2022-05-24 - 3:09 p.m.
I honestly think we are going to see MORE stories like this BEFORE racial profiling is mitigated.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/alabama-pastor-arrested-after-watering-neighbor-s-plants/vi-AAXDQDA?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=46b7c010d3304a578720865ea74ff485&category=foryou
Why?
Because Black folks are sick and tired of having to pander to white supremacist power when there are some cops racial profiling that then use authority to make unreasonable demands.
Blacks have been taught they MUST be conciliatory and quiet and show that they are not going to be resistant by being POLITE and COMPLIANT with even the most ridiculous unreasonable requests of those in authority.
FOR YEARS black and brown Americans have been TRAINED to accept behavior that does demand they do things that are NOT Reasonable.
They are trained to comply with all sorts of demands and if they do not are then arrested for resisting arrest or so called disorderly conduct.
I think Black and Brown Americans are fed up with this and MANY Are willing to actually be arrested under nonsense charges in order to expose the Power PLAYS and actual nonsensical demands and conditions in which they are racially profiled and demanded compliance by police.
Frankly I think the more we see the exposure of fear based racial profiling and challenges made to it; the more things may change. I feel like that may be what it takes-
for black and brown Americans en masse to say "NO" at EVERY moment of someone attempting abuse of power.
SURE that will create resistance and conflict at first- by the while folks who do not want any shift in their power.
But I think if consistently challenged such that racist actions are NOT pandered to there then will HAVE to be a change.
By compliantly cooperating when officers misuse power (even if in good faith just made a bad judgement call- and not intentionally racist still make a poor judgement call due to ingrained and frankly being TRAINED in systemically racist thinking- I mean if it were a white dude and then the officer was given the explanation he likely would have BELIEVED and then LISTENED to the caller who said "I made a mistake- Good to know its a neighbor! ") I think unfortunately the problem of profiling and systemic racism has actually gotten worse.
Its like the bully got more emboldened when not challenged.
That unfortunately is what happens with bullies. They don't STOP their bullying when not challenged. They ramp it up! They THRIVE on the control they have over others. They keep being dominant and destructive.
Our police forces nationally have become militarized and the bullies have been rewarded all too often rather than chastised when they were inappropriate in how they treated folks. The disparities of how they respond when one is black or brown being distinctly different in how they respond when one is white whom they find when they show up in response.
This was called attention to in Buffalo as the dispatcher who received the 911 call was not responding appropriately
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/05/20/911-dispatcher-buffalo-shooting-dlt-vpx.cnn
When I lived on Buffalo's West side and our house was vandalized with the GAS and WATER all turned on full blast. graffiti on the walls, I recall sitting on the porch after having returned home to find this-
FOR OVER TWO HOURS
as I waited for the police to respond to my call.
I lived in a Black neighborhood on Buffalo's West side.
Just blocks from my college, in walking distance.
When the officers arrived an Irish American officer said "What are you doing living here?"
and basically was apologetic it took them so long. It was clear he was apologizing because he did not know we were WHITE.
It was shocking to me.
After his initial apology and my shock and his saying "We didn't know you live her. We would have come sooner"
by saying
"What? What do you mean? Are you saying you would have come sooner if you KNEW we were white? That is what it sounds like you meant."
The officer then knew he had made a mistake and was visibly embarrassed actually....and backtracked. Said < "Oh no..that is not what I meant" but he could not articulate why he made the comment.
at first....
honestly I felt like he felt a bit of shame initially at being called out...
but then .... and It was not HIM... but the other officer who I recall LATER GRILLING ME
when within days I returned home from work to see our block BLOCKED off by The Fire Dept and police first responders to realized with shock it was OUR HOUSE
that had been set on fire.
We were lucky it had not been blown up the first time around; and lucky no one was in it when it was set on fire the 2nd time.
I was grilled with question after question about WHY I LIVED THERE...
and WHY WE WOULD BE TARGETED
as if it was not obvious why targeted.
Some folks were angry about Rodney King...
it was '91 and just days after the riots in L.A.
My housemates and I were the only white inhabitants on the street other than the old Italian couple that had lived there for years and the gay Italian musician partner who was the partner of his black partner who ALSO lived there for YEARS and who were accepted in the neighborhood.
We obviously only had trust of some immediate neighbors and a gang in the neighborhood was not welcoming us.
It was a startling experience. The grilling by the police was the 2nd shock after the house being set on fire. We are lucky it did not blow up.
That was 91
Its sad to me we have not progressed on this issue. It feels like we are still stuck.
At least there was no escalation of violence this time around so maybe that is progress. IN 91 violence was erupting in response to Rodney King verdict all over America. We heard about the LA riots but truth is there were eruptions in MANY cities and my experience was just one of the many manifestations of anger among Black communities.
At least in Buffalo the communities are gathering together to help each other.
Here is one org with direct impact.
They have been present in school and churches and other community groups to facilitate conversations to promote unity and understanding for years. They are active in the community hit hard by the recent racial massacre.
https://wnypeace.org/wp/2022/05/14/womens-march-food-drive/
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