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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVal Nicholas - NBC Vice President is on Tweety
He faced the barrel of police guns twice as a teenager.
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/07/18/i-could-have-been-trayvon-martin/
I could have been Trayvon Martin
<snip>
The first time, I was merely waiting for a bus to go to my job. Suddenly two California Highway Patrol vehicles jumped over the concrete middle island and they came screaming to a halt on either side of me kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
My first instinct was to run away but before I could figure out how to handle this, an officer from each car jumped out with handguns pointed at me, screaming for me to put my hands up and get down on the ground.
I started to ask what was going on, but they were having none of it and forcibly pushed me down into the dirt making my work clothes a filthy mess. They then asked me if I was the name of someone they were looking for. I told them no and they demanded ID. I did not have a drivers license yet but fortunately I did have a picture ID from work. If I had not had that ID, I would have surely ended up in jail. After they realized they had the wrong guy, they got back in their cars and drove off. No apology, no checking if I was OK, no nothing.
It was the first time I came to realize that being black was not just a magnet for racist speech and actions directed at me but also could also cost me my life had I responded to a normal human beings natural fight or flight instinct.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)this is a common experience..
malaise
(269,157 posts)but he's as sharp as a tack and sued them with regularity and won.
He loves nice cars and that's begging to be stopped in the land of the not so free.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Cha
(297,655 posts)it happened to AG Holder, too. Running while Black..
But more importantly, this wasnt coming from some anonymous black man interviewed on the street. This opinion was coming from the nations top lawyer, the man who is in charge of the United States Justice Department. And this man talked about one night not all that long ago when he was stopped by the police in Georgetown as he was running to get to a movie simply because he was running while black at night in Georgetown. He was a federal prosecutor at the time.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/07/18/hear-that-george-zimmerman-justice-catching.html
malaise
(269,157 posts)Really interesting - frightening indeed.
I posted Holder's interview and transcript but it sank like a stone
Cha
(297,655 posts)link, malaise?
Again, thank you for this from Val Nichols.. I will try and watch it online. no tv.
malaise
(269,157 posts)Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)It happens all the time...this is what black America has been living with..
Cha
(297,655 posts)HipChick.
sheshe2
(83,901 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)I used to read a lot as a child and as a teenager. My maternal grandfather had a wonderful library and one of dad's sisters would bring or send me wonderful books by African American authors or West Indian authors in England. They wrote their experiences first hand. Then I got a copy of John Griffin's Black Like Me and I discovered that we had allies of all races. Anyone who couldn't see racism for what it was changed their mind after reading that book. I got my copy in 1962.