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if you’re satisfied w/ the current state of policing, ask me how many times i’ve been handcuffed & held in a cruiser w/o provocation—except once i WAS guilty, i hadn’t yet engaged my turn signal merging into zero traffic on the highway at 2am, bec i had 30 yards of on-ramp left
ask me how many times i was stopped by the same four or five officers for an entire summer break, once for “suspiciously” going 3 mph under the limit because i anticipated being stopped.
ask me about the time i was “misidentified” as a person who’d earlier robbed a gas station.
ask me about the time i was “misidentified” as a person who’d earlier robbed a gas station.
ask me about the time, after being “mistaken” for a known criminal, i was told “well, i still have to give you a ticket for something...it looked like you didn’t have your seatbelt on...”
ask me about the time i was detained, after being thrown to the road, because i “suspiciously placed my hands on my head in a way suggesting you were nervous and prob hiding something”.
ask me how they then asked to search my car, i said no, & they did anyway.
ask me how they then asked to search my car, i said no, & they did anyway.
ask me if i was afraid they’d plant something in my car as i watched handcuffed in the back of the cruiser. ask me how it felt seeing my non-poc passenger merrily chatting not-cuffed, clutching her huge not-searched tote; or how good it felt when they asked her if she was okay.
ask me how many more stories i can go on telling about how awesome it is to feel criminalized when you don’t even jaywalk. ask my friends for their stories, many of them worse than mine. ask me if i’ve ever felt at peace when engaging w/ the ppl charged with keeping peace.
now ask me if i pay taxes. ask me if i’m a small business owner. ask me if i have a family who count on me. ask me if i try to be a good neighbor. ask me if i care about the entirety of my community, my city, county, & state. ask me if i value freedom. pls just ask, don’t shoot.
