Read on Twitter
Had a chat with my friend yesterday & he goes "did I ever tell you about how the cops rolled up on me last week?" I'm like "no..." mind you this is a 'nice, safe, not with the shits' young black man. So anyway. It starts with him in his car, in a parking lot, waiting for a friend
He's chilling, eating a poutine. Police slowly pass thru this otherwise secluded parking lot. They head towards the exit but at the last moment, throw their reverse lights on and drive up alongside my friends car.
Two officers approach the vehicle. The male one immediately says "hey man, can you hop out of the car real quick?" first of all, that's already not OK. So my friend said "Why would I step out of the car?" The officer immediately changed his tune and goes ...
"I just meant turn off the engine; sometimes ppl drive off when we want to talk to them." But that's not what you said, sir. Anyway. So my friend agrees, turns the car off, opens the door and kinda leans out but doesn't actually get out, so he's looking at the officer directly
I'm happy they weren't startled by him opening the door cuz me? ...... anyway my friend says 'what's this all about?' The officer tells him his license plates look funny. He explains to the officers that these are the plates that came with the private sale of the car, but he has
ministry plates on the way. The officer seems to understand, and then proceeds to ask for my friends registration. The other officer, a female, now reinforces: "we just need to make sure the car is yours." So now we at the root of the issue.
My friend is around 30, looks even younger. Quiet dark skin male, but he has a nice car. Of course they just 'had' to make sure the car was his. Guy eating a poutine in his car? Gotta investigate!!! SO he hands over his registration...
everything checks out. The car is his. They tell him they'll leave him alone since he's on private property (cuz of the plates) but basically, they insinuate that he cannot drive the car. They don't leave the lot until the tow truck my friend called, arrives.
So what do I make of all this? I know my friend well. He's extremely calm. The last person to intentionally be difficult to authority. And even he, someone who argues with me over police brutality, someone who defends police a lot, felt that the officer was being intimidating
I wonder ... do you have to self therapy, to deal with police? What if you're not as calm as my friend? What if the officer illegally asking you to step out of your vehicle, irritates you? Is that license to kill?
If not for my friends calm demeanour (and a couple walking by, that sat on a bench to watch) I think that situation would have gone very differently. I watched my friends opinions shift thru this experience. Suddenly, he resonated so much more with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery...
and all the other brothers & sisters we've lost. And we live in Canada. This happened in Brampton. my friends story scared me because sometimes I sit in my car, eating a poutine, waiting for him....so what if the cop rolled up on me?
what if the officer makes me nervous, and that makes me look suspicious? Had a whole dream I was detained last night while sitting in a parking lot, just because my friend told me what happened to him. And I realize.... this is TRAUMA.
being approached like that, talked to like that. it's traumatic. And THE ONUS is on US to have PEOPLE SKILLS and ensure the INTERACTION is SMOOTH so WE DON'T DIE. my heart cries today, searching for the answer to this mistreatment.
