Whatcha Gon’ Do When They Come For You?

I remember once watching one of those amusing police videos on TV. It featured a State trooper from Maine, who had pulled over a motorist for speeding. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyHMbHHtArE) Now, I don’t know what series of disappointments this motorist must have had that day but he was apparently in a very bad mood. The cruise-cam shows him yelling and cursing at the trooper throughout the entire incident. Spewing the usual “I can’t believe this! Why don’t you go chase some real criminals” nonsense that folks yell when they know they are wrong, the motorist yanks the ticket from the officer and tosses it to the ground. The trooper, the most even-tempered human being on the planet, simply instructs the motorist to retrieve the discarded ticket or face a littering charge as well. Still fuming, the motorist complies then drives away, protesting all the while. The trooper simply says, “Bye.”

Most people who view the video would agree that the motorist was a hot-headed jerk who handled the situation poorly, and give kudos to the trooper for having the patience of Job. But in spite of the motorist’s awful behavior it elicits more than a few chuckles. It is pretty humorous.

Now close your eyes and imagine if the motorist was a Black man.

Still funny? Be honest.

For the record, I believe this particular trooper’s reaction may have been the same. Not that I want to take anything away from this trooper’s response, but there was a video camera in the car. But even given the exemplary behavior of the trooper, the purpose for the different visual perspective was to gauge the emotional response of the viewer.

If the motorist was a Black man would he sill just be looked at as a man with a lousy attitude – or does he somehow seem more dangerous?

And if a prominent, educated, White, university professor were to protest having to prove his identity to the police in his own home, yelling at the cops, “Don’t you know who I am?” and “Give me your badge number. I’m going to report you,” would the police apologize profusely and leave as requested, or would they handcuff him on his porch and haul him off to jail?

Is the White university professor viewed as just a crotchety old man? Would a Black university professor be an “uppity negro”?

Sadly, I believe how one answers these questions most likely depends on one’s skin color. White people are less likely to believe that the police are in the wrong. Sure there are some bad cops, they argue, but the Black guy MUST have done something wrong. Blacks are less likely to believe the cops. And many can cite instances in which they , or someone they know, suffered a similar circumstance. We find it all too easy to believe the police officer was wrong.

President Obama, perhaps unwisely from a strictly political point of view, said that the police in the Gates arrest (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html) acted “stupidly”. And probably before the President could make his way to the residential quarters of the White House he was accused of jumping to conclusions. What his critics fail to realize is that there are far too many precedents to give credence to such a conclusion, most involving ordinary people who don’t make headlines. (The term “driving while black” wasn’t coined for nothing.)

Maybe if those critics could listen to the stories of racial profiling, instead of rolling their eyes and tossing out accusations of “playing the race card” we could have an honest discussion about the issue. But it involves a little honesty on both sides; not every police officer is a rogue cop, and not every Black man is up to something. The President will be roundly criticized for taking sides (for political and even legitimate reasons), but I think it is important for people to know that there are two perspectives here. The less pleasant viewpoint – that perhaps Blacks are more likely to be viewed as dangerous – should not be summarily dismissed. Nor should we ignore the idea that we often judge every police action based on our own experience.

Could Gates have handled himself better? Perhaps. Could the Cambridge police department have handled the situation better? Perhaps. In order to have any meaningful dialogue in this country about racial profiling, and race relations in general, we need to be able to acknowledge both points of view.

Think about that video again.

Still funny?

Be honest.

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Tags: Cambridge, Gates, police, race, racial profiling, Video