Last Thursday, my roommate and I made our weekly 11pm trip to Sloopy’s to grab some mac and cheese to bring back to our dorm to devour while watching Jeopardy. It is something we both look forward to all week, and the trek down to south campus is filled with lots of chatting and laughing. This past Thursday though, something happened that reminded me of all that is occurring outside of my life on campus.
As we walked across the Oval and were approaching Sloopy’s, we saw a young African American man practicing skateboarding and different tricks in the privacy of the darkness. My roommate and I walked by when two white police officers patrolling on bikes rode past us going towards the man on the skateboard. I am not quick to assume things about others or their intentions, but I just had this icky feeling about it. Why did the officers bike past me and my roommate, without even making eye contact, but rode right up to a guy practicing kickflips? I know my roommate and I probably don’t come across as bad characters, but the guy skateboarding did absolutely nothing that would raise concern. My roommate also saw what was happening, and felt the same concern that I did, so we decided to hang around until the police officers were done talking to the man. This got me thinking, what exactly made the police officer see me, a small, young, white woman, as a non threatening individual while an African American man listening to music and skateboarding is worth stopping and questioning? Are they trained to just make those judgements based on race or gender? Is it cultural? Is it learned through socialization?
From what I could find, it seems to be a combination of all of those things. Which I guess explains why it is so difficult to address these problems–they exist and perpetuate through so many streams in our society. This issue is very applicable to our exploration of the Slave-Master dynamic, as well as the existence of the “Other”. In one specific study I looked into, they found “white officers of this study actively select minorities for enforcement purposes, or they ‘amalgamate,’ blacks over whites because minorities simply do not appear to respect the officers’ interpretations of the white social order,”. That sentence terrifies me. This study also found that “the white officers have ‘cognitively modeled’ minority culture as socially inferior to their majority culture. Accordingly, the white officers socially learned to view African American people as people of inherently bad character… They were trained and were socially reinforced by peers and mentors that minorities were by nature prone to criminal activity and worthy of selective police interventions.” I think this specific study shows how systemic of a problem profiling by the police can be.
I’ve grown up in a time where police violence is a horrific and common problem, but it breaks my heart that seeing those officers approach the man on the skateboard made my stomach churn, fearing what may transpire, what could escalate, all for nothing. I cannot even imagine what would need to change for interactions like this to never occur. But I do know people are beginning to open their eyes, look out for each other, and fight for change, and I think that is a really solid place to start.
https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2696&context=aerc
Hi, thanks so much for this post. This is a very relevant and important topic and far too often people shy away from addressing it. The fact that you could witness this type of injustice as part of your normal weekly routine highlights just how prominent it is in today’s society. We certainly have grown up in a time where this is a horrific and common problem and it’s important that people continue to catalyze change when possible. I think your’e completely right in your claim that police continue to view black people as their “other” and that this way of thinking is a huge part of the problem and is a representation of institutional racism.
It was upsetting to read about this situation and its unfortunate that it happens more often. We are at a time where there shouldn’t be any racial discrimination, but it is happening everywhere. Police brutality has increased and unfortunately many have been involved in the innocent killings of African American’s. We can’t deny this and it has to be talked about so that we can do better and keep our communities safe. The police are suppose to protect, but what we see now is police abusing their power to pick and choose who survives a simple traffic stop. In many of these cases being a minority and being stopped by the police can be a life or death situation, which shouldn’t be the case. This is an emotional subject, but thank you for talking about it to bring awareness and acknowledge an injustice that has to be looked at and changed.
Your post is extremely relevant in today’s America. I feel like the injustices that African Americans face every day were something that so many people, including myself, were blind to until this year. It’s sickening to learn that police officers are trained to treat African Americans different than white people but it is not surprising at all. The only way these types of injustices can stop is through a new way of training police officers.
Hi!
This post was so great and I really like how you took a topic that is so relevant in today’s society and compare it to what we have learned in this course. African Americans face injustices like these all the time and I am honestly in shock by how much it happens. Before coming to college, I was not really exposed to these types of things. My hometown is very sheltered so we usually shy away from these things. However, hearing about these things makes me way to be more involved with trying to make these communities a better place for everyone.
Police violence by white police officers on minorites especailly on black people has always existed but has grown rampant and reached a new level in the last few years thanks to the current administration encouraging systemic racism. It’s a high time that at the least we teach the new generation to be more inclusive and considerate to people irrespective of the color or race of a person.
I really like the post you made bringing in personal experience and engaging us into the experience. This is something that is unfortunately common and seen within our society today, and is a great example of a systemic injustice. This is something that needs to be changed and at the root of getting into law enforcement, and I think you made a great post about this.
I think your presentation is very impressive, so that I further realize the seriousness of racism in American society today. The series of policy measures and attitudes advocated by the current president are very unfavorable to colored people in the United States. This year, conflicts over racial discrimination have become more serious than ever. I think we should start with the awareness of the people. Some basic education still cannot make some people “friendly”. All in all, this is a very typical system injustice.
Hi Lauren, thank you for sharing your own experience. The injustices that some ethnic groups encounter are still an issue in this social moment. This is also similar to the stories in readings we have read in class and the theory of the ‘other’. In fact, people who are regarded as the ‘ other ‘ have their own unique culture and deserve the same treatment and respect.
Hi Lauren, thank you for the post. I really like the way you presented. It is sad to see that racism between police and people of color are getting worse even after all other similar tragedies have happened. I like how you applied the “One” and “Other” concept in your own experience and shared it with us. I hope one day prejudices will disappear.
This post is extremely relevant to todays culture. It really is surprising however that University police continue to single out African Americans. I thought that had a special task force to deal with these exact issues. This is especially important when you take into consideration how the country protested all summer long against this exact issue. Its almost as if they’ve learned nothing and the University is only pretending to address the real problem at hand.
In today’s time unfortunately violence against young minorities by the police are not totally uncommon, and this post just really showed me that even here at school the police officers are racially identifying against young African Americans. I also really enjoyed how you added the Hegel master slave dialect into your post and in turn related it to what we have been learning in class up to this point so far.
Hey! What a great post that is very relevant to today’s society and such great questions to be asked. Of the information that has been brought up to me within the past years, I still haven’t seem to have an answer for why university police and regular police do that action. It shouldn’t matter what the color of your skin is, people are people and they should be able to do what they please no matter the time of day or night.
Hi, I think the post is very helpful. I think that is a very true story happened around us. Some police do consider the innocent people as bad person depend on the color. I feel that their common sense is black people are suspect. Recently, I also heard the news that police use force against black people. It is unfair to discrimminate and use force against the black people.
Hi, I think your showcase is great. The problem of violence of policy on people with color is significantly a topic needed to be discussed and resolved. I watched many videos and heard many bad news about this issue. I think your opinions are very thought provoking. The race, ethnicity, color should never be reasons for people to discriminate and act against.