What to do to in order to walk away alive.
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“The Talk” or “How to survive while Black” is given at one point or another to all young Black men. It is filled with different pointers and suggestions on how to handle police encounters while you are walking, driving, or just breathing while being an African American. My Mother gave my younger Brother and I the talk several years ago when we turned 12, and fifteen years later I gave it to my “little brother” M, a young man that I am mentoring. Here are eight important tips I gave to him:
You will be looked at as a criminal – I explained to M that it does not matter how you dress, act, or talk; in the eyes of most if all police officers, you are a criminal. There is nothing that we can do about that.
Keep your hands to your side – Many of Black men have been murdered because their hands were moving or twitching nervously around police. Maybe it’s because they think we all pack 9mm, maybe they think we have the strength and skill of Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Nevertheless, keep your hands visible. We want to keep the police as calm as we can, not turn him or her into officer Rambo.
Talk cool and keep eye contact – One thing that my Mother drilled into my head when talking with police is to maintain a cool calm voice, almost as if you are Snoop Dogg. Again, you want to keep the office as calm as you possibly can. Also, you want to keep your eyes locked on the officer. This projects a sense of honesty, like “See officer so and so, I am an ordinary Negro, not a super gangster like you think I am .”
Don’t roll with too many homies – When I was younger, me and my guys would never “Roll four deep” or have four or more passengers in the car. That just screams to an officer, “Please pull us over.”This has never failed us. If four or more of us had to go to a house or place, we would either walk, take a cab, or just meet up later.
Turn it down – Rolling with loud music is another flag asking them to pull you over. I know you want to drive around blasting 2 Chainz or Kendrick Lamar like your white friend in front of you, but since you are Black, you have to play by different rules. Keeping the music down to a minimum lessens the chance that you won’t make the officers quota.
Record if you can – In the age of camera phones, I highly recommend that if all possible, start recording your interaction with the police. Every smart phone has some sort of voice or video recording capability and it can be used for more than Snapchat. This way in case something goes awry, you will have recorded evidence. Not that recording the cops has ever saved us (Eric Garner, Mario Woods), but we need all the help that we can get.
Pull over in public – If you are flagged while driving, try your best to pull over around people. Why? Well you want witnesses just in case your traffic stop goes awry. Hey, more than one witness can help you in court if the police say you “assaulted” them. Speaking of police trust worthiness…
No warrant, no search – Under no circumstance do you allow a police officer to search your car without a warrant. I was taught to not consent to any unwarranted searches. Why? Well for one, it’s within your rights. For two, you don’t want the cops to magically “find” an eight-ball of coke or weapon used in a commission of a crime. I have read too many reports of police planting evidence on Black people during traffic stops.
After I gave The Talk to M, he was blown away. He asked me, “Is it always going to be like this for Black people?” I looked at him, gave a big sigh and said, “I don’t know, man.” It is a shame that we have to pass along these tips to our children to ensure their survival. They should be concerned with getting a great education and growing up to be upstanding adults, not how to walkaway unscathed from an encounter with the police, a group that should be protecting us. The sad fact is that unfortunately M will have to sit down with a young Black person and give him or her “The Talk.”
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Photo credit: Getty Images
There is a website called Photography is not a crime where it has stories about the police being recorded on the streets and they attack the person who is filming them. Amazing how the police were the first ones to record their actions with the public so they would get accused of something; however, now they don’t want the public to record them recording their misconduct.
You can follow the advice and still get killed or beaten to a pulp by the police. We need to bring police officers from the UK, Sweden, Finland, and Germany to revamp police training and culture in America.
Personally knowing two white guys who were abused by area police (One filed a law suite and won) this advise should be given to ANYONE who encounters law enforcement. If you look at it, it’s common sense and I don’t know why we’re having to have to “educate” anyone where it should have been instilled in them in he first place, by their parent(s). “Chicago Crime Spikes As Police Avoid Becoming ‘The Next Viral Video'” “CHICAGO — As violent crime continues to spike in Chicago, there is a nearly 90 percent drop in police stops this year compared to last… Read more »