AUPD is racist too

[WiregrassTiger]

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/09/walk_a_mile_in_my_shoes_why_wh.html#incart_2box
Anthony Cook is the community news director in Birmingham for the Alabama Media Group. He can be reached at acook@al.com.
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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- I remember one night as a student at Auburn University walking home after working the second of my two campus jobs.

I was almost home when a city police officer stopped me and made me spread eagle on the hood of his car while he patted me down. I cooperated. He found nothing and let me go.

I told that story three weeks ago when I passed that same spot with my son, who just started as freshman at Auburn. I reminded him, again, to always cooperate. Don't give police a reason.

I don't believe all police, or even the majority of police, are bad. But I warned my son because almost every black man I know has a similar story, or worse, of negative encounters with police. Educated, respectable family men who work hard and are leaders in their communities can recount instances where they were face down on the street, reduced to nothingness.

In a column Thursday, I gave voice to a question that many have asked in recent days: Why are African-Americans outraged when a black life is ended by a white person, but don't show the same outrage when blacks kill each other?

My intention wasn't so much to question black people as it was to open the conversation and provide black people an opportunity to express their frustrations and explain why the death of an unarmed teen at the hands of a white police officer elicits such an impassioned response.

The discussion in the comments was hot and heavy, but rarely productive.

Yes, it's true. Too often, we are not innocent. But when we're not armed, it's reasonable to expect that we should not die.

And, yes, it's true that black-on-black crime is a problem in this country. But those are crimes committed by criminals who will be held accountable. It should not be a surprise that we hold police officers to a higher standard than criminals.

What wasn't discussed in those comments, and what's rarely discussed, is how often innocent black men are stripped of our dignity by police. Without apology. Without explanation. Their only crime – being black.

What wasn't discussed is that many in the black community work tirelessly to make a difference in the lives of young people, trying to set them on a good course before they go down a road that could lead to black-on-black crime.

But more significantly, what wasn't discussed is that when an unarmed black person is killed by a police officer, there's a very real notion that it could have been any of us, and a very real concern that it could have been without cause.

Too many of us know firsthand that some police accost us when we've done nothing wrong.

There's a history in this country, especially in the South, of police being used to violently put down black men who peacefully sought simply to be treated like men. In Birmingham, images of those times are forever frozen in granite.

That Auburn police officer went on about his business that night, no doubt feeling that he'd simply done his job. I walked away feeling violated.

The relationship will never truly be mutual as long as we are told we must view police with respect, and police are trained to treat us with suspicion.

What can't be understood, unless you've walked a mile in those shoes, is the pent-up frustrations of simply being a black man ... every day.

[CCTAU]

I guess it is a two fold issue. The prisons are full of black men. yet some say they are there because they are black.

I cannot say as a police officer that I would not stop someone just because I found them suspicious. And I cannot say my "suspicious" would be the same as anothers'. I can say that society is what it is. If it is perceived that black males commit a higher percentage of crime, then it will remain the same. Change the neighborhoods. Change the perception.

The solution is not to sit around and whine and bring up the 60's, of which most young people have no clue about. The solution is to make sure as you go out into public, white or black, you present yourself in a way that is not stereotypical. Might it still happen? Maybe.

Btu as parents and as neighborhoods, there has to be a change in perception. That comes with personal achievement. The hive mentality holds everyone back and puts all in the same category.
The government loves this.

BTW. What year did this happen?

[WiregrassTiger]

I guess it is a two fold issue. The prisons are full of black men. yet some say they are there because they are black.

I cannot say as a police officer that I would not stop someone just because I found them suspicious. And I cannot say my "suspicious" would be the same as anothers'. I can say that society is what it is. If it is perceived that black males commit a higher percentage of crime, then it will remain the same. Change the neighborhoods. Change the perception.

The solution is not to sit around and whine and bring up the 60's, of which most young people have no clue about. The solution is to make sure as you go out into public, white or black, you present yourself in a way that is not stereotypical. Might it still happen? Maybe.

Btu as parents and as neighborhoods, there has to be a change in perception. That comes with personal achievement. The hive mentality holds everyone back and puts all in the same category.
The government loves this.

BTW. What year did this happen?

When I was there, the only AUPD guy I remember was black. Isn't the same guy on the sideline from AUPD that was there with Dye?

[CCTAU]

When I was there, the only AUPD guy I remember was black. Isn't the same guy on the sideline from AUPD that was there with Dye?

LOL. When I was there, the university police department still existed.

But in life, I have been stopped before for no reason. "Uh, We got a report on a truck like yours".

I didn't freak and say it was because I was a drunk redneck. (thank goodness not drunk at the time) I cannot blame race due to the fact that white does not matter. But how I carry myself and present myself goes a long way as to how I am treated.

We have to move on and get past thinking we are singled out due to race. Many times we are just being harassed for no reason. And that is what we should focus on, white or black, or whatever. Stop harassment for everyone.

[Tiger Wench]

My dad worked for APD (not AUPD) back in the early 70s while he was a student (post-Vietnam, military experience, etc.)  His training officer was a black man.  They took calls all over town, and according to Daddy, they would crack heads regardless of color. 

As an aside... Worst ass kicking my dad ever took as a cop was from the wife of the man he was arresting for beating up his wife.  He and training officer rolled up on a street corner just in time to see a black man whack a woman with a 2x4 and knock her to the ground.  Dad jumps out and tackles the guy, and while he is trying to put the cuffs on, the woman gets up off the ground, grabs the 2x4 and knocks the shit out of Dad while screaming "Don't you touch my man!!'.  Training officer stood back at the car and laughed his ass off.  They both went to jail, and Dad got stitches, along with a life long lesson that you never turn your back on a victim either.