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A Victim of Racial Profiling
"It's a part of the DNA of our experience in the United States."
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By Anyi Howell
The first time I fit the description of a suspect, I was ten. A cop wanted to know if I had been with my uncle all day. The kid he was looking for was twelve, but I was his size, according to the officer, who drove off – but not before repeating, "Are you sure he's been with you all day?"
My uncle told me, "You're going to fit a lot more descriptions when you get older."
And the more I was stopped for conversations with police, the more I began to make adjustments in my life. I had to learn not to stand outside the house with nondescript cups, or ride four deep to the club. Some of my friends like to keep all the registration papers in their glove box ultra updated. Others get nervous about how many people in their backseats are wearing ballcaps.
For as long as the term racial profiling has been around, fools have been denying the phenomenon exists. But I contend every black man in America at some point will be racially profiled or harassed by the police. It's a part of the DNA of our experience in the United States.
(Poetry on tape)
Red, white and blue lights blaze the sky like it’s the fourth day of July
but it’s not the 4th day of July its a Friday night in the winter
f*ck firecrackers, these crackers fire at n****s
born black and your birth right is the fear of what the boys in black and blue do
you ain't even got to know what happened in the past to know what might happen to you
ANYI
One morning last spring, while I was parking my car at the BART train station, a police officer looked at me and ran my license plate. He entered a false number, and my Oldsmobile Royale Brougham 88 came back as a stolen Honda. So now, I’m a car thief. My friend Elmer and I weren't prepared for what happened next...
ELMER (on tape)
Our conversation was interrupted very rudely and abruptly. In the distant background, I hear a voice of a police officer saying everybody move aside and I turned around to see the barrel of this officer's handgun staring me down face to face and he tells me to step back and stand on the concrete.
(Poetry on tape)
Innately inserted into the black subconscious are three kings
You got Martin King, Don King and Rodney King
One spoke of the American dream, one lived the American dream and the other got put to sleep and thus had the American nightmare
ELMER (on tape)
He said, “Brothers like you, I know how y’all get down. Ya'll be in the streets, ya'll steal cars." He's not talking to us like citizens, you know, he's talking to us like we're convicted criminals that he's delivering to Massachusetts for multiple murders.
ANYI
The BART Police Officer realized his mistake on the triple check, and after embarrassing himself, he let us go. That wasn't the first time a police officer came at me sideways. But I was floored by the reality that an officer's simple mistake was enough for him to approach me at gunpoint.
(Poetry on tape)
And out of the night, sirens blare, lights flare up, I’m scared
But doubly terrified since realizing not everybody is as scared as I
Some people’s fears are a whole lot more subtle
"Oh my god, my parents are going to KILL me!"
Forget that - I'm worrying about this cop saving my parents that trouble
I talked to my dad about the situation at BART. Officers I've spoken to claim all their decisions are based on the descriptions they get, whether vague or extremely detailed. But that doesn't explain away my experiences, like a cop saying I was stopped because I was in a "high crime area." I'm not buying it, and neither is my father.
FATHER (on tape)
It's not right. There's other ways to handle what they do without making it appear like they're going after one segment of society.
ANYI
The situation is so bad, I know brothas who are putting magnets and stickers on their cars that read, "Support Our Troops" because they think displays of patriotism will stop them from getting profiled. That strategy would only work if you could slap a "caucasian" bumper sticker on your black self.
But please believe when I got my new car, I went to the auto parts store and bought a case of oil, transmission fluid, and a couple of American flags. You know, just to keep my car running.
(Poetry on tape)
Those lights flash and the blinding shine the flashlights
gimme flashback of blacks bashed in the midst of a black night
by black knight stripping blacks right out of their damn rights
feeling the nightsticks I measure the worth of a black life
and I aint just talkin’ about no Rodney King
Keep it real, Diallo’s story was as real to me as Radio Raheems’
ANYI
I remember in elementary school one Christmas season, a police officer visited a group of us kids dressed up as Santa Claus. We were taught police are people you can go to when you have a problem or when you see something wrong. But my experiences have taught me to classify the "friendly neighborhood police officer" with other mythical figures like the Tooth Fairy and Jolly Old St. Nick.
(Poetry on tape)
I don't wanna dishonor them all
because there are good ones I shouldn't blame
but I cant help but view cops the same way some cops view blacks
and therefore, them fools all look the same
I can’t tell the difference
Good cop, bad cop, that one, this one
All I think is black man trying to hit up the club
Police man trying to hit me with one
ANYI
When you go from being a black boy to a black man, you start to understand police will use deadly force on you. I could sneeze and get shot to death. I feel like I’m living in a bottle – constantly under pressure. While I understand that this is a dangerous world, where the most scandalous things take place, I wouldn’t call the police if I got robbed and beat. I don’t trust them. They don’t serve me and I know they won’t protect me. In fact, I’m the one to be protected from.
I’ve been handcuffed and let go several times. And the next time police harassment happens to me, I’m demanding a certificate of release. That means work for the officer – he’s got to document my detention and release. It means that I have a piece of paper in my hand proving what happened. More than just another story to add to my experiences with out-of-pocket police.
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