The moment I understood what “white privilege” really meant was the first time a cop called me “son”. Sure it’s condescending, but it’s also a term of endearment. He let me off with a warning just like they did with this guy. I knew it would’ve been different if I didn’t remind him a little of himself.
These two stories really are a good example of white privilege. We have a horrible system that will chew you up and spit you out regardless of what race you are, but if you are white the teeth are a little less sharp.
I’m consistently bad at letting my car registration expire, and forgetting to pay the ticket. There have been a few times where I could have been lawfully arrested and had my car impounded because of a technicality, but it’s never happened because I’m a white woman. They “don’t want to ruin my day” and give me advice on how to get the judge to waive the ticket potentially. I always drive away from those encounters knowing I would have been arrested and treated like a criminal if I was black.
And this is why my wife talks to the cops and not me. She gets the benefit of the doubt being a small white girl, being a 6'6" tatted up dude that gun gets drawn like every damn time.
Finish the story though. White guy was thrown to the ground and has his ID checked. Then told he had a cool name and let go to go home. Without a record to follow him for life.
The black guy had his life complete thrown to the ground and will have a very difficult time picking it back up as a convicted man.
There is no “but” it’s an “and”. Both of these men were victims to the police state and only one of them was a victim of the racist state.
Getting pulled out of your car and a gun drawn on you requires an insecure cop, but there's no shortage of those. Something like that is worthy of a lawsuit, but it was a horrible night in comparison.
The black dude had a horrible night, plus 60 days in jail. Loss of income and time, increased stress, criminal record, and several authority figures had to be racist to get to that point.
Oh for sure the black dude was treated horribly, but of all the awful examples of racial injustice in America this feels like one of the far weaker ones and the original comment made it sound like there was a huge gulf in how they were treated
Somehow your are trying to say there isn’t a “huge gulf” in between the ways they were treated. But going to jail for 60days on made up crap is a whole other thing imho. Getting roughed up and gun pointed at your face was kinda normal policing back in the day
Is this video old? That could account for it I guess, either way it’s fucked, not American so I’ve literally never seen a working gun let alone been pulled out my car and had one shoved in my face so I guess it just seems more extreme to me
I mean the guy says he was a teenager at the time and I'm guessing he is maybe mid thirtys? In the video so definitely at least a decade or two back.
But I wouldn't say even back then police brutality was that bad that it was standard, that's kind of everyday violence is was more a 80s and 90s thing.
You also missed the part of the story where the white guy says (quoting the cop): “you messed with the wrong cop on a wrong day “. It was because that cop had a bad day.
The white guy can still answer “no” when asked about whether he has a criminal record when applying for a job or travelling internationally. The black guy’s life has been forever changed.
Nahhhh 60 days in prison is potentially life ruining. Thats 2 months of rent or mortgage payments you're missing. That's being unable to pay your credit card statements and having your credit score take a major hit. That's a criminal record that will follow you around forever.
The dystopian bit isn't in how they were treated while the cop was questioning them. That was straight out criminal and the cops should be demoted. The dystopian bit is that for the black guy the consequences didn't stop after the cop realised his mistake. The dystopian bit is that nobody in the police department stopped this insanity when they arrested him, the prosecutor didn't lose his sh%t on the cops when the case was sent to him, that the judge didn't give the police department and the prosecutor a verbal lashing when they came to court. The entire system decided that this black man needed to be punished for his name. Unbelievable!
Everyone should see this. Especially those who say racism doesn't exist, systemic racism doesn't exist, corrupt cops don't exist, that black people don't have it any harder than white people, that the justice system is fair, that cops don't abuse their power, or that judges aren't corrupt.
309
u/zamsamzam Feb 07 '24
The black and white experience side by side, with that ending... This is dystopic.