Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/11/police-interrogate-man-for-bei.html
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ETA: Dear fellow wypipo… quit making me fucking ashamed to share the same skin color as you.
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If you see something and you’re racist, say something to the cops that will endanger the life of a person of color, or at least remind them that they’re second class citizens and need to be paranoid about how they are perceived by racists.
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Who the fuck isn’t agitated when bullshit like this happens every day?
(I know the answer: assholes, fascist assholes).
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Honestly, I doubt many people are shocked at this kind of shit anymore, which is probably the most horrific statement I could possibly make. Why do police still respond to reports of this sort with high level alerts and lock downs? I mean, really, WTF people?? Do they not understand that calling the cops on a POC ____ing while black is potentially a life threatening action? Babysitting, walking to work, attending a pool party, barbeque, going about your normal life, all “highly suspicious activities” if you happen to be black or brown.
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It’s depressing that I’ve come to expect black men are going to be harassed just because they’re black, but now carrying a heavy backpack is apparently something suspicious? And looking “agitated”, wtf does that mean?
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I think it is synonymous with “being openly black in public.”
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Actually, I think seeing a black person agitated the caller. Then, projection of the shadow.
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I think I get your point and I know it’s just a quip, but being “ashamed of being white” is actually a dangerous idea to promote. It plays in to the essentialism that’s key to white supremacy. Being ashamed of a skin color implies that you identify with the idea of the white race - and even if you find the white race lacking, that’s still the key starting point for “race realism” a.k.a. fascist nonsense. You can often hear fascists accusing supposed SJWs of being ashamed of their race, gender, etc. They really want it to be true.
In fact, the only thing you have in common with racist snitches is that white supremacy put you and them in the same box. But I’m not ashamed of how white supremacy sorted me, I’m mad that it thinks it gets to do that shit at all!
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All I can really say is keep those Garbage Pail Kid jabs coming!
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Perhaps a better question is why a trained dispatcher would send out the paddy wagon in full force over such a report.
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uppity
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Part of this scenario is racism, and part of it is America’s ever-growing post-9/11 paranoia. “If you see something, say something.”
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Oh, I grok the racism part; as a woman of color, ‘getting it’ is essential to my everyday survival.
What I don’t get is why that complaint meritted anything more than sending out one cursory patrol car to “check it out.” Leaving out the description of the man’s color, that seems like an immensely excessive waste of taxpayer dollars and resources.
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So this is the part that I don’t get.
It says he works at the University and he was walking across campus to work. Presumably at a building on the campus. It then says he was confronted by campus police and interrogated by them.
So…how in the hell does this guy work there and they don’t know him? And I do not mean “Oh, I know Reginald…we have coffee every Tuesday!” I mean…“Wait…this is the guy reported to us? You mean the guy who has a badge and works here and is in our database?”
It seems to me UMASS would just need to scan the guy’s work badge and say “Yeah…this guy is Reginald…he works here…its fine…someone is an asshole.” As opposed to 20 Spanish Inquisition questions that apparently are about justifying his existence.
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Depends on how big the campus is. That said, one officer asking for his staff id would have sufficed. (Even though that’s still profiling based on racial bias.) Locking down whole campus is just beyond the pale.
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