A "white boy" profiled by cops?

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Hey John with a conversation that matters for January 2018 Wanted to talk a little bit today about police brutality violence the use of force and whether such tools are used against Minorities to a greater extent than they're used against let's say

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Caucasians The reason I want to progress this discussion is because in the past I have made videos about black lives matter

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I have cited studies for instance There was a study last year that Harvard put out that police were 20 % less likely to use

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Lethal force against black people than they were white people So if I cite that study the response I get often is that well that doesn't comport with my experience

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I live in a neighborhood where the police do target minorities, and I've been the victim of such targeting and What I often hear are things like well the police

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Followed me for one night and pulled me over and there was no reason for it must have been because I was black or You know they'll just say the community.

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I live in just seems to have an air of Ethnic superiority for instance I walk into a diner and everyone turns their heads must be because I'm black or women clutch their purses tighter men lock their doors or go to the other side of the street if I'm walking down the street and And I've heard these stories from multiple people and I And I guess what

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I want to say is I don't discount those stories at all Actually to be honest with you my heart goes out to you, and I I'm really sorry that you know that you had those experiences especially if they were

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You know motivated by some kind of discrimination What I did want to say though was

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I've never shared my stories and in these discussions I tend to just share the findings that studies have come out with and I kind of leave it at that I just don't think you know my stories carry a lot of weight

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But I was having a discussion last year with a co -worker who happens to be

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Black and I realized that my story It probably should be shared a little more he was complaining about the fact that the police target him more and It occurred to me that I just hadn't shared with them and we both would drive

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For a living as part of our job, and I realized that because I hadn't shared my experiences with the police

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He felt I think alone and that he was the only one that was undergoing such things I just didn't talk about it

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And I found that I think a lot of people Caucasians I should say that look more like me.

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We don't just don't tend to talk about it as much. We don't assume that We're being targeted because of our race or something else, so I'm gonna just share a couple of stories

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These are true stories from my own life, and then And then I'll give you the conclusion what

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I want to draw from this so one of the stories is when I was 14 I was a Boy Scout. I had a

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Boy Scout uniform on and I was selling popcorn at a school actually Where my church at the time was having a program a youth program, and I was walking

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The school was right next to the church. I was walking from the school to the church It's about 8 o 'clock at night and a spotlight came on me from a car, and it was dark

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I couldn't see the car so I actually ran and I ducked behind this rock wall and Out of the car

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I couldn't see who it was but steps a person and he runs towards me and without identifying himself

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He grabs me right Right here by the neck, and he says get in the car

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And that's all I heard and I screamed and I said no And then the next thing

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I heard was don't worry kid. I'm a cop now Immediately I was suspicious. I didn't see a siren or hear a siren.

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I didn't see any lights I didn't see a uniform because it was dark so I backed up Towards the lights that were coming off the church that I went to and I noticed something this man had a police

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Uniform on and he noticed something I had a Boy Scout uniform on and we both kind of looked at each other he still had his hand here and I I said to him

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I screamed I said you're not a cop cops don't scare little kids and He was probably a shorter guy, so I don't know we were probably around the same size

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Even though I was 14 But you know I guess I was a little kid to him in my own estimation

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I was scared And he said I'm gonna loosen my grip or I'm gonna take my hand off and when

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I do I'm gonna show you some ID so don't run okay, and he was trying to calm me down So he took his hand off and immediately

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I slugged him in the face And I ran and I bolted into the church and He came kind of Staggering behind me and he had a wealth on his forehead and there there was a woman there who was working at the church who kind of like separated us and and Got my parents involved and all he wanted was an apology for me but he did threaten me with I could go to juvie for this and I Think my dad was having a hard time not laughing because of just just the situation was comical for a number of reasons

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And and I'm not gonna go into all those reasons right now, but that was one experience. I had With a police officer so that kind of scarred me when

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I was little I didn't really trust police officers so much As I progressed and I got a driver's license.

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I remember one of the first times. I was pulled over I was going to it was a line dance

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Basically I guess a club if you want to call it that but it was a place where you did line dancing and I had you know my jeans on my flannel shirt.

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I had a cowboy hat I was I was ready to go and I get pulled over and Police officer steps up says, you know,

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I I pulled you over at my window and I said no Honestly, I was obeying the speed limit and he said I smell gunpowder.

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I said you smell gunpowder He says yeah, I smell gunpowder on your truck Well, what proceeded to happen was the police officer searched me like actually patted me down search my vehicle without a warrant and Couldn't find anything.

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So he let me go The only thing I could think afterward was I had a Second Amendment bumper sticker and I wondered if because I was pro

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Second Amendment, maybe he didn't like that I think most believe that police officers probably do but maybe he didn't and I couldn't figure out why

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I was pulled over Not too long after that in the next few years. There were a number of times I was pulled over on the same road actually and One time was because they said

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I was swerving all over the road. I was not they just let me go there was another time I was pulled over and it was because they smelled a crack or not crack,

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I'm sorry marijuana and Said that there was weed on me and again proceeded to search me threatened to search the vehicle

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Didn't end up searching it because I protested but again, there was no reason legitimate reason to pull me over so So those are those are just actually a few others.

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There's other stories I can talk about Those are probably more than major stories. I would be able to share about my encounters with police officers

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Now, what am I supposed to draw from that? Am I supposed to draw they pulled me over because I'm white

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They pulled me over because I'm conservative especially with that Second Amendment bumper sticker Am I supposed to think that I was discriminated against because I was a

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Boy Scout? Am I supposed to what am I supposed to draw from that is my question? And what I've always drawn from it is just that it was a fluke thing

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I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and Obviously and God's sovereignty he allowed it to happen but the police ended up, you know profiling me and And pulling me over and thinking suspecting something that wasn't true.

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I wonder whether or not some of this and I'm not saying I'm not doing this to say that Stories from minorities about police discrimination are not true today

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I'm not saying that I'm not saying but I'm saying we should probably Examine those some of those stories at least or at least apply the same rule first But let's assume first that it is possible that we might have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time

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Instead of jumping to its racism now I understand if it happens in the same community a lot to your friends and it's happening to you repeatedly.

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Well, maybe you would assume But again, what am I supposed to assume, you know as a white guy with these experiences?

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And I told this with some of these stories in more detail to The friend

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I was previously talking about and I remember his reaction was maybe it's not because I'm black

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Maybe that's not the reason I've been pulled over maybe it's just the way the police operate and sometimes the police do stupid things because no one's perfect and And and I was kind of happy actually about that Because his stories weren't really that there was nothing said ever by the police officer that indicated racism

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It was really more just you know, he happened to pull me over and I couldn't think of a reason It must have been racism and that's what

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I'm encouraging us to try to abandon. Let's not just assume the worst first Let let's wait until there's more evidence that clearly indicates that racism is the motivation

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For such actions, so that's my encouragement And and kind of I guess me sharing a story that I've been ball of bottling up about this issue and Just haven't thought was really that convincing but Testimonials, I guess mean more to some people than studies.

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So there you go I hope that found that entertaining and for whatever it's worth, you know it