Here's an example of my white male privilege.

[MineralMan]

I went out on a walk in the tiny little unincorporated town in California I lived in for 35 years. It was after midnight. I stopped in front of the little corner market a few blocks from my house to look at the bulletin board on the front wall of the store, since people posted things for sale and other stuff on it. There was a light shining on it. I had lived there for over 5 years at the time.

So, while I was doing that, a private security guy pulled up, parked and got out of his car and yelled, "FREEZE!" at me. I turned to look at him and he had his hand on his pistol. What did I do?

I looked the rent-a-cop guy in the eye and said, "What the fuck are you doing with your hand on your gun? Are you planning to shoot me for looking at the public bulletin on a store I patronize almost every day? What is wrong with you?"

He started in about me acting "suspiciously." I said, "How is looking at a well-lighted public bulletin board suspicious?"

He got back in his car and sped off down the street.

Why? Because I'm a white male. I can do things like that without worrying about some cop or other armed security person mistaking a pistol for a Taser and killing me.

Anyone who doesn't recognize their privilege needs to take another look at themselves.

[Aristus]

1. Same here.

I wasn't threatened with shooting, though.

I got busted righteously for speeding once, but while I was fumbling around for my proof of insurance, the cop said "Well, you look like a good guy and you're driving a nice car (No kidding! He actually said that!) so I'll let you off with a warning. Drive slower and drive safe."

Unbelievable.

If I had had brown skin, there's no way he would have done that...

[Haggard Celine]

7. So he would have given you a ticket

if you'd had a shitty car? Give tickets to the people who can least afford to pay them, then they get warrants out for failure to pay, and ultimately end up in the county jail so they can work off their fines in the privately run jail. This is an evil system and it needs to change.

[Aristus]

8. That's for sure...

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Probably, had he been black and in a shitty car, he'd get a ticket. Black and in a nice car,

he'd have been asked to get out of the car and would have to prove that he actually owned said nice car.

[Haggard Celine]

22. That's true.

When I first heard about the military man in Virginia who was attacked by those cops, I knew that it was because he was driving that new car. A lot of these cops assume that any black man in a new car is a drug dealer or someone in a gang. They can't even differentiate between a person who is serving his country and some low-life pimp. All they see is color, and that's so awful about them.

[Solomon]

58. Nailed it 100 percent.

[TexasTowelie]

64. Not only that, but they appear to be somewhat color-blind.

The man in Virginia was wearing the khaki green military uniform. Usually I don't take any pleasure when I learn that someone is unemployed, but when the police officer was fired it did make me smile.

[DENVERPOPS]

35. There is nothing worse than a rent a cop

especially one some security company allow to be armed that shouldn't have been

[Hassin Bin Sober]

51. I had a cop walk up to the car singing "good morning to you"

I’m not lying. He was really singing.

I was hauling ass through town and didn’t even see him. Late for a meeting.

I was in a brand new expensive car wearing an expensive suit.

He went back to his car with my EXPIRED driver’s license. I figured I was in trouble.

He came back and gave me my expired license back and told me to slow down.

This was a south Chicago suburb. In the next down over where I worked I used to look out my office window watching black people with “10 fingers on the fender” all day long.

It was especially disheartening because a lot these people were most likely on their way to work at the big shopping malls two towns over. It was a pretty heavily traveled route from the south side of Chicago.

Oh and we hired, for security, a lot of these cops outside my window. They were racist fucking pigs.

[Karadeniz]

2. Yep! Double standards need to go...

[True Dough]

3. "Acting suspiciously"

is open to broad interpretation. That's a problem.

Drawing a firearm so quickly is an added problem. A big one.

Also, watch your language!

[MineralMan]

4. I generally watch my language on DU.

In other situations, I use language appropriately.

[Freddie]

5. My husband (white) got stopped for "gliding" through a stop sign

He had my car which has 2 car seats and a booster seat in it as I watch my grandkids. Cop saw a gray-haired guy in a car full of car seats (“my wife watches the grandkids”) and let him go.

[MineralMan]

9. Yeah. I one stopped at a traffic light, looked around, and drove on.

Blue lights behind me. I drove into the parking lot at the supermarket I was going to, very slowly and parked. The cop in the police car got out and walked up to my window. No gun. I said, "Brain fart. I was thinking about my mental shopping list and treated that traffic signal like a four-way stop sign."

The cops said, "That stuff happens." She then said, "Try to pay more attention to your driving." Then she drove off. Again, I was a white guy in his sixties who looked like Santa Claus. She didn't even ask for my DL or insurance.

White male privilege once again.

[Treefrog]

38. I never have seen anyone complain about getting out of a ticket until this thread.

I get your point, but I find this a bit disingenuous. I’ve gotten out of tickets too. I’ve also gotten tickets. I’ve never felt, “omg, there’s my white privilege at work.” I’ve just been glad as hell to avoid the fine. I really doubt you felt any guilt about getting out of that ticket. Funnily enough, I always knew if I got pulled over by a female cop, I was going to get the ticket. Men were easier to deal with. Of course, I was always polite, and I did what they asked. I find that goes a long way.

[Permanut]

50. I'm reading the point of the OP differently..

Not about getting a ticket or not getting a ticket, but about WHO gets a ticket and who doesn't.

[BlueMTexpat]

56. Exactly!

[Solomon]

59. Ok You were the one claiming Daunte Wright had a warrant for armed robbery.

Now you're complaining that some people can see white privilege at work.

[MineralMan]

71. I got out of the ticket because I'm an old white man.

You appear to be missing the point of this thread. Had I been black, it would have been different.

[RKP5637]

6. Fortunately he did not taser you or pepper spray you to near death!!!

Yep, black guy would have been potentially dead. So many cops are outrageous assholes.

[misanthrope]

10. That was why when I would go walk at night

I always made sure to have my leashed dog with me. I've been stopped and strip searched just for walking in the past and I don't want to do that again.

[Luciferous]

61. We used to live in a very small town and my husband who worked nights would

walk home at like 2 or 3 am and the cops hassled him a couple of times just because he was walking at night. Since it was a small town eventually they all recognized him and it stopped.

[elleng]

11. 'He got back in his car and sped off down the street. Why?'

because he realized he had no reason to do what it appeared he was about to do, he was/is un-trained, inexperienced, and bored.

[MineralMan]

13. He got fired shortly after that.

I called the security company, reported the incident, and also told the owners of that small market what had happened. They called as well. They were paying a monthly fee to the security company, as were other businesses in that small town downtown area. They were shocked and alarmed that such at thing could happen.

[elleng]

14. Good.

Thanks

[BradAllison]

63. He realized he fucked up, and MM's response by calling the security company proved it.

He saw that that MM wasn't going to be intimidated so he busted tail out of there.

[Mr.Bill]

12. If you are white, ask yourself this question:

Have you ever been pulled over and when the cop walks up to your car, was the first thing they ask you "Is this your car?" I know black people who say this is common. Never happened to me.

[MineralMan]

15. Nope. Never happened to me, either.

[elleng]

17. Never, of course;

I'm a white woman, senior, and the only thing people wonder is why my car is STILL on the road, as it's 28 years old!

[Ms. Toad]

20. It's happens to me relatively frequently and

The pattern I'm familar with is that I get pulled over, while they run my license plate I pull out my driver's license and I offer it to them as they walk up to my car.

They glance at it - and depending on which car I'm driving, they ask me if it is my car - since the name on my driver's license doesn't match the name on the car registration if I am driving my spouse's or daughter's car.

But when I am driving my daughter's or spouse's car it is, generally, the first question they ask me. But it is triggered by a mismatch between the driver's license (which offer as they approach) and the car license plate.

[Mr.Bill]

21. Interesting.

Most of the black people I was talking about were driving very nice/expensive cars, like Corvettes or Mercedes Benzes.

[Ms. Toad]

23. And I'm usually driving a beater.

My car is a 2003 car. My spouse's and daughter's are a bit younger - but both are at least 10 years older.

I get stopped much more frequently than I used to because I'm frequently driving home at bar-closing time (2 AM). I am being profiled - but not based on race. I have discovered that (at least in my area) police officers are far more likely to stop cars at that time of day, expecting many of those on the road to be drunk. I was stopped 3 times in one week for erratic driving. It is possible I was tired and weaving within my lane the first time - but after the first time, and especially after the second time, I was paranoid and being extraordinary careful about driving in a straight line. And - I never get stopped any other time. I've literally had 2 tickets in 49 years of driving (and none of my "erratic driving" ever warranted a ticket - once they discovered I didn't smell like I had just rolled out of a bar).

And - in my case the question about car ownership is clearly triggered by an unexpected name on my driver's license - t is not based on a stereotypical assumption (based on no evidence) that I'm driving a car that I stole.

[Mr.Bill]

24. I know what you mean about being stopped at that hour.

I used to have a job where I often got off work around that hour. I had to drive through the town of San Carlos, CA and in a few months I was pulled over nine times. Of course, having just got off work I was always sober. Never got a ticket, but I finally made a complaint to the internal affairs office at the local PD and I stopped getting pulled over.

[Ms. Toad]

27. It's different communities that are stopping me.

I drive through three different policing jurisdictions. After the second time I even shifted my route home - to no avail. But it means I don't have a single jurisdiction to complain to.

[Jilly_in_VA]

37. My son-in-law has

He's a big Nuyorican guy who climbs cell towers for a living. He frequently drives company trucks which are usually nice ones. He gets stopped in small southern towns even though he is a very careful driver, because of course a brown guy couldn't possibly own such a nice truck (a lot of them aren't marked) so it must be stolen or something. Even if the trucks are marked he must have stolen them. And of course those idiots can't tell a Mexican from a Puerto Rican from a Guatemalan etc. It gets old sometimes.

[Treefrog]

39. No, but every time I've been pulled over they ask for license, registration and insurance.

That lets them know who owns the car right there and then.

[Mr.Bill]

43. What I'm talking about, and what black friends have told me

is that question being the first thing they say.

[meadowlander]

53. I'm white and in almost 30 years of driving I've only been pulled over once

for driving with New Jersey plates in Oklahoma. The cop didn't even pretend that there was an actual reason for pulling me over. He just checked my license and registration (and probably skin color) and sent me on my way. Suspect that's a whole other kettle of profiling that goes on and since it was 3 am and I don't think he could see me before he pulled me over the thought process was probably New Jersey = urban = black = let's see what's going on here.

[Jon King]

18. My white guy story....

Just one of them....at age 19 was heading up to college when I wizzed by a cop going about 80 mph in 55 mph zone. I saw in my rear view that he pulled out to stop me. Decided it would be a great idea to try to lose him. So i sped up and passed a bunch of cars, zipping in and out of traffic. But soon realized he was also passing them. So eventually I decided to just pull over. The cop came up to the window and said "if I did not know better I would have thought you were trying to lose me!". He then let me off with a warning.

Somehow I doubt it would have gone the same way for a black teenager.

[brush]

19. Keep posting, MM. We need your wisdom and perspective.

[YoshidaYui]

25. I haven't gotten my shot yet, but when I do I will want to get out ...

if just to be driven around town... but I will have to go with a friend, someone who I know will step in if there is a problem...

[whathehell]

26. Um, and here's another: You can actually GO outside at Midnight

with little fear of being raped and killed!

Male privilege...Must be nice.

[MineralMan]

33. That is true. The thing about privilege is

that it is unearned. I was born a white male. I recognize my privilege and know that others were born without it.

[whathehell]

34. Yes, and when we have privilege, be it of gender or race, we should

work to eliminate it.

[MineralMan]

44. Yes, exactly.

[Treefrog]

40. Very well spotted.

Reading that post, I was trying to imagine myself out at midnight reading a bulletin board. Nope, never have.

[whathehell]

55. Thanks...

I appreciate it.

[calimary]

46. Excellent point.

[whathehell]

54. Thanks, Calimary.

[BobTheSubgenius]

29. Very, VERY similar to my "traffic stop" analogy, and absolutely spot on.

You have self-awareness, and situational awareness. Good on you!

[paleotn]

31. No doubt in my mind.

It exists, it's evil and it needs to stop! And as a white, male, oh the stories I can tell....

As a teenager, I blew through a speed trap set up by two motorcycle officers in my rather white suburb. Not paying attention, I just below right through and didn't even attempt to pull over. Cop came after me all in a huff. Told me in no uncertain terms "when a police officer tells you to pull over, you better pull over!" Chatted about where I was going (to work), where I went to school (local high school), who I knew there (yea, I know so and so) and on and on, then told me to slow down and drive safely in our rather white suburb and sent me on my way. No ticket. Never even asked me for my license. Early 1980's. My first really memorable brush with white, male privilege.

[Bluepinky]

32. As a white female, I have benefited over the years from white privilege.

During my many years of driving, I have probably been stopped by police six times for driving above the speed limit. Never once was I asked to get out of the car, handcuffed or arrested. It was always a polite, relatively fast encounter.

I enjoy walking with my leashed dog at night in my quiet, somewhat rural neighborhood. There’s a police officer who lives about a mile from my house, and a couple of years ago, I changed my walking route to include walking by his house. If I’m out walking around 10 pm, I would see his car drive by, going to his house. One of the first times he saw me, he stopped his state police cruiser and asked why I was out at night; I looked at him and said, “Aren’t I allowed to walk at night?” (I had my dog with me). He didn’t really say much and continued on his way. Had I been a black male, I don’t think any of my encounters with police would have gone so smoothly.

[Evolve Dammit]

36. Excellent example. And WTF was the "security" guard doing except being a paranoid a-hole??

[mcar]

41. When my sons started driving I

told them to always be polite to law enforcement if they get pulled over -- and to always be thankful that being pulled over wouldn't be a potential death sentence.

[Jilly_in_VA]

42. White female privilege

Got flagged for not stopping at a stop sign (I not only had, I'd looked both ways before I turned!) by a cop who must not have been paying attention. However, the cop saw the hospital parking tag on my rearview mirror and asked me which hospital I worked at. I told him and he let me go with a warning. The next year I was driving home New Year's Eve after working the 3-11 shift when I came upon a roadblock, one of those "let's weed out the drunks before the accident" ones. Cop shines his flashlight in my car, takes one look at my scrubs, asks me if I just got off work. I tell him yes, he grins and says "You haven't had time to get drunk yet." and waves me on through. The next year, same thing but in a different place. Cop doesn't even stop me, sees my hospital parking pass and waves me on through. Not only WFP but nurse privilege, I guess. He didn't even stop me to ask if I'd been at work.

[Mr.Bill]

69. My wife is a retired nurse who, shall we say,

is not very observant of speed limits. We live in a small town, and from her time in the ER, just about every cop in the county knew her. Pulled over many times, never got a ticket.

[Jilly_in_VA]

72. Cops and ER nurses

have a thing going on, especially in smaller towns. I know. I used to sub in down in a smaller ER from my ICU job in one place. Small town, small hospital. Cops would come in just to hang out. Yeesh!

[Ferrets are Cool]

45. Thank you for posting this MM

[McCamy Taylor]

47. And white blonde female privilege is even worse.

When I am out at night, cops try to protect me.

[malaise]

48. Tell them MM

Last week a DUer posted an amazing video with a man who was stopped by cops and how he refused to tell them anything - told them he hadn't broken any law and didn't have to respond to them. He was white. Eventually they went on their way.

[liberalhistorian]

49. I'm a middle class white gal and

this is what I keep trying to get across to my 80-year-old mother and a few other white relatives. My mom always says she's never had a problem with police. Yes, BECAUSE you are a middle class white lady, and now an elderly one.

She has type 2 diabetes and a few years ago had extremely low sugar and almost had a blackout while driving. Her driving resembled someone who was drunk. When she was stopped, the cop was very solicitous and helpful right away. She was given the benefit of the doubt as an elderly white lady. I told her that had she been black, even an elderly black lady, chances were high that she wouldn't have had such an easy time of it at all. She still doesn't get it.

I'm hard of hearing and had difficulty once with a cop who stopped me for a moving violation and got really angry when I genuinely couldn't understand him; my fear and panic just made it worse. Had I been POC, it could have been far worse.

[fantase56]

52. I'm a lucky to be alive white guy.....

Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, ect..... Pulled over many times for expired this or that, no inspection sticker, excessive noise. Often attracted attention from law enforcement for being in the wrong place with the wrong people. Several times the Police pulled pulled a gun on me. If I was a person of color I'm pretty darn sure I'd have been dead several times over. Never made the connection back then that it was white privilege that most likely spared my pasty, mouthy canary ass.

[Woodwizard]

57. Back when I worked nights

At 2 AM for 3 nights a state trooper tailgated me for about 4 miles of my route home I am in the Catskills, lots of deer around some run in front of my truck I swerve lights come on, I pull over and I am pissed first time I ever snapped at a cop I said did you not see the deer? For 3 nights you have been tailgating me on my way home from work why? He actually was apologetic and I never saw him again. Yes I am white.

[Solomon]

60. A big example of white privilege is a white person can ask a cop questions.

Black people get a beat down for asking anything.

[dlk]

62. This security guard appears to be trigger-happy and a threat to your community

If he’s ready to draw his weapon over someone reading a public bulletin board, how would he react in an actual threatening situation?

[MineralMan]

65. Well, he got fired.

I reported his behavior to the security company, and informed the owners of the store, who also reported him.

He wasn't a cop...just a rent-a-cop security patrol worker. Many of those people are individuals who would like to be cops, but who don't qualify for one reason or another. They like their badge, gun, and illusion of having authority way more than that is safe for people who encounter them.

I have zero patience for such people, and consider them to be a danger.

My point with this thread was to point out the sharp discrepancy with how authoritarian types treat some groups, contrasted with other groups. Recognizing our own privilege can help us to understand how people without the same privilege feel and are treated. People with privilege are not faced with the same challenges from authoritarians.

That is wrong.

[dlk]

66. Without a doubt, there is a double standard

We are long overdue to rethink public safety and not just go for the quick and easy answer of hiring someone with a gun.

[arlyellowdog]

67. Don't count on it

Minorities have it way worse, but you got lucky. Teach your kids, no matter what race, not to count on it. If a cop comes, don’t mouth off, put your hands in the air. I was a 65 year old white woman who entered my next door neighbor’s house when his alarm went off and 2 cops had guns on me when I bent down to grab the dog from running out. A close teenage male relative got arrested because he mouthed off to a cop. Neither of us are dead, but it was close. Don’t count on any privilege. The cops are armed. It is way worse for minorities, but very parent has to have the talk with their kids. The world is crazy and the cops have guns.

[Locrian]

68. absolutely true...

it's getting worse and "disrespecting a cop" is now an offense punishable by death.

Anyone remember this guy?

[arlyellowdog]

70. Amen