� Spaghetti Code, Stare Decicis & Patriot II | Main | Implicit Assumptions �
February 09, 2003
Are You a Terrorist
My purpose here at Cobb the Blog is to represent the Old School of black American culture and politics. Tangential to that is to demonstrate why more blackfolks should be Republicans. The Republican party needs a strong dose of civil libertarianism, and they should expect that as folks from the Old School join and participate in party matters, they will bring that strong dose with them.
If Patriot II is passed, more and more Americans are going to start experiencing the kind of things that African Americans have been exposed to for some time. Already we know what it's like to deal with the hassle of security in airports. One day you may experience the hassle coming to you. This isn't left wing theoretical paranoia, this is the reality of blackfolks, before the War on Terror, after the Civil Rights Movement.
In one of my discussions about perceptions about police in black communities, I had to come forward with some personal experience in order to give the proper perspective. I think now that I am considering Patriot II, it is a good time to repeat that post.
i'm going to list out a litany of complaints, as it were. i hate to be pedantic and cynical but i think that it's the best way to explain how relations between police and blacks get the way they do and why certain formalities which appear to address problems do not.as i took a shower this morning 10 minutes ago, i imagined myself in a seminar with grover and others making an example of myself starting off like this...
you can't start off with statistics. you can't approach the way that police deal with the black community with statistics because starting there shows that you don't deal with blackfolks on a regular basis. if you knew them, then they would tell you what i'm about to tell you which are things that will never end up in any database.
if you were black then you would experience these things because how police behave in the black neighborhood is completely different than in the rest of the world - otherwise you would have the same experiences as me.
cops roll up and get out of the squad car to order me off of my dad's ten speed right in front of my house. i'm 12 years old and they've got guns. 'that bike is too big for you.' it belongs to my dad. 'where did you steal it'? i didn't steal it, it belongs to my dad. 'where did he buy it?' sears. 'how much did it cost?' 'show me a reciept'. (no citation)
cops roll up and ask my gang name. i am 18 years old sitting on my friend's car with him in front of his house. i don't have a gang name. 'well what about your nickname, your street name?' people call me michael. 'we're looking for [pookie], do you know pookie?. no i don't know any gangbangers, there are no gangbangers around here. 'pookie lives near west boulevard'. people from west boulevard don't come over here. 'where do you work?'... (no citation)
cops tell me. 'i pulled you over because this car is the most often stolen car in southern california'. i'm driving a 1968 karmann ghia. (twice - no citation)
cops tell me. 'i pulled you over because your high beams are on.' it's raining and one of my regular headlights is broken. 'show me how you operate the high beams'. what? 'most car thieves don't know how to properly operate sophisticated european cars like this bmw'. (no citation)
cops tell me. 'you didn't signal'. then 'show me your left forearm'. what? 'there is an escaped convict named michael bowen who has a tattoo. (three times - no citation)
cops tell me. 'you are driving with no front license plate' (twice - one citation)
cops pull me over for speeding on my motorcycle; my girlfriend is with me. we are pushed up against the fence. i am told not to turn around. both of us are frisked for weapons. officers talk shit for 5 minutes. they felt up my girlfiend. (no citation.)
cops tell me. 'you were driving with your windows down and music blasting' and? 'and it's late at night and you're downtown in a nice bmw'. i am cuffed while they run computer checks. they uncuff me and give me a sobriety test. (no citation)
an off-duty officer flashes a gun at my girlfriend as we pull into 'his' parking space. we later testify against him in superior court. so actually there is a record of this.
cops roll up as i'm walking down the sidewalk. cops tell me. 'are you a terrorist?' no. 'why are you walking outside at night in this neighborhood?'. the stars are out. 'where do you live?' in the valley, tonight i'm staying with a friend who lives here. 'where is that?' a couple blocks away, i don't know the address. can i go now? 'do you see this dog?' yes. 'if you run away, you gamble that i will use him on you. so are you going to leave?' no. 15 minutes later 'i have an outstanding warrant for a code violation on your car.' i don't own that car - i sold it two years ago. 'well you didn't take care of the warrant'. how should i know about a warrant? (arrest & transfer to another police department, the hawthorne pd who issued the code violation (broken taillight) three years prior.)
--
the first question that should come to mind would be, how is it that you have had so many incidents with the police? (duh!) but my point is this, if you grow up in a black neighborhood, you have a completely different perspective on who the police are, what they do, and how you should behave around them.
Posted by mbowen at February 9, 2003 08:21 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.visioncircle.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/149