Do you think people of colour are a little more apprehensive when getting pulled over by police than a caucasian person?

Yes, the police need to be demilitarized with better training and deescalation techniques, and also make it illegal for cops to turn of their body cameras.

And hell, every person in Washington should wear body cameras during meetings and negotiations, so we get to see all the shady back room deals they make.

Yes.

Of course.

Always we had a town in Connecticut in the 1990’s where they cops had a “Driving while Black” clause !

Almost 100% of the people of color that drove through that town were detained.

Some places it is still the same.

Of course. It scares me to get pulled over by a cop, and I’m an older white woman with no record who (according to my son) doesn’t look as if she could be guilty of anything. I don’t even lie to them (“Yes, officer, I’m sorry, I do know I didn’t make a complete stop”). I can’t even imagine what it could be like for someone who’s at risk for being profiled.

This has been the case from the founding of the country. And it is so deep and universal a truth that you would have a next to impossible task to locate a person of color above age 7 who would disagree. I think you will find more people of color who believe in Santa than will ever tell you they expect equitable treatment at the hands of the police.

Of course.

As a woman I was made to be a little frightened of police also in certain situations. My mom and grandma warned that a bad cop could harm me and would always get away with it. They worried if I was pulled over while driving at night that could be risky.

I think everyone learns to put up their hands where the police can see them, that is not a unique discussion to minorities, but I fully believe that African Americans are at more risk for police brutality and unfair treatment, including being questioned for just walking or driving through an area that is predominantly white. They all grow up hearing stories and even knowing African Americans who have been harassed, harmed, or killed at the hands of the police. Of course they are going to be more apprehensive than the average white man, and it is justified.

No, I don’t feel that they are “a little more apprehensive”, I think that they are a LOT more apprehensive!!! When my white friends are anxious about having “the talk” with their teen, they are dreading talking about the dangers of having sex. When my black friends are anxious about having “the talk” with their teen, they are dreading warning them of the dangers of breathing while black.

Probably. The cops know , basically, who is in the car when the license plates are checked. So if the driver is apprehensive, it probably has to do with the driver’s history with the police. If you haven’t done anything, there should be nothing to fear.

@kritiper That is easy to say for a white person, but a black person has more to fear and cases show it.

Imagine being in Greenland and being a Danish Nordic person, and getting pulled over by an Inuit native. That’ll give white people something t help you understand how Blacks in the U.S. must feel.

Absolutely they do.
A good friend from college was the first to describe the phenomenon to me, and my naive white self was crushed to think such a thing could happen to anyone.
He said it happened a few times a year to him. All he could do is pull over, comply carefully, and wait it out. It’s a terribly common reason for being late, if you’re out driving while black.

“A little more apprehensive”

Understatement of the year.

I don’t feel afraid when I get pulled over. I feel annoyed. Right about the time I got my driver’s license my dad had a talk with me on how to act when interacting with the police. He told me not to argue and be polite.
On all of those videos on Facebook, the person of color just argues and tries to stand on some nebulous “right” he read about on Facebook and just creates an issue where there wasn’t one before.

@SQUEEKY2 Would that be a white person with a crew cut or a white person with long hair?

Absolutely!

(Apologies in advance for a long, detailed response)

I am white, and I’ve been married for almost 33 years to a beautiful lady who happens to be black. One of the first things I heard from my family was “Your kids won’t be white!”

Of course I was aware of that truth, but I was not aware of the implications for them, nor was I aware of what “white privelige” really meant.

Even before I met my wife I personally knew of people who have been stopped for “driving while black.” I have never known anyone to be stopped for “driving while white” or even “driving while white with long hair,” @kritiper. We choose to wear our hair long or short. A person of color does not have the privelige of choice as to skin color.

When our kids were growing up and started becoming young women and men, my wife sat each one down for “the talk.” True to what @LadyMarissa said above, when my dad had the talk with me it was about sexuality. When my wife had the talk with our kids it was about how to conduct one self when being stopped by the police.

This country was built on white privelige and every white person alive now has benefited from 400 years of slavery and racism, no matter how recently their ancestors immigrated. Racism is so ingrained in our culture many of us don’t even realize when we’re doing something that is racist.

I have come to realize that I can never understand what it’s like to be a person of color in the US, even though I have been married to a wonderful person of color, and have raised three beautiful children of color.

On more than one occasion, I lost a job when upper management or ownership discovered my wife is black. The face that she is a person of color was a fact that I could hide from my employers for a long time. That is a “privelige,” if you will, that most persons of color do not enjoy. In many cases I could choose not to disclose certain personal information on my resume or during an employment interview.
A person of color has no choice but to disclose that fact during the interview, or the first day on the job.

@Strauss I guess you’ve never been given grief from a cop because your hair was long.
A person of color may not have a choice in his/her skin color, which I did not bring up as a point, but, now that you brought it up, how does that come into play when the cop that stops a person of color is also a person of color??

I read every word @Strauss. Thank you for sharing.
When Jerry and I went out in public we got “looks.”

@Strauss You lost your job because you’re married to black woman? How exactly did that go down?

@kritiper I guess you’ve never been given grief from a cop because your hair was long.

Guess again. I am almost 72 years old. During the 1970’s I could easily and accurately have been described as a “long-haired pot-smoking folk-singing hippie protester,” and, yes, I have been harassed by the police because my hair was long. But I also at one point, was priveliged to choose to cut my hair and shave to avoid the same scrutiny or discrimination. It took me a while to really realize the ability to make that choice is a privilege most people of color do not have.

Some lighter-skinned persons of color might be able to “pass” for a white person, and that is a real thing. I can and have chosen to keep my hair long. That is my choice.

I have several friends who are cops, a couple of them black. No matter what the officer’s background, their prejudices come from the same systemic racism that affects us all.

@Dutchess_III Oh, we got the looks alright. Especially in places like Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas. I actually had a store clerk tear up a check I had written when she realized that my wife was black. When my daughter was 14, and I taught music at her school, I noticed when we boarded a bus on several occasions her ID was subjected to a finer scrutiny than her white friend who was traveling with us.

@JLeslie It happened twice, very similar scenarios. One was the company owner, the other was a district manager. Both times I had a position I liked and had been performing well, complete with awards and promotions. Then at a company holiday party I introduced my wife. Within two weeks, in both instances, it was announced that my position was being eliminated. I could not prove it, but I was sure I knew the reason.

Over the years I’ve come to realize is my experiences were only the tip of the iceberg when compared to what a person of color, especially a woman of color, has to deal with every day of her life.

In addition to “driving while black” there is also “driving while poor.” Cops profile and driving a hunk of junk will get you pulled over as fast as being black will. Of course being black and driving an older vehicle will likely be worse.

@Strauss… so you’re a long haired hippie type pinko fag? You should have gone where ever via Omaha.

I never got pulled over for being poor (I also never drove a beater,) but I was sure given a lot of judgy looks when I used food stamps to buy food for the family after work, when I was still dressed nicely.

@Dutchess_III I know Omaha. I lived there for a while in the ‘70’s with a gf(long before I met my wife).