Pulled Over: Driving While Young and Black

My son was profiled by the police but it was a needed reminder.

I am writing this from an angry state of mind. I am a black man in America, raising two black sons. I am angry because I am fearful for them in our country.

I must teach my children the same lesson taught in most black households. We must sit them down and educate them on who they are and warn them about the police, who subscribe to a mantra which doesn’t apply to me equally: serve and protect. The police serve to murder my lineage and to protect white power.

We cannot exist in public spaces without whites calling the police. A child can’t sell bottled water, or black men can’t barbecue in a park in a country built on the words “the land of the free” without police interference. I was reminded of who I was when the police recently profiled my son. Black drivers are twice as likely to be pulled over by the police than white drivers.

An education in inequality.

Inequality is a poison that is destroying livelihoods, stripping families of dignity, and splitting communities. Sharan Burrow

A few days ago, my oldest son was followed home by the police. He was returning home from picking up lunch. He was surprised to see a police officer behind him. The officer came to the car and informed my son he ran a stop sign. He said he didn’t.

My son later told me he was agitated because he didn’t run the stop sign. Furthermore, his friend was a witness.

My son is over 6 feet tall and wears dreadlocks. They are long enough to touch his shoulder. He fits the description of countless young African American men in this country, and because of that, he is a threat. He spoke to the officer about the situation, but in the course of the conversation, the officer requested two more squad cars. For a kid with a burger and fries sitting on his lap, he needed backup. Something countless other American do without trepidation, but my son is a target as soon as he sits foot out the door and nestles himself behind the wheel of an automobile.

This racist and biased behavior reinforces the distrust of police in the Black community. It causes us to eye the police with suspicion and not see them as community members or friends.

This officer dismissed my son with a warning, but not before he and his fellow officers joked with my son’s white friend. You see, it was a priority to create a relaxed atmosphere for his Caucasian friend. However, my son was only another potential black criminal to them.

This racist and biased behavior reinforces the distrust of police in the Black community. It causes us to eye the police with suspicion and not see them as community members or friends.

We cannot exist freely in America. We cannot go to a fast-food restaurant without the possibility of the police pulling us over. It destroys our dignity and creates a feeling of not being wanted in a country we built with the blood of our ancestors.

My son called me in tears because of his experience. He felt undervalued and not a member of the community at large. He watched as his friend was made at ease while he sat there afraid and confused.

America isn’t the land of the free. If anything exemplified this fact, it’s Ava Duverney’s masterpiece “When They See Us.”

When they don’t see us.

I think it is very important that films make people look at what they’ve forgotten. Spike Lee

Ava Duverney’s film reminded the American people about the devaluing of African American life. We watched as five black teens were stripped of their humanity and treated like slaves. Confessions were coerced out of children who didn’t deserve the treatment inflicted on them. However, the police didn’t see children- only black criminals.

Our criminal justice system is dysfunctional and disproportionally affects African Americans and Hispanics.

There is a 31 percent decline in African American incarceration rates according to the Pew Research Center. However, according to the same research, African Americans make up 12 percent of the U.S population but 33 percent of the prison population. Furthermore, there were 1549 African American prisoners for every 100, 000, while the white rate was 272 for every 100,000. Hispanic were 823 prisoners for every 100,000. As you can see, there are still significant disparities and much work yet to be done.

The damage inflicted on the “Central Park Five” cannot be erased by exoneration or monetary compensation. The years lost languishing in prison cannot be refunded. Their memories of abuse at the hands of cruel guards and police won’t disappear.“When They See Us” served several purposes, and one of the main takeaways is that the justice system and police practices are rigged against minorities.

We must do better.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

As stated at the beginning of this article, I was angry, but I decided not to move in anger. Instead, I used the experience as a reminder to my son about his position in America. I want to ingrain in his very soul that his skin color will sometimes trump his success in life. Stamped on America’s history are racism and inequality, and until we acknowledge it as a country, it will pollute our national story like cancer.

We need love for our fellow man. We must defeat the crippling monsters of racism, sexism, homophobia, and intolerance. They can’t win and even in the darkest days of the Civil Rights Movement and the intolerance exemplified at Stonewall activist kept fighting with the mighty sword of love for equal treatment.

I could remain angry and curse the police. However, I must rise above my anger and teach my sons how to survive in America and lead with love and compassion. Hate solves nothing for global humanity. However, love can cure our ills, but we must practice loving each other before we can truly change America and the world.