
102Kviews
Someone Asks Black People To Share The Most Ridiculous Reason They’ve Been Stopped By The Police, They Deliver (30 Tweets)
102Kviews
Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem many innocent people have become subjected to. It’s when law enforcement and security target people of color in often humiliating, frightening, and inhumane circumstances without any evidence of crime. Not only is it severely damaging to its victims, alienating to communities, and inherently ineffective, it’s also patently illegal.
But despite all the claims that the US now lives in a “post-racial era,” the real-life stories from people of color tell a very different story. So when William Kimeria, a software engineer from San Francisco, asked “Black people, answer this with the most ridiculous reason you have been stopped by police,” on his Twitter, it immediately resonated with many people online.
William’s thread soon went viral, amassing 39.2k likes from people sharing all kinds of heartbreaking stories of being unrightfully disturbed by the police. “Mine is 'not waiting the requisite amount of time between indicating a lane change and changing lanes,'” said the thread’s author, and it became obvious this is just the tip of a giant racist iceberg that rots society from the inside out.

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For every one of these, there is also someone in the neighbourhood who called the cops for no reason other than "black person present".
The software engineer also said that even knowing all that, he was genuinely shocked by some of the stories people posted. “There is also a lot of regional variation (I noticed that some of the most extreme incidents were in the midwest),” William added.
“I think this is a consequence of unaddressed structural racism and structures that are built upon that, as well as stereotypes about black people that justify whatever treatment is meted out to them. Police are a reflection of the society that they live in, along with all its biases and inequalities.”
My daughter in kindergarten drew up her own ID and gave herself an alias.... I don't think it would fly but it's the only ID she carries...
William also thinks that there is also “an additional incentive in cities where a significant portion of the city funds come from traffic fines (this is what we saw in Ferguson, MO). In those areas, police are incentivized to target the people with the least amount of power and who are least likely to complain,” he explained.
When asked how could law enforcement earn back trust from society, William said he “doesn’t think people are going to trust law enforcement without some serious accountability as well as re-thinking what exactly the role of police is.”
Wait, it was suspicious that they were 18 and not already having a criminal record??? Jeezuz effing crist what is wrong with those people.
“On the accountability front, the one stop I mentioned is one of many that happened to me between the early '90s and the early 2000s in the Boston Metro area. I have only ever received one ticket (doing 42 MPH in a 35 MPH zone, and the cop lied),” the thread’s author recounted.
“In 2004, the Boston Globe and Northeastern University released a comprehensive study of racial profiling in traffic stops, with a metro area by area breakdown that pretty much validated what most black people knew.”
“For example, MA State Troopers at the time were found to have the least disparity in traffic stops between different demographic/age groups. Also, the standards to be an MA State Trooper are much higher (education, psych evaluations, etc.) That squares with my experience. At the time, State Troopers were considered tough but fair. There were huge disparities based on race between other metro area police forces.”
William explained that this “report landed like a bomb and triggered changes where police had to start recording demographic data of whom they stopped, and suddenly, like that, I stopped getting 'randomly' stopped.” He added that he didn’t have a single DWB stop between then, 2004 or so, and when he left the state in 2013.
However, William sees a looming complex problem still taking place nationwide, as “even in MA, some police departments pushed back against the report. Police departments have fought accountability at every level.”
“Bad cops are protected, and when bad cops are fired or let go, it is very easy for them to find a job at another police department (this was the case with Timothy Loehmann, who murdered 12 year old Tamir Rice). Derek Chauvin (who murdered George Floyd) had a string of past incidents in his disciplinary record, one of which was eerily similar to the way he killed George Floyd.”
William concluded that “there are no comprehensive hiring standards for police officers at a state or federal level, it is city by city,” which makes it all the more problematic.
The cop just saw a black man with a white kid in a car, which is obviously a sure sign of a crime in progress. [sarcasm : off]
But there is also the larger problem of heavy militarization of police. William sees that it has to do with “a mindset where police see themselves apart from society (in a lot of cases, police do not live in the same precincts that they are tasked with patrolling). The mindset issue can be seen in the fact that one of the most popular trainers of police (Dave Grossman) teaches a course touting 'Killology,' which is intended to lower police inhibitions to kill suspects.”
She was pulled over for smiling, which, apparently is suspicious, while another poster was stopped for not smiling, also suspicious. Disgusting.
“When police are taught to see the people they police as an 'enemy' population (Killology is more appropriate as something taught to the military), bad things are going to happen, especially when that population does not look like them,” he explained and added that “American police kill a staggering amount of black people, but they also kill a staggering amount of white people too (larger in absolute numbers than the total amount of black people they kill, but once population size is accounted for, the rate at which they kill black people is higher).”
“Both those rates are much higher than all other developed nations in the world, and higher than a lot of developing countries,” William said.
this is terrible. these cops need to be fired... how do they even get away with this stuff?? it's rediculous and disgusting...
The American Psychological Association notes that research psychologists have studied the psychological effects of racial profiling and found that “victim effects” of racial profiling include post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of stress-related disorders, perceptions of race-related threats, and failure to use available community resources.
According to criminologist Scott Wortley: “To argue that racial profiling is harmless, that it only hurts those who break the law, is to totally ignore the psychological and social damage that can result from always being considered one of the 'usual suspects.' Realizing the sheer level of humiliation it puts on the innocent citizens is a crucial step in erasing the practice of racial profiling, which has been continually ignored."
Yup, up to getting to work on time...a terrible crime. What is wrong with these idiots? How can so many be so ignorant?
Meanwhile, Rachel Godsil, a director of research for the Perception Institute, says that racial profiling has a direct impact not only on its victims, but on the entire dynamics of the community. "Even if it happens to someone that doesn't look like you, it's a harm to the community," she said. These are especially true in countless calls about a "suspicious person" that in reality don’t involve any suspicious activity. Most often, it’s just a person of color walking down the street.
You "littered" by putting the appropriate item(s) into a recycling container?
You better be careful with nervous cops. Before you know it they will execute you because "they were in fear of their on life". Valid excuse, dozens of cops have gotten away with it.
I once got robbed just outside the gate of my campus, reported it...had to wait about an hour with campus police until they told me they can't do anything since it's "outside of campus" and then went to the police where I was told, "why did you take so long to report it? We can't do anything now". Not once did anyone ask if we (my friend and I) were okay.
Note: this post originally had 68 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
These were painful to read.
Yes, I feel sick now.
I'm mad. This has made me so mad. None of this should happen to anyone. It's disgusting.
America has a deep rooted racial problem. In SA we have black cops stopping white people for inane reasons, mostly just to get a bribe. They know you are scared and they will intimidate you. Always have a dash cam.
situations happen like this to everyone, it is generally the victim that makes it sound racist. If you walk through a bad neighborhood, white or black, you are getting stopped. even the guy on the bike on a university campus would have just shown appropriate id and there would be no story but he turned it into a black man riding a bike story.
When will all US citizens understand that the US is not the great free country they always brag about?
We know. And if we didn't, the daily BP posts about how crappy we are remind us.
Hahahahaha...yeah. it is also not just a US thing. Sadly this happens nearly everywhere.
A lot of us do.
Sadly, racism and white supremacy have deep roots in policing in this country - and the half-assed war on drugs and militarization of the police make it worse. We need to rethink policing in the USA. We need to subject all of our law enforcement to a complete overhaul, to root out racism and corporate control and make city cops part of the communities they protect and serve, not outsiders who come to oppress and terrorize.
If you can convince 300 million minds at once, I commend you. Otherwise, 1. we don't ALL brag and 2. we're not ALL the same. If we were, we'd be called "Russia", or "North Korea".
Maybe not all of us know, but there are plenty of US citizens who know that we are not the greatest country.
I couldn't read all of them, but at least we don't have to say their names. I have been stopped once. I am adopted,, I am black and my parents and sibling are white. My dad took me to the front of a concert and when we came back, Police Officers came up and had their hands on their guns, asking my dad if he was sure I was his kid because "She's black and looks dangerous." I was 6-7.
"Looks dangerous"? How tf can a seven year old look dangerous?!
"She had a skin tone, sir!" -Officer Shidferbrains, Year X.
Smh. Some people tick me off
Think of how they stated it. "She's black AND she looks dangerous" Racial profiling at it's finest.
I'm so sorry, this is just disgusting.
I am so sorry that happened to u. Police can be disgusting sometimes.
God. Dangerous. A little girl.
Dangerous?! :(
These were painful to read.
Yes, I feel sick now.
I'm mad. This has made me so mad. None of this should happen to anyone. It's disgusting.
America has a deep rooted racial problem. In SA we have black cops stopping white people for inane reasons, mostly just to get a bribe. They know you are scared and they will intimidate you. Always have a dash cam.
situations happen like this to everyone, it is generally the victim that makes it sound racist. If you walk through a bad neighborhood, white or black, you are getting stopped. even the guy on the bike on a university campus would have just shown appropriate id and there would be no story but he turned it into a black man riding a bike story.
When will all US citizens understand that the US is not the great free country they always brag about?
We know. And if we didn't, the daily BP posts about how crappy we are remind us.
Hahahahaha...yeah. it is also not just a US thing. Sadly this happens nearly everywhere.
A lot of us do.
Sadly, racism and white supremacy have deep roots in policing in this country - and the half-assed war on drugs and militarization of the police make it worse. We need to rethink policing in the USA. We need to subject all of our law enforcement to a complete overhaul, to root out racism and corporate control and make city cops part of the communities they protect and serve, not outsiders who come to oppress and terrorize.
If you can convince 300 million minds at once, I commend you. Otherwise, 1. we don't ALL brag and 2. we're not ALL the same. If we were, we'd be called "Russia", or "North Korea".
Maybe not all of us know, but there are plenty of US citizens who know that we are not the greatest country.
I couldn't read all of them, but at least we don't have to say their names. I have been stopped once. I am adopted,, I am black and my parents and sibling are white. My dad took me to the front of a concert and when we came back, Police Officers came up and had their hands on their guns, asking my dad if he was sure I was his kid because "She's black and looks dangerous." I was 6-7.
"Looks dangerous"? How tf can a seven year old look dangerous?!
"She had a skin tone, sir!" -Officer Shidferbrains, Year X.
Smh. Some people tick me off
Think of how they stated it. "She's black AND she looks dangerous" Racial profiling at it's finest.
I'm so sorry, this is just disgusting.
I am so sorry that happened to u. Police can be disgusting sometimes.
God. Dangerous. A little girl.
Dangerous?! :(