Black Americans report reasons they get stopped by police
Last edited Tue Apr 13, 2021, 07:36 PM - Edit history (1)
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Now, let’s see if I remember how next time 
When I was 18, I was leaving my friend's house after playing Monopoly with the family all night. It was 1:30 in the morning, on a very dimly lighted suburban road sorta in the boonies. At the end of the street was the stoplight, it was flashing red - which equals a stop sign. Across the road was a police car, on the same street - I saw it. So I stopped, with my turn signal on, then turned right. Then he came out after me.
Why? Because I had a wild semi afro at the time, so I was clearly a black person driving the car, leaving a developing neighborhood that was already half black. When he stopped me, he was nasty, especially when I said, I DID STOP at the flashing light, and I SAW YOU! And made sure I had my signal on! Why would I go past the sign without stopping when you were RIGHT THERE? No matter - I got served the ticket. I said no way, I'm fighting this. And I did. When I went to court, an attorney was assigned to me (white), and told me, be calm and tell the truth. I accused him of stopping me because I was black, and that my hair could be seen with his headlights silouetting me. When I was on the stand, the judge (white) watched me testify with a kind look, but of course the cop lied and I couldn't prove anything. But when I didn't beat the charge, I looked up at the judge and he gave me a thumbs up. My take was this assh*le cop already had a reputation for doing this, but there was nothing to be done, especially not back then - this was 1978.
Six months later, I was going home from that same friend's house in daylight, speeding, but on the highway halfway home. Yeah, I was speeding. Cop pulled me over. It was the same assh*le cop. By this time, my hair had grown out and I was wearing it long and curly. Cop said, stop speeding, just giving you a warning. Get out of here. Then he got back in his car. He hadn't recognized me, and then it occurred to me why. I'm very light-skinned, even now people mistake me for white, very irritating. And it was in the spring, and my tan had long faded. So he thought he was letting a white girl go with a warning. Pissed me off. Pissed me off even more when that very cop started making deposits for a new police account at the bank where I was the auto teller. Up he'd drive, smile, give me the deposit bag, wave, off he went. Assh*le. He had no idea. So I know the difference in treatment. Saw it often when with my mother, too - my beautiful brown black mother didn't always get the respect I did. Won't even go into that. 
Hurts even now. (I'm not bi-racial; my mother fell in love with a pale jackass, but he was a pale black jackass)