[Politcs] When your KID knows better than calling the police on someone simply because he's Black.

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

But he wasn't arrested now was he? And what trumped up charges? He calmly explained to the police everything that happened. It's not as if he made wild claims like "he forced himself through the door", "he's being violent" and whatnot. And once the friend arrived he stops the involvement with the police. The idea of him being a trespasser was at that poin founded. He entered a building he shouldn't have been able to enter and claimed to do so because he was invited by someone he refused to identify or call up. In the end, Michel has been temporarily and anonymously been suspected of trespassing by two individuals; Cukor and the police officer on the line. Cukor has been shamed and villified publicly for however long the internet wants to. I'd rather have the former than the latter.

I feel this is coming close to the end of our dance. We're going back around the same topics and there seems to be no budging.

I'll say my part, you can say a follow up. Let's then Tip Hats and Walk Away Like Gentlemen.

It's not so much that Michel wasn't arrested. It was Michel wasn't arrested... not due from a lack of trying.

Here's how I would have done it. If it were me.

"I have this gentlemen who I'm not sure of trying to enter the apartment building of where I live. He does not want to answer me, but can you send an officer here just to check everything out? He has not done any violence, but he did tailgate me into the building and that made me uncomfortable".

Two things. I felt like a dick even typing that out is number one. Number two is that method is an infinitely better way of expressing the situation in a manner that the police are informed and I didn't just make the other party into a criminal.

Because as much as people want to defend it, that is the biggest problem of the call. The thing that sticks into everyone's craw. We all agree that Michel wasn't a Trespasser even though Cukor didn't know it at the time. Fine. Cukor has a right to be suspicious. We all agree on that as well. But when he calls 911, he becomes a witness. That's why you have to do follow ups with the people who call 911 and get their account on the situation at hand.

That's why calling him a 'Trespasser' is what takes this from a misunderstanding to "You dick, think about your own actions".

A little story from my life. I used to work out at New York Sports Club. One night I needed some water after I left the gym, so I pulled in front of a Townhouse where some girls were just talking the night away. I parked the car, walked up to the corner and turned it. That's when I saw a latino man bloodied carried by two of his friends (also latino) walking towards me. They were all bloody to and banged up.

That was clue number one I shouldn't get water today. I immediately turned and headed by to my car. At that time, the police showed up. And I was like 'great, situation handled'. But I still didn't want to be here.

And that's when it happened. One of those girls chatting away when I pulled up pointed to me and yelled "HIM TOO! HE'S ONE OF THEM!".

Like I explained, I had to turn the corner to go to the store where the fight supposedly happened. These women either saw me pull up and park just a second ago, or they didn't see me (and definitely not the fight unless they could see through their own south-facing building and through the west-facing one on the corner street) at all. Whatever the case, they had no business even acknowledging my presence, let alone accuse me of anything.

Also? The latino men spoke not a word of english. I took German in high school. The Police officer who spoke spanish asked if I was with them, and apparently they said "No, he's just some guy". But because a person not involved with the situation accused me, the Police had to take down my information, my license, and my number and say "Look, I'm sorry, but there has been a complaint filed against you. These guys says they don't know you, but we have to check with the store manager and see anyone matching your description was apart of the fight."

I had to stand next to my car for thirty minutes. The girls up at the townhouse were laughing at me like "oops, bwhahaha". Another cop is seeing me seethe and he's trying to ignore it.

The original cop comes back and says the store owner only saw two groups of latino men fighting. But because of the 'Witnesses', they need to do some more digging to make sure I'm not involved. I'm allowed to go back home because they really had nothing to keep me on, but I get three calls from the police in a two week period. Two to state my version of the facts again, and a third final one saying they found video of the incident from a Laundromat across the street baring out that I was telling the truth.

But because of 'Witnesses' said I was apart of the fight, I was apart of the fight. Doesn't matter if I couldn't communicate with the actual fighters. Doesn't matter if the 'witnesses' couldn't even see the fight in question. I was linked to it by hearsay.

I could have been arrested that night if the cops who were called didn't want to do actual police work. When I was standing with the cops, the rookie (horribly) whispers to his superior "Do we take the black guy in? Those girls said he was fighting"... Even though I didn't have a scratch or an ounce of blood on me, like every other person involved in the fight. But it was enough that I was going to be arrested if his superior just didn't want to more work than usual that day.

And literally, that's a roll of the dice every person faces when the cops are involved. And yes, as we've seen, more so with black males than other groups of people.

I have no patience for someone who bares false witness to slant the police to his side before they even get a chance to get on the scene. I don't care if he's vilified on social media if he's done something to be considered a villain to me. And no, it's not the white and black thing, per se. It's actually a sad sidebar to it, because the ramifications that came with it.

Police are humans and they come to a situation with whatever they were presented. If they had to hash out a misunderstanding and are told so, they come in to be mediators. If they are called to deal with a criminal, they don't come to mediate. They come to remove a threat to the public. Cukor declared Michel a criminal. Whether or not if Michel was arrested therefore becomes irrelevant. Cukor came with villainous intent, therefore my heart doesn't bleed for him if he suffers those slings and arrows.

 

[Saelune]

You. You were wrong. Stop digging your hole.

How so? The only person making strong allegations here is you. Is this an attempt to deflect the discussion from your own prejudices and how it affects the way you look at things and instantly judge people based on a 3min video?

Are you responding to yourself now? Cause I should be saying this to you. You're the one doing the thing you just now are accusing me of.

 

[Xprimentyl]

A little story from my life?.

I wasn?t going to share my story, but won?t make you stand out there by yourself:

Back in the early 2000s, I was a second shift supervisor for a furniture warehouse. Every night around 11pm, my final duty was to lock the building down and set the alarm. I did so one night, as I had hundreds of others before it, and started driving home when, less than a block from my building, I was pulled over by a cop.

The female cop approached my window and did the stock ?license, registration, do you know why I pulled you over? shtick; I provided the documents requested and confessed that I did not know why I was pulled over; she told me I had a taillight out. Fair enough; I?m never back there when I?m driving, so I was unaware it was out.

She then asked me what I was doing out so late; I told her I was on my way home from work. She then asked where I worked. The line of questioning seemed wholly unnecessary seeing as I?d admitted my ?guilt? and my record had come back clean, but she was a cop, so I complied; I told her I was a supervisor at that warehouse right there [pointed to my building] to which she replied with a cynically and insultingly incredulous ?YOU?RE a supervisor?? I assured her that yes, I was a supervisor there and could indeed show her as I?d keys to the building and the security codes.

She waved my reassurance of her ?doubt? away and started shining her flashlight into my window scanning through the back seat and passenger seat. ?Got any weapons or drugs,? she asked. So now I?ve gone from offended to humiliated to nervous; I had no idea why she was so seemingly suspicious, but I again assured that no, I had neither weapons nor drugs. Then her flashlight fell on a bright orange safety box cutter in my console, one of the many dozens found throughout my warehouse. ?What?s that,? she asked. I told her it was a box cutter from work. ?I thought you said you didn?t? have any weapons?? Now, I?m scared. I told her I didn?t think of it as a ?weapon;? I thought she meant ?guns? or something, but she?d heard enough.

I was instructed to get out of my vehicle where I was placed in handcuffs and set in the back seat of her police car. Soon after, another cop car pulled up and she and this new officer proceeded to literally strip my vehicle, taking everything out of the dash, backset and even the TRUNK (they took out my spare tire, for chrissake) and throwing it on the ground outside in search of something, ANYTHING, incriminating.

After a good 15-20 minutes, they decided I didn?t have anything. The female officer uncuffed me and told me I could leave under strict advisement to get my taillight fixed ASAP. She and the other officer then jumped in their respective vehicles and drove away leaving me on the side of the road, in the dark, alone, to put everything they?d ripped out of my car back in place.

And those were the COPS harassing me over a spent taillight, one of a hundreds you?ll see any given day. And why was I out ?so late?? Yes, 11pm is fairly late by most standards, but given my hours, it was basically my ?6pm? and last I checked, Americans don?t have a curfew. Ok, yes, a box cutter could technically be used as a weapon, but seeing as Home Depot sells them to any and everyone without so much as batting an eyelash, I doubt most reasonable people would consider it a ?weapon,? least of all a cop with a gun. (And by her logic, I guess I had drugs too, a bottle of Tylenol I kept in my armrest.)

Granted, this is the most extreme case of overt profiling that happened to me, but in my near 40 years of life, I can?t count the number of times I?ve been singled out where the only discernable difference between me and anyone else in a similar (if not same) situation was the color of my skin and the stigma attached to it.

Empathy does not require you to have a shared experience with someone. Projecting your personal hardships onto a different person in a different place is not making you more understanding of the person filming, it's making you less understanding of the person being filmed. If you don't want to understand a perspective that you don't personally share, I guess that's your prerogative, but that's not anyone's fault but your own.

Empathy has nothing to do with it; I?m projecting nothing; my ?fault? is recognizing patterns of behavior in people of privileged positions, be that wealth, power, standing, etc., expecting those they feel are lesser than them to bend the knee, whether that be an actual authority demanding [you] get down on your stomach with hands behind you back for no other reason than ?suspicion,? or some ?concerned citizen? politely demanding for personal information that amounts to ?what are you doing here?? You or anyone can advocate whichever position you see fit; you can draw your own lines of reasonability wherever you see fit, but in my case, as a black man in America, I?ve seen enough ducks to know that if it looks, walks and talks like one, it probably IS one.

ObsidionJones and I are but two examples and won?t claim to be indicative of every individual like us, but we?ve both experienced and seen enough, and likely know many people like ourselves who?ve similar experiences, that the benefit of the doubt some of you are asking we allow in cases like this is too high a price, dignity being a huge part of that price. Can anyone honestly imagine this video with Michel replaced with a cute white girl? I can, but it?s a lot shorter and ends with Cukor, holding the door as she passes through, completely unbidden for anything save for Cukor?s tacit instinctive plea for approval from the fairer sex.

 

[Saelune]

A little story from my life?.

I wasn?t going to share my story, but won?t make you stand out there by yourself:

Back in the early 2000s, I was a second shift supervisor for a furniture warehouse. Every night around 11pm, my final duty was to lock the building down and set the alarm. I did so one night, as I had hundreds of others before it, and started driving home when, less than a block from my building, I was pulled over by a cop.

The female cop approached my window and did the stock ?license, registration, do you know why I pulled you over? shtick; I provided the documents requested and confessed that I did not know why I was pulled over; she told me I had a taillight out. Fair enough; I?m never back there when I?m driving, so I was unaware it was out.

She then asked me what I was doing out so late; I told her I was on my way home from work. She then asked where I worked. The line of questioning seemed wholly unnecessary seeing as I?d admitted my ?guilt? and my record had come back clean, but she was a cop, so I complied; I told her I was a supervisor at that warehouse right there [pointed to my building] to which she replied with a cynically and insultingly incredulous ?YOU?RE a supervisor?? I assured her that yes, I was a supervisor there and could indeed show her as I?d keys to the building and the security codes.

She waved my reassurance of her ?doubt? away and started shining her flashlight into my window scanning through the back seat and passenger seat. ?Got any weapons or drugs,? she asked. So now I?ve gone from offended to humiliated to nervous; I had no idea why she was so seemingly suspicious, but I again assured that no, I had neither weapons nor drugs. Then her flashlight fell on a bright orange safety box cutter in my console, one of the many dozens found throughout my warehouse. ?What?s that,? she asked. I told her it was a box cutter from work. ?I thought you said you didn?t? have any weapons?? Now, I?m scared. I told her I didn?t think of it as a ?weapon;? I thought she meant ?guns? or something, but she?d heard enough.

I was instructed to get out of my vehicle where I was placed in handcuffs and set in the back seat of her police car. Soon after, another cop car pulled up and she and this new officer proceeded to literally strip my vehicle, taking everything out of the dash, backset and even the TRUNK (they took out my spare tire, for chrissake) and throwing it on the ground outside in search of something, ANYTHING, incriminating.

After a good 15-20 minutes, they decided I didn?t have anything. The female officer uncuffed me and told me I could leave under strict advisement to get my taillight fixed ASAP. She and the other officer then jumped in their respective vehicles and drove away leaving me on the side of the road, in the dark, alone, to put everything they?d ripped out of my car back in place.

And those were the COPS harassing me over a spent taillight, one of a hundreds you?ll see any given day. And why was I out ?so late?? Yes, 11pm is fairly late by most standards, but given my hours, it was basically my ?6pm? and last I checked, Americans don?t have a curfew. Ok, yes, a box cutter could technically be used as a weapon, but seeing as Home Depot sells them to any and everyone without so much as batting an eyelash, I doubt most reasonable people would consider it a ?weapon,? least of all a cop with a gun. (And by her logic, I guess I had drugs too, a bottle of Tylenol I kept in my armrest.)

Granted, this is the most extreme case of overt profiling that happened to me, but in my near 40 years of life, I can?t count the number of times I?ve been singled out where the only discernable difference between me and anyone else in a similar (if not same) situation was the color of my skin and the stigma attached to it.

Empathy does not require you to have a shared experience with someone. Projecting your personal hardships onto a different person in a different place is not making you more understanding of the person filming, it's making you less understanding of the person being filmed. If you don't want to understand a perspective that you don't personally share, I guess that's your prerogative, but that's not anyone's fault but your own.

Empathy has nothing to do with it; I?m projecting nothing; my ?fault? is recognizing patterns of behavior in people of privileged positions, be that wealth, power, standing, etc., expecting those they feel are lesser than them to bend the knee, whether that be an actual authority demanding [you] get down on your stomach with hands behind you back for no other reason than ?suspicion,? or some ?concerned citizen? politely demanding for personal information that amounts to ?what are you doing here?? You or anyone can advocate whichever position you see fit; you can draw your own lines of reasonability wherever you see fit, but in my case, as a black man in America, I?ve seen enough ducks to know that if it looks, walks and talks like one, it probably IS one.

ObsidionJones and I are but two examples and won?t claim to be indicative of every individual like us, but we?ve both experienced and seen enough, and likely know many people like ourselves who?ve similar experiences, that the benefit of the doubt some of you are asking we allow in cases like this is too high a price, dignity being a huge part of that price. Can anyone honestly imagine this video with Michel replaced with a cute white girl? I can, but it?s a lot shorter and ends with Cukor, holding the door as she passes through, completely unbidden for anything save for Cukor?s tacit instinctive plea for approval from the fairer sex.

They broke the law, overstepped their authority, and even if you pushed to punish them for it, the legal system would rule in their favor even though they had no right to do what they did to you.

The police are guilty until proven innocent.