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My Husband is very respecful, law-abiding and always says yes sir and no sir. He wont be a problem. But Worries me ,for example, is the Professor at Harvard that got arrested on his own PORCH!!! I am terrified of things like that. Also on top of that, the history of racism in the state of Georgia. I am just nervous I guess....
The professor at Harvard was arrested because according to more than a few accounts (non-police as well), he immediately became belligerent when the police asked him for his I.D. so he could be identified as the home owner and not one of the perpetrators that someone had called in saying were at his home about to commit a crime. He refused to show his I.D. (again, from more than one account/repot), and immediately played the race card on the officers because they were White. He was Black and the call reported two suspicious Black males lurking around the home - it was the officer's duty to immediately identify the home owner from the crooks and/or their possible accomplices, and from the first second the so-called "respected" professor put up a fight and turned it into a media event.
As a side story - I once had to call the police because some kids were messing around my property. I'm White. The kids were White. When the police showed up (3 officers, all three were Black), I was asked to show my I.D. to show I was the guy who called. I was HAPPY to comply and be able to verify this so there wouldn't be any confusion. There wasn't any problem and later they caught one of the kids stealing from a neighbor's porch, as well. Had I started jumping up and down and saying, "You're picking on my because I'm White, where's a White officer???", I'm SURE the outcome of that transaction would have been VASTLY different, and not one to my liking, either. Yet, would I have been accurate after such a thing to say that the officers "singled me out because I was a White home owner"? No. It would have been because I acted like a jackass to a police officer who was trying to figure out a situation and help.
So let's not use the Boston experience to create paranoia and race-baiting about Gwinnett Police.
Facts in Atlanta metro: If three Black men with dreds are slowing driving through a neighborhood of million dollar homes at 1:00am, then the police are going to pull them over for "suspicious activity" and ask them questions. White, Black, or Hispanic officers will pull them over because yes, that would be an out of place thing to see typically in a neighborhood like that, and the officers would assume they were scoping out homes to burglarize (because gasp.. that actually does happen frequently in Atlanta - go figure).
On the flip-side, if a car of 3 White college aged kids were driving through a lower income predominately Black neighborhood, police officers of any race are going to immediately pull them over and question them, for suspicion of wanting to buy/sell/swap drugs because gasp again, that too happens frequently in the Atlanta metro area. Surprise.
Until we replace police with robots, then yes, we have to use humans. There are defective people in EVERY segment of the work force. White, Black, Hispanic.... there are racists of every shade. A handful of them are going to make it into the police force, and yes, somewhere, sometime, some sort of profiling does takes place. But it's not nearly as frequently as the cry wolf folks make it sound like, and if you are a law abiding citizen, you will be able to drive through any metro Atlanta county and not have to worry about being hauled away in chains because you dared to drive through their area and are a certain race/color. Mystery solved.
An UPDATE on that story (and other accounts of the incident) can be found HERE.
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 07-23-2009 at 11:06 AM..
My Husband is very respecful, law-abiding and always says yes sir and no sir. He wont be a problem. But Worries me ,for example, is the Professor at Harvard that got arrested on his own PORCH!!! I am terrified of things like that. Also on top of that, the history of racism in the state of Georgia. I am just nervous I guess....
I didn't have time yesterday to find out more about this case, and hadn't heard about it in detail until this morning. Now, as Greg said above, let's not make this out to be a racial profiling case. Your post, quoted above, makes it sound (to someone with no knowledge of the case) like some black Harvard professor was just sitting on his porch, enjoying the afternoon, when he was suddenly arrested for no reason. In reality, a neighbor saw him busting in the door to the house, and called the police, thinking the house was being robbed. I'd hope my neighbors would do the same for me, regardless of who was breaking down my front door.
Now that I've seen photos of this gentleman, I'd have to say there's something to the reports from the police regarding him getting belligerant with the officers, which led to his arrest. He's an older man with grey hair, who was dressed very well- not some 20 y/o kid with his pants around his ankles- so I doubt the police decided to arrest him just for "BDDWB" (that's "breaking down doors while black", in following along with the earlier concerns regarding "DWB"....lol).
For a closing thought on this thread, a blog post on the Dr. Gates case arrived in my email inbox today from my pastor, Greg Boyd. I felt this paragraph sums up my feelings on this manner very concisely, and I wanted to share it with my friends here at the C-D Atlanta Forum:
Quote:
"The thing is, if racial profiling is real, the last people who would ever know about it are white people such as myself! The only way we can expand our horizon — and the only way we can begin to bridge the racial divide between whites and blacks in our country and in the church — is for white people to humbly acknowledge that our experience is a myopic, privileged experience and to listen and learn from the experiences of people who in many respects continue to live in quite a different world."
If you are interested in reading the complete blog entry, it can be found at: Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries) / Blog Title: Dr. Gates Arrest & Racial Profiling
Woodland Hills Church is a member of the Baptist General Conference
Last edited by StPaulEastSider; 07-25-2009 at 11:34 PM..
I live in Suwanee and I've had my heart stop a few times, once I was texting, looked up and found a cop, ran through a couple of stop signs and cops were there, but no incidents yet. The fact that I look 16 might help.. LOL
For a closing thought on this thread, a blog post on the Dr. Gates case arrived in my email inbox today from my pastor, Greg Boyd. I felt this paragraph sums up my feelings on this manner very concisely, and I wanted to share it with my friends here at the C-D Atlanta Forum:
If you are interested in reading the complete blog entry, it can be found at: Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries) / Blog Title: Dr. Gates Arrest & Racial Profiling
Woodland Hills Church is a member of the Baptist General Conference
If this were a case of profiling, then the preacher's words would ring true. And in some cases somewhere, I'm sure they do. However, does he add in there that "anyone can behave the way they wish toward the police, and we must ignore it because their skin color is not the same as our own"?
I mean, everyone is focusing on the fact the Professor was black, but let's look at two things: First, ONE of the officers who participated in the arrest and who was on that porch was Black. He has already said from the first moment that everyone was handled by the book. Second, does anyone really think that if a white man went nuts on the police like that, that they would just ignore it? They wouldn't in my neck of the woods - I'd have cuff marks for weeks if I tried it. They make a point of talking about how he's older with a cane - anyone watch the news? Older men with canes have been known to open a door holding a two gauge shot gun when the police get to their homes. Age or even a physical handicap have nothing to do with the chance someone can be a criminal or nutcase waiting to harm others or the police.
I understand what the preacher's words are saying. In many areas of America Whites are the majority, and many have had little (or no) contact with other races, so they believe more stereotypes than reality. Boston however, isn't Mayberry or Cooterville. People from all over the world live there - the police are versed in it. This does not apply to that sermon. Either way, the OP isn't going to run across this in Gwinnett unless like in Boston, they ever call the police and immediately cop an attitude with them the moment they arrive. Gwinnett's demographics have radically changed over the last few years and it's not like the police there have never seen a black person or Mexican or for that matter, probably some Martians and Vulcans tossed in somewhere, too.
There's a solution to this which I've said before: If from now on the dispatchers ask for your race when you call, and then only assign officers to the call who are of your same race - problem solved. So, if you're black and are in need of officers, they can only send black officers to your home. Whites get white officers, Hispanics get Hispanic officers, and the various Asian races get matched with the same officer (if there is one) to fit them as well. Now of course, your wait time for the police might then go up to 2 hours after you call 911, but, no one can be accuse of profiling anymore. Sounds odd now, but if cases like this continue, we'll be on our own because so many profiling lawsuits will have been filed, most of the police departments will just have to adopt that type of operating system or shut down entirely.
For a closing thought on this thread, a blog post on the Dr. Gates case arrived in my email inbox today from my pastor, Greg Boyd. I felt this paragraph sums up my feelings on this manner very concisely, and I wanted to share it with my friends here at the C-D Atlanta Forum:
If you are interested in reading the complete blog entry, it can be found at: Greg Boyd (Christus Victor Ministries) / Blog Title: Dr. Gates Arrest & Racial Profiling
Woodland Hills Church is a member of the Baptist General Conference
nonsense. does he expect them to know he lives there after he was in fact BREAKING IN his own home? Cops were responding to a home ivasion.. gee there is a guy breakin in and refusing to id himself and then playing the race card because every single cop in MA knows/cares who he is? yeah that works
i've been in similar situations when they come looking for somebody who turned the street or something. it usually goes like
"hey where do you live"
"here -( point and grin)"
"cya"
lets see.. perhaps next time i'll try this
"hey where do you live"
"what? none of your business you fascist. i dont have to answer to you why are you asking me this blah blah blah"
"lets have a talk........" "yeah central i have a suspicious person loitering here, might need backup"
"RACIST COPS!! ima call the president on you!!"
Now if CityRover is an AA male, his perceptions ^^^ are very relavent to this discussion.
Greg, *sigh*... ever think for a minute the black officer on the scene isn't REALLY able to speak his mind on this issue? But that's neither here nor there...
Could we please put the Dr. Gates incident aside OTHER than using it as opportunity to discuss the issue of black vs. white perceptions?
One question: What do you think of the following quote?
Quote:
When white people don’t have relationships with African Americans that are deep enough to allow them to “get on the inside” of the black experience, they tend to assume their white experience of the police force is the universal experience of the police force. Our white “normal” becomes* the “normal. “ We white people thus tend to believe a white policeman’s side of a story and we often assume those who allege racial profiling are “playing the race card.
i've been in similar situations when they come looking for somebody who turned the street or something. it usually goes like
"hey where do you live"
"here -( point and grin)"
"cya"
Cya? That's it? You weren't required to produce your ID?
My husband, AA, has been asked to produce his ID, while doing nothing more than having a cigarette in his front yard, more than once... in fact this happened quite a few times one particularly difficult summer. [1995, Mpls police were working hard that summer to keep drug/crack traffic east of 35W - we lived west of 35W.]
Cya? That's it? You weren't required to produce your ID?
My husband, AA, has been asked to produce his ID, while doing nothing more than having a cigarette in his front yard, more than once... in fact this happened quite a few times one particularly difficult summer. [1995, Mpls police were working hard that summer to keep drug/crack traffic east of 35W - we lived west of 35W.]
No. I have been asked in other incidents (had the cops called on me by neighbors and vice versa over a property line and a pissed off GF) and i told them they dont need it... You are not required to provide it, but you are required to id yourself. A verbal name for them to write down for their report sufficed.
Now mind you it is a little different if it were a situation where they beleive due to visual evidence that you are in fact committing a crime.... such as breaking into your own property. You still dont have to give it, but you may be delayed for further "processing".
The difference here is how you conduct yourself. Most people assume that being all kissy will help you, others think that yelling your head off will scare them away. Both are sure ways for them to not leave you alone..
Then again there are always the situations where no matter what you do, somebody is just hard bent on thugging you because they are the law... But those are very rare
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