(Fill in the blank) while black

[MrScorpio]

I’m writing this on my iPod, so please forgive the lack of links, but most of these incidents have been touched upon, both here and on Twitter and Facebook.

Question: Why are white people so fearful of people of color in general and black bodies in particular, that they would call the police on us for merely existing within their eyesight?

Just this last month alone, cops have been called on us for:

- Sitting quietly in a Starbucks while waiting for a friend.

- Napping in a college dorm public area.

- Being part of a college tour group

- Checking out of an AirBNB

- BBQing in a public park.

- Asking why there’s an extra charge for plastic dinnerware at a Waffle House

- Shopping for prom clothes.

- Taking one’s sweet time to shop at a Walmart

- Being the member of a gym and working out.

- Golfing.

Luckily, in all of these cases, no one was killed. However, history is replete with incidents where such a call had turned fatal.

Just recently cops killed a man who was sitting in his car while waiting for someone to finish shopping.

But I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time before more blood is spilled over merely existing within the mere presence of white people.

So, again I ask... Why?

[secondwind]

1. This is downright inexplicable and totally inexcusable.

WTF is happening here? Is this a sample of Trump’s America??!?

[BobTheSubgenius]

21. Yes and no.

Of course, everyone is living within "Trump's America" at the moment, and there's no doubt that this travesty has emboldened a shockingly high number of bigots to go public. As did the Presidency of BHO, but it was more focused.

Sometimes, an undercurrent lurking just below the surface, but it's always been present.

[yellowdogintexas]

22. my immediate response is breathing while black essentially

Seriously

[HenryWallace]

24. Only if you were litterally born yesterday...

[MineralMan]

2. Posting While Black?

So it sometimes seems.

[barbtries]

3. racism.

it runs very deep and very long in this country.

[Iggo]

5. Aw.

[gollygee]

7. Well, in one case it's about Native American folk merely existing

No, this stuff doesn't happen to white people every day.

[IronLionZion]

26. How many times have you seen angry white males and said something?

[gollygee]

50. I've seen one or two, but in those cases

there are huge red flags, like writing stuff about killing people. That's not the same as being a college-aged kid napping in a dorm where you need a key to get in. No one would have called about a white college-aged kid napping in a dorm common area.

[MarvinGardens]

54. What something did she see?

Because when I read mainstream news accounts, it made me angry. Perhaps you could enlighten me as to "what actually happened". Tell me, what did CNN leave out of this account?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/us/colorado-state-university-racial-profiling-trnd/index.html

[irisblue]

10. Welcome to DU. What is your favorite type of pizza?

[yellowdogintexas]

19. I bet it is pineapple nt

[geardaddy]

29. Zing!

[Solly Mack]

11. Snort

[MrScorpio]

13. Is that one of those white peoples rules?

You know, the kind that some white people make up for people of color?

[MrScorpio]

37. Right, and all singularly derived from a white person's point of view, of course

Which, pretty much, is part of the problem.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. things that involve people of all races every day.....

OK where are the accounts of any race other than black being subjected to this much harrassment? If my friend and I went into a Starbucks I seriously doubt if anyone would even approach us if we waited to order until our friend arrived much less call a policeman.

A white woman would not have been questioned about napping in a commons room at Yale

[EffieBlack]

39. Speaking of "known facts," you've conveniently skipped a few.

Let me help you out:

What would happen if you and your friend refused to leave a private business upon request?

Known Fact: Starbucks isn't a "private business." It's a public accommodation and once the public is invited, they are allowed to stay as long as they follow the posted rules of the establishment. Known Fact: Starbucks had no rule that people must buy something within 2 minutes of entering the restaurant, therefore the manager had not legal authority to request that they leave.

Oh, and another Known Fact: the manager never actually asked them to leave. She just called the police on them.

What would happen if the two women had not gotten into a confrontation over breaking the rules?

Known Fact: The women were not accused of "breaking the rules." The women accused the restaurant of not following ITS own rules. Known Fact: Confrontations require two parties. The restaurant manager confronted the women, not vice versa.

Bonus Question: What would have happened if the restaurant staff hadn't gotten into a confrontation over breaking their OWN rules.

What happens when white women back their car into police officers?

Care to elaborate with some known facts?

[ismnotwasm]

44. I KNOW a white crackhead who backed into a police car

After threatening several people with a knife. He then drove off like nothing happened. Cops mildly arrested him a block away. He was out the next day. Cops knew his ass.

[EffieBlack]

48. And 9 times of 10, white mass shooters are taken alive UNLESS they kill THEMSELVES

Meanwhile, innocent black people minding their own business are shot in their own backyards because the cops got skeered.

[ismnotwasm]

56. Its infuriating

And disgusting. There is no reason to treat people differently, and cops themselves don’t think they do it, so there is a shirt on of denial going on.

I remember in Seattle, way before BLM I’d hear about a police shooting and I’d think “don't let it be another black man”—which is fucked up. Seattle PD got into trouble for using “excessive force”, but the Feds claimed no racial bias. Anecdotally, I can guarantee there was.

[IronLionZion]

17. Welcome to DU!

Are you enjoying your time here?

[irisblue]

23. ILZ

[LittleGirl]

34. Bless your god damn heart. eom

[ismnotwasm]

40. Bullshit.

[moriah]

46. Welcome to DU!

Enjoy your stay....

[Blue_Tires]

6. It's an extension of the backlash against us...

Last edited Thu May 10, 2018, 01:58 PM - Edit history (1)

And it is a laughably easy way to fuck with us with zero chance of ever facing any consequences...

It's humiliating AND dehumanizing and there's always the distinct possibility the situation will escalate to a tragic outcome...

[brush]

32. Yep, cowardly racists who call the cops on black people just living their lives...

so the cops can do their dirty work for them.

And they get off scot free even if the black person is even killed—Tamir Rice, John Crawford, and on and on and on and on.

There should be laws in place for consequences to be levied against these racist cowards.

[EffieBlack]

49. And then people claim the police HAD to arrest them because someone said they committed a crime

“Don’t blame me, blame that lady behind the tree ... who got scared because a black man, so she called the police and demanded I get him out of her sight.

[HipChick]

8. Emptying the trash..

Emptying the trash into the communal resident trash container, had the police called on me, because a neighbor thought "I didn't belong there"

[ismnotwasm]

9. K&R

[Solly Mack]

12. Checking in the hotel.

Personal experience with the police while checking in. Desk called police while we were checking in claiming the "wanted suspect" was at the location. We didn't know until the cops arrived.

Police were looking for a light-skinned, 5'2" suspect with dreadlocks.

Person with me is 6'5", close cropped natural, dark skin.

It took 1 hour - 1 hour - inside the lobby for the police to do their "due diligence", knowing the entire time who they were looking for - they even had a name. The police were not polite, not even civil.

We left and found somewhere else to stay.... but the look on the face of my friend.

[aeromanKC]

15. Trump has normalized White Nationalism

Today in America it's people of color, in another time it was Jewish people.

[IronLionZion]

16. Because they can't deport you

for me it's easier for them to just do the multi-generational perpetual foreigner H-1b BS and throw me out of my own country for stealing jobs away from entitled whites. It's harder for them to claim you were born in Kenya so they simply claim you're a criminal to let you know you don't belong here.

Either way, whether black or brown, if we get too uppity someone will come along and put us in our place.

[yellowdogintexas]

18. threatened with a gun and police called over a topoff of slush into a soft drink

when one has done this daily for a long time in front of the same cashier.

Man buys gas, goes in station while car is filling to get a soft drink from the fountain machine, tops off with a touch of slushie to keep it colder. Pays. Goes back to car to close the pump, gas cap, etc. and notices attendant shorted his gas. Goes back in to ask about that and attendant starts screaming at him about stealing the slushie and calls police. Man reminds him he does this daily and attendant has never mentioned it, plus he bought gas and paid for it. Attendant starts screaming at him, swings at him, spills the drink, and whenthe man asks him to refill the drink, attendant puts gun to the man's head.

This was on Facebook this morning. If I find it again I will post it..

Do you think a white person would have had these problem Police told him to just pay for a second drink, to avoid a citation or arrest.

[MrScorpio]

42. Jeezus.

[Mr.Bill]

20. How many of us who are white have been pulled over by a cop

and the cop's opening line is "Is this your car?"

[Takket]

27. Eating skittles.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. Existing while black. 2 things can be done: Enforce false report laws, & Sue police cmd & training.

[geardaddy]

31. K&R

[Lonestarblue]

36. The Republican Party has supported and extended racism for nearly forty years.

Beginning with Ronald Reagan and perfected by Nixon, every Republican presidential candidate has used the strategy of creating racial fear and hatred as a means of winning elections. Political operatives like Lee Atwater and Karl Rove saw a way to turn people against those who more typically voted for Democrats. They did not care about consequences, only electoral results. From Reagan’s welfare queen driving a Cadillac to Nixon’s War on Drugs to Trump’s recent claim that people are cheating on the SNAP program and living better than those who are working hard, the goal has been to create an underclass of people who are not deserving of the economic and societal benefits enjoyed by white Republicans because they have not earned such rights and benefits. Unfortunately, I see no real solutions in the short term because Republicans and their right-wing radio shills will continue to sow racial discord so long as those tactics win elections for them. The only thing I can think to do is to apply the “if you see something, say something” message in a different way. If you see a person of color or a religious minority being targeted by another person, speak up for that person. If more of us stand up and say this is not acceptable, perhaps we can start changing some of these situations. Of course, that won’t apply in too many cases, like being stopped for driving while black or checking out of an AirBnB rental.

[EffieBlack]

41. True - but when Democrats defend and explain away this behavior, we have a lot of work to do right

here in our midst.

[HipChick]

43. Spot on..

[Lonestarblue]

57. Just sharing, not defending at all because it's indefensible.

I know a number of Republicans who do not even know the racist history of their own party and they vote Republican because that’s what they’ve always done. Some of them might care about party tactics, but some of them wouldn’t. How do you educate those who do care but don’t really pay enough attention to politics to see through the rhetoric to the racist attitudes and policies beneath?

[RedSpartan]

45. The worst one of all: "Being President while black."

It seemingly drove a good portion of the country insane with rage, including our current chief executive, Dolt 45.

[MrScorpio]

47. Yep, look at the accusation that Obama made racism worse in America

When we all know that his only crime was triggering white bigots with his own blackness.

[nolabear]

51. I'm struck by how many women have instigated these.

It’s awful to contemplate how women are revealing their own racism through passive aggressive acts. It’s ironic in that it accepts the unfair restrictions these very acts place not only on minorities but on the women themselves. It’s cowardly in an incredibly sad way.

[haele]

53. Most women who buy into U.S. conservitivism are passive agressive to begin with.

They trade their agency and personal responsibility to be able to enjoy the security and "benefits" of being taken care of by their husband(s), paternal relatives or church. All they have to do is put up with their menfolk, keep a good home, and always be compliant...
And when they find out how god-awfully miserable and restrictive their lives are if they are to be "Good Women" kept by their man, they can become viciously mean to anyone they consider either socially below them - or unprotected by some other man.

When women like that feel the urge to strike out, but are afraid of at least half the people in their lives, any creature they consider beneath them is fair game.

Haele

[Lars39]

60. That is the best description I've ever read about that.

Thank you, haele.

[EffieBlack]

55. It's the latest permutation of a long pattern of black men having their lives put in danger

because a white woman pointed her finger at him and said, "THAT one."

[nolabear]

58. It is. But it also lets them dominate other women.

Quite a few of these have been leveled at women. I guarantee if my white bodied, white haired friends and I slept in public, spent hours in Walmart, complained about the napkins, barbecued in a park or took EVERY damn thing out of an AirBnB the neighbors would be bringing us sponge cake and asking if we needed a hand.

[Gothmog]

52. I was on a jury for a DWI case where the defendant will "driving" while black

My father was killed in a DWI and when I found out what type of case that I was on the jury panel for, I announced this. I thought that I was safe for sure. Most people do not want a lawyer on a jury panel and I announced that I had issues with DWI due to the death of my dad. I was surprised when I was put onto the jury.

It seems that the defense counsel wanted me on the jury because he had a great probable cause defense because the defendant was pulled over for "not belonging" in that neighborhood. The Defendant was African American and the arresting officer pulled the defendant over for "driving while black" in a white neighborhood.

The trial lasted two days before the judge took the case away. This was in 1995 and I learned that the breath meters are not that accurate if the defendant is 135 pounds and very fit. The defendant blew the bare minimum for DWI but the machine was designed for someone who is much larger.

The defense counsel apologized to me afterwards. I agreed that he had a great probable cause argument and that a white liberal Jewish Democratic Lawyer was a good juror for his case.

[raven mad]

59. I remember this white sheriff in Brevard County, Florida

I'd stopped my horse to talk with a friend who was tending his carrots - my Stoney loved that!

Cop asked if he was giving me trouble. I said, no, the horse is always like that................

He wanted to hassle my friend while planting.

So. Farming While Black goes on this list - the pig (and he was one) would have.