Police Racism...Yes, Still Rampant.

The BBQ Pit
1

As my friends and I exited the Ataris concert the other night, it was interesting…in a city with so many African Americans, literally everyone who left was white (most with dyed hair and plaid, heh).

Whatever, innocent observation…so the big white crowd pours out, and it is a bunch of teenagers being loud and ridiculous and…well, teenaged. All of “us” are right in front of the concert building, waiting for rides and the such.

Right across the street, there is just one (literally one) group of people. Three or four black guys. They were just standing.

So a cop car goes by…and I can hear and see everything. The black guys didn’t do or say a thing, they were standing, a hell of a lot quieter and all than the concert crowd.

Well, a minute or two later, the same police car comes back up the road the other way…it pulls up to my side of the street, and the two cops leap out.

They pull their guns. They run up to the black men, start yelling, telling them to put their hands up, spread their legs and touch the wall, all that shit. The entire time, the black guys have these looks like “What the hell?”

Well, the cops finish jabbing the dudes with their guns and frisking them incessantly…and of course, the police find nothing suspicious at all, because the guys WEREN’T DOING ANYTHING!

Anything except not being white, of course…racism sucks. What other explanation is there?

2

Perhaps the group matched the description of a group wanted for a crime. Perhaps the group did something that the cops saw that you didn’t. Perhaps the cops thought they saw something but were mistaken. Perhaps the cops are a bunch of fucktards who were bored.

3

Clueless people jumping to conclusions…Yes, still rampant.

4

My first thought, too. Actually, I’ve been that guy who “matched the description” a couple times.

[sub]Well, no, I just looked like the guy who actually did commit the crime.[/sub]

5

You think racism sucks?

Why do you start threads like these then:

“Tyranny of the Minority”

“Tyranny of the Minority” II

Affirmitive Action…

Another N word thread.

Maybe you are genuinely trying to understand things, but you come across as a troll.

6

Enlightenment is my goal.

Perhaps the cops singled them out simply because of the color of their skin.

7

Anything except not being white, of course…racism sucks. What other explanation is there?
You were not right there were you? You were where? Across the street? You have no idea why the cops did what they did? yet you seem to make the assumption that the cops did something racist here, and you seem to have about 1% of the facts. You have no credibility here.

8

So have I.
Cop pulls me over, walks a semi-circle around my car with his hand on his gun, and stops and says nothing.

I look at him and ask “Do you want to see my license or something?”
He nods yes.
I slowly pull out my wallet from my coat, take out the license, and hold it out the window.
He finally steps forward, hand still on his gun, and looks at my license.
He then says, “Oh, I thought you looked like someone I knew didn’t have a license. You can leave now.”
WTF.

9

They might have been selling dope across the street.

10

I think we (white people) cant say the N world because we have used it in the past in ways which werent too nice.
Our N-Word privileges have been revoked

…saw it on Comedy Channel this morning.

11

Perhaps they were filming a movie or a new reality show.
Perhaps they were friends and just goofing around to freak you out.
Perhaps the blacks were police being trained how to handle an arrest.
Perhaps the police weren’t frisking them , but giving them back massages.
Perhaps I don’t understand Friedo’s point.

12

When did they cancel St. Patrick’s Day?

13

Kat, you beat me to the punch: From Basehead’s “Not in Kansas Anymore” album:

“My pride is racist people say,
yet no one minds St. Patricks Day.”

14

FTR, I’m a black who doesn’t believe it’s wrong for white people to be proud of their heritage. Most (ignorant, gorilla-rimming knee-jerking goat-felching fake-me-out liberal) people seem to equate whites being proud of their history with white supremacy. They’re different. Honest.

That said Sinful, I’m pretty sure that you might wanna get your knee checked. That jerk seemed pretty unwarranted in light of the (near total LACK of) information you gave us. I mean, how do you know they weren’t selling drugs the whole time you were in the concert?

15

His point was that there could be a number of legitimate reasons for the police action, reasons that did not include racism. Sinful jumped to a conclusion. Possible the correct conclusion, possible not. There is too much not known here to be sure of anything.

16

My friend and I call each other ‘cracka’ all the time, and nobody has been offended yet.

17

I just like to think of myself as the pasty pink in Og’s rainbow.

18

I don’t know,I think I’d be pretty freaked out too,if I’d witnessed that. She did say,that apparently the police found nothing. (i.e. no one was handcuffed and taken in) Maybe it’s just me,but the sight of more than one person,uniformed or not with guns drawn,obviously full of adrenaline would just plain spook me.

I’ve been stopped by the police a time or two in this town,with my goth friends. I’m a goth as well. (We don’t wear the freaky make-up every day,but we usually wear all black.) They pulled up behind us (we were on foot,it was after midnight,and I look like a teenager,and 2 of my friends were 18,and 19) asked us what we were doing,where we came from,where we were going,and ran our i.d.'s for warrents. (None found,of course.) Ok,although it’s a pain,and also verging on harassment (it happens all the time,and it’s a small town) it can still be explained because there is a town curfew. You think they’d be able to recognize us by now though. The city has a very small police force,and all of them have stopped us at one time or another.

There has been a time or two when this has gone too far,like the time the guy was a sheriff,and called for a backup squad car. (We were in the an alley beside the post office,half a block from my apartment building,taking a shortcut to a friend’s house.) Or the time the same sheriff stopped me a week later,on the doorstep of my apartment building,key in hand to ask me what I was doing. We’ve had cops “tail” us around town after September 11,because my husband wears a trench coat. Ok,so no one tried to mug us in broad daylight,walking down the city’s main street that day…:rolleyes: Yes,I realize they have certain “routes” to drive,no it was not his “route” he was following us.

The point I’m trying to make is,even though we fit the description of “dangerous troublemakers” the cop did not pull a gun,make us put our hands on the wall,and frisk us. He asked us our business,asked for our I.D.'s, checked them, found nothing wrong,and bade us a good evening.

Yes,the law enforcement here really does think goths are “dangerous”. The D.A.R.E. (an organization trying to keep youths off drugs and out of gangs) officer (who is a cop) teaches elementary school children that they are “violent” “Satanists” “depressed” “angry” and other irresponsible blanket statements. How do we know this? The little sister of my husband’s best friend got home from school one day,and told them both what the D.A.R.E. officer had said to her class.

19

Atars, that’s a club in Santa Barbara, right? Maybe the cops stopped because they thought they saw LA gang colors? It’s been known to happen and not just to blacks.

20

It’s not a club…

She went to see the Ataris in concert. They’re a popular group right now,their video is on MTV.