Losing My White Privilege Blinders

[mia]

This article provided some insight for me. Hope it is useful for others.

"...The first encounter I witnessed happened almost 20 years ago. Long before Black Lives Matter started, long before Facebook existed and long before CNN paid any attention to a black man being shot by the police. My husband, then boyfriend was wrestled to the ground by five officers, one of whom held a gun directly on his chest. I stood there silently, terrified, afraid if I said one word the situation would escalate and he would be gone in the flash of a bullet.


The next encounter happened on New Year’s Eve many years later. It was pouring rain; my husband had his hand on my shoulder as we were discussing which club to go to. We were in Virginia, directly across the river from the nation’s capitol. Suddenly, a police car pulled up with flashing lights. A young officer got out of his car with his hand on his gun and acted panicked; he asked me if I was okay. I, stunned, told him that I was fine and that the man I was with was my husband. Things escalated from there — the other police officer got out of the car. They began yelling at me that many women tell them they are fine but have blood running down their face after their husband beat them. I got angry, screaming and cursing at them — you see, I had no blood on me, I was not crying and my husband has never hit me. My husband, shaking his head, remained eerily calm. I cursed at the police, I waved my arms in disgust and anger, I approached them and I informed them — in colorful language — that I would have their badges. My husband remained silent....


I demanded to know what was happening. The officer who had just arrived told me that my husband had been threatening to the other officers. I just about lost my mind; I had never been in the midst of such an absolutely ludicrous situation. But I was fearless. Still. I yelled, I cursed, I demanded badge numbers. It never occurred to me once that my life was in danger, because my life was not in danger. But suddenly, I realized that my husband’s life was....


I still have the privilege of walking through my life with binoculars, but my lens are no longer rose-colored and I have fear, real fear, that something could happen to my husband, or my son when he is older. I have real fear that not enough white people have ever even glimpsed into the life of a black person and simply cannot believe that this is reality, and thus we cannot have an honest conversation as a society. This lack of conversation, this lack of understanding is dangerous for everyone in the country. I know how it feels. I snickered in the past, I thought the stories I heard were isolated cases, or tongue-in-cheek exaggerations. But, there are no exaggerations here, this is real life. For black men."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-veres-royal/losing-my-white-privilege_b_10890330.html

[Squinch]

1. "The officer who had just arrived told me that my husband had been threatening to the other

officers."

That is terrifying shit, right there. The blatant lying in the service of their own baseless hysteria and hatred. And you can bet that rank lie would have been held up by the "blue wall" forever.

[onecaliberal]

2. I don't know how anyone could deny the situation with black people

And law enforcement. Even being at home minding their own business could jeopardize their lives. You'd have to live under a rock to be unaware, or you just don't give a damn because it isn't you. There is a lot of that going around on many different issues.

[fleabiscuit]

3. +1

[calimary]

4. Saw the other thread in which Neil deGrasse Tyson recounted experiencing the same affronts.

SHEESH. I've posted before about interviewing Blair Underwood, back when I was still working. He was the hot new thing on "L.A. Law" and his face was all over everywhere, from prime time TV and "Entertainment Tonight" to every last supermarket gossip mag in publication. And he, too, had those same stories to tell.

SO damn discouraging sometimes. WHEN are we gonna get beyond this? I had such high hopes on the night Barack Obama won in 2008. I thought FOR SURE we'd finally turned the page, grown up, and gotten over that shit. MAN-oh-MAN was I mistaken.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. As a young teenager growing up in La Jolla, CA

we were routinely stopped, questioned, insulted and belittled while walking in our own neighborhood, I now realize that the cops were just working for their masters.

[loyalsister]

6. This is exactly why

women of color are often afraid to call the police in domestic violence situations. The may want him arrested or out of their lives, but they don't want them to be killed.
What a terrible decision to have to consider. Especially when kids are involved.

[mia]

7. Battered and nowhere to turn

Such a sad situation for the whole family.

[loyalsister]

8. No doubt

The implications are mind boggling to me. Kids left without a father, lost income (sounds cold, but reality often is)....