# Living while black in America **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 9, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611 "2018-07-09T21:17:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/101 "2018-07-10T19:30:39Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > How does the article support the claim that the caller was “white”? The third link shows a picture of the woman who called the police, dipshit. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/102 "2018-07-10T19:31:41Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > What would you expect the campus police to do? Tell her to go to her room? Arrest her for sleeping while being black? On my campus, I would expect the campus police to check her I.D. and confirm she was a student. Then they would say, “Thank you for your cooperation, mam. Unfortunately, because of the problems we have had with people living illegally in the dorms we have to check out situations like this.” The next day an RA (resident advisor) would probably go around reminding everybody on that floor or pod that security rules are there for everyone’s benefit and that if you don’t want to woken up by campus police after midnight and asked to show your I.D., sleep in your bedroom, not the common area. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/103 "2018-07-10T19:41:12Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Have you never nodded off unintentionally? Not in a common area like that or anywhere at a university unless it was bedroom or study cubicle with a lock on the door. Anything else is would be unsafe. On a lot of campuses illegal use of the dorms and other buildings (people camping our or living in buildings) is a serious problem that only exacerbates crimes of theft and sexual assault. Creating a safe campus is everybody’s responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/104 "2018-07-10T19:49:14Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > "Woman wears a Puerto Rico shirt. > > A man confronts her for wearing it, repeatedly approaches her within a couple feet, and questions her citizenship. > > When the woman pleads for a nearby police officer to keep the man back from her, he ignores her." > > [https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1016412423278825474/video/1](https://t.co/0YwG1rIuSl) This is absolutely outrageous. Drunk racist assholes are going to be drunk racist assholes. The officer’s inaction, though, is heartbreaking. I see that he’s been assigned to desk duty pending an investigation. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/105 "2018-07-10T19:52:52Z")
Well good for you. It doesn’t sound like much of a shared space or common area though if one person can dictate to everyone else to never nod off or I guess even rest your eyes for a minute while studying. I’m glad I didn’t go to your university, sounds like a pretty uncomfortable place to exist with all the entitlement attitude towards what is supposed to be shared space. When I was in school I’d see people relaxing all over the place in shared and common areas of the campus, and some were _gasp_ laying down, or had their heads down on study cubicles. Not sure how I survived. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/106 "2018-07-10T19:55:55Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > This is absolutely outrageous. > > Drunk racist assholes are going to be drunk racist assholes. The officer’s inaction, though, is heartbreaking. > > I see that he’s been assigned to desk duty pending an investigation. Yeah we see stories like this drunk asshole accosting people all the time these days sadly, but the officer doing nothing makes me sick. He’s complicit in my mind. We don’t need that kind of person protecting and serving us. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/107 "2018-07-10T20:03:36Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Not in a common room, it doesn’t. I dunno. It’s been a thousand years since I was at university, but in my experience, the common areas were largely used for socializing. At the state university, the boys lived in one wing, the girls in the other. The lounge was in between. It had a tv, as well. We used to watch tv before lunch _Big Valley_, in the late afternoon _Jeopardy_, and before dinner _M_A_S_H\*. There were mixers on Saturday nights. People occasionally brought a textbook to the lounge with them, but studying wasn’t exactly the priority. Sleeping would have been odd, if not impossible. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/108 "2018-07-10T20:05:54Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > I dunno. It’s been a thousand years since I was at university, but in my experience, the common areas were largely used for socializing. > > At the state university, the boys lived in one wing, the girls in the other. The lounge was in between. It had a tv, as well. We used to watch tv before lunch _Big Valley_, in the late afternoon _Jeopardy_, and before dinner _M_A_S_H\*. There were mixers on Saturday nights. People occasionally brought a textbook to the lounge with them, but studying wasn’t exactly the priority. > > Sleeping would have been odd, if not impossible. > > YMMV. I mean sleeping in the common room doesn’t imply they are directing others not to make a lot of noise around them. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/109 "2018-07-10T20:06:25Z")
Why can’t people just stop calling the cops for petty stuff like this. Not every human needs to conform to what you feel is correct behavior. Where did people learn this idea that just because someone isn’t doing what I want them to do that I need to call the police? This seems like a pretty new phenomenon and the only word that keeps coming to mind is entitlement. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/110 "2018-07-10T20:07:52Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Well good for you. It doesn’t sound like much of a shared space or common area though if one person can dictate to everyone else to never nod off or I guess even rest your eyes for a minute while studying. I’m glad I didn’t go to your university, sounds like a pretty uncomfortable place to exist with all the entitlement attitude towards what is supposed to be shared space. When I was in school I’d see people relaxing all over the place in shared and common areas of the campus, and some were _gasp_ laying down, or had their heads down on study cubicles. Not sure how I survived. This incident happened at 1:30 a.m. at night not a time when most people are just nodding off accidentally as they go about their regular day. Someone sleeping in a dorms common area at 1:30 a.m. is the kind of them that merits a cursory check. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/111 "2018-07-10T20:09:25Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > This incident happened at 1:30 a.m. at night not a time when most people are just nodding off accidentally as they go about their regular day. Someone sleeping in a dorms common area at 1:30 a.m. is the kind of them that merits a cursory check. Why? Are they vandalizing stuff in their sleep? Sleep-arsoning? Snoring too loud? Black? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/112 "2018-07-10T20:10:37Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Yeah we see stories like this drunk asshole accosting people all the time these days sadly, but the officer doing nothing makes me sick. He’s complicit in my mind. We don’t need that kind of person protecting and serving us. The Cook County Forest Preserve officer is under investigation now, which is nice. > **[Officer Under Investigation, Man Charged After Video Shows Woman Harassed...](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/puerto-rico-shirt-irizarry-video-viral-chicago-park-cook-county/2037747/)** > > A Cook County Forest Preserve police officer is under investigation after video appeared to show him ignoring a woman’s pleas for help as a man berated her for wearing a Puerto Rico shirt last month during a birthday party at an area park, according... I didn’t realize that this was in Chicago at first and Caldwell Woods is just a short hop from my house. It distresses me to see this where I live, and I know this area isn’t immune to racism, of course. I have a cop that’s very close to my family who’s racist. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/113 "2018-07-10T20:10:47Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > This incident happened at 1:30 a.m. at night not a time when most people are just nodding off accidentally as they go about their regular day. Someone sleeping in a dorms common area at 1:30 a.m. is the kind of them that merits a cursory check. Like waking them up and asking if they are OK? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/114 "2018-07-10T20:11:16Z")
In my dorm days, falling asleep on the couch in the common rooms was incredibly common and barely remarked on. No one felt any need to be quiet around them. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/115 "2018-07-10T20:14:50Z")
You’ve never pulled an all-nighter studying before a big test? Maybe she thought she’d have better luck staying up to study in the common area than in her bed, and ultimately succumbed to exhaustion. Maybe if people didn’t make so many assumptions this sort of thing wouldn’t happen so often. I also think there probably wouldn’t be a cursory check called in if it had been a blonde girl sleeping on the couch. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/116 "2018-07-10T20:16:49Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > The third link shows a picture of the woman who called the police, dipshit. Are we basing the claim of “white” on her skin appearance or assumptions about her heritage? Not sure, it’s confusing to me. What is the verdict from the race realist community? ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/117 "2018-07-10T20:18:36Z")
:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/118 "2018-07-10T20:20:19Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > A student who should have gone to her dorm room to take a nap rather than, monopolizing what is supposed to be a shared space by camping out in the dorm common area. You better sit down while I tell you this. A lot of college students are having sex with other people. And if the person they’re having sex with isn’t their roommate, then they’re probably going to ask their roommate to go hang out somewhere else for a couple of hours. So people end up camping out in the dorm common area. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/119 "2018-07-10T20:24:39Z")
Just what the board needed, a place where those obsessed with racism and racists themselves can work themselves up to a fine frenzy without annoying everyone else. Thank you, **Huey Freeman** , an inspired idea! ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/120 "2018-07-10T20:32:15Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > Why can’t people just stop calling the cops for petty stuff like this. Not every human needs to conform to what you feel is correct behavior. Where did people learn this idea that just because someone isn’t doing what I want them to do that I need to call the police? This seems like a pretty new phenomenon and the only word that keeps coming to mind is entitlement. Because sometimes it isn’t petty stuff. Sometimes it is the symptom of serious problems. The Circulation Desk at my library keeps a number of photographs behind the desk counter so the staff can keep an eye out for people who are banned from the library. Some of these are people (some of them are sex offenders and other ex-cons) who have been caught “living” in the library. By that I mean they are homeless people who have been caught in the library after closing hours. It’s sad that they have no place to go, but we can’t let them use our building for a shelter either. In our dorms there are similar problems with students letting friends stay with them. I’m not talking about a friend staying the night or the weekend with another friend, but someone staying for weeks or even months. Someone the university doesn’t know is there and knows nothing about. With even the most basic dorm rental agreement there is usually a contact number or two and some basic information that can be of use to RAs and dorm management if there are problems. When so many people live together you kind of have to police each other in case what someone’s idea of good friend and trustworthy person is turns out to be laughably or tragically wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611.md?page=7)