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@MukilteoPolice Your police chief made a posting on Facebook that we need to talk about. Your police force racially profiles just like every other police force. Being black in Mukilteo walking down the street gets you stopped and questioned.
The above officer has stopped my large black friend in 2 separate occasions while he was out and about. Stopped him in the parking lot of the QFC questioning why he was there? Where does he live? Who does he live with?
The second time he was walking along the Speedway by Walgreens heading to 92nd park got asked the same questions. Does he need to show his papers on demand in your city?
Now let’s talk about Lighthouse park and the experiences we’ve had down there. Spoiler alert: more of the same.
My friend and I play Pokémon go, just like the mayor of your city. One Saturday morning we were at Lighthouse Park we had been walking on the paths and were sitting in my car. Looked in the rear view mirror to find myself surrounded by cops. Again with the questions.
Someone had reported my large black friend and myself for looking ‘suspiciously’ in cars. Does that happened to your white mayor when she plays Pokémon Go at the beach?!!
The last incident I will share involves an officer who I don’t know and the lesbian park ranger who I believe is now a full fledged police officer. Once again playing our game. These officers walk up to my friend and ask him why he is at the beach.
They had a report of a black man smoking weed on the beach. Again, we are walking the paths, playing our game. When my friend tried to explain the ‘Officer’ told him to be quiet “Don’t try to explain “
I stepped in with my white privilege and explained it was not my friend but your ‘Officer‘really did not care. He just wanted to lecture my black friend about the errors of his ways and was not interested in making sure it was the right person.
He was black. That was enough. So maybe before your Chief of Police makes a post about how awesome your department is and how “these actions are not consistent with our training, protocols or training” Maybe before that happens,
you need to have a town hall to discuss this with the people you serve. Maybe if you truly cared about us you would have put out a plea to tell you how you can do better serving people of color rather than telling us how awesome you are when we
have multiple experiences to the contrary. Please do better. Your police force racially profiles. Full stop. @MukilteoMayor
