General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Officer Salamoni put his gun to Alton Sterling's head and said, "I'll kill you, bitch." [View all]robersl
(83 posts)I think about this all the time, yet I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for people of color in this country to interact with the police.
Philando Castile gets pulled over for a taillight. He tells the officer he has a registered gun in the car, and then, apparently thinking he has established the fact that he has no intention of harming the officer or causing trouble, he reaches to pull out his driver's license.
The officer sees "black", hears "gun", then sees a reach for the pocket, and suddenly he draws his weapon and kills him.
The amount of strategy, pre-calculation and reading of the situation that needs to be applied by a person of color in order to survive a traffic stop is mind-boggling. Add to that the fact that, with all these stories and videos in the news, anybody will be nervous when an interaction with the police ensues, and when you're already nervous, the chances of you making a "miscalculation" go up significantly.
Nobody should have to live with this kind of terror hanging over them every time they leave the house.