In light of Elijah McClain, I’d like to share a story.

About 1.5 years ago my rental car was broken into & items stolen. My friend & I called the police. While he wrote the report, I gave my Colorado ID to the cop. He replied he used to live & work in Colorado, too. 1/5

Looking for sympathy, he went on to say his friend was the cop being targeted for the racial incident in Boulder, CO, where a black man was asked for ID at his own house. I noted I was familiar with the incident & replied blatantly it was absolutely racial profiling. 2/5

The cop proceeded to defend his friend, saying as a cop their job is to keep the community safe, & since “black ppl commit more crimes they are obligated to act accordingly”. He said if a black man was wearing a hoodie, for example, “he’d 100% follow him for safety concerns”. 3/5

This turned into a 30 minute back & forth where my (white) friend & I attempted to explain to the cop this is exactly racial profiling. Targeting black ppl because they are black is literally the problem. He refused to see it this way, calling it “acting in public safety”. 4/5

Elijah McClain is a tragic example of these ideologies. Many cops genuinely come to believe via training/society that they‘re keeping communities safe by targeting black ppl — it’s systemic & the culture itself must be changed. This isn’t about 1 or 2 cops, it’s the system. 5/5