right thing and contact the authorities, I am still suspect number one for finding the body. Either way for a black person in America, we live with the constant knowledge of damned if you do and damned if you don’t. It’s because black people in America have known all along that everything we do is always scrutinized with a suspicious eye.
Everything a black person does seemingly comes under more intense scrutiny, and we are usually never given the benefit of the doubt in any given situation. Yet, we are still expected to abide by the rules of society.
Black people are tired of following the rules, especially if those rules only seem to result in negative consequences. We don’t get the same treatment. By reflex, white America assumes if there is a crime or something negative that occurs involving a black American, it is in some way always the black person’s fault.
Until black Americans are given the same rights and considerations as our white counterparts, America will never truly be the land of the free, at least not for all Americans.
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