I just saw my first-ever case of racial profiling up close. Here’s what went down. This morning (like most every day) I rode the train into work. Before I sat down, I noticed the guy sitting across from me. The reason I noticed him is he looked eerily like Dave Chappell – if Dave Chappell didn’t have quite the financial wherewithal. He was wearing a hoodie (hood up), a baseball cap, and appeared to be mostly asleep. I didn’t take any more mind of it and went to reading my paper.
About 4 stops up, the train stopped. Nothing unusual about that. They’re doing construction on the line and there are always delays. But they usually last 5 minutes, maybe 10. This one stretched into 15 minutes, or maybe even closer to 20. People started getting annoyed and fidgety. Of course all that stopped when about 6 men, some in uniform and some not- but ALL with guns drawn- came into the train and started walking down the aisle. They stopped right in front of Dave (who was still asleep) and yanked off his hood. He woke up to see six white men with guns standing around him. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy look more surprised in my life. I mean… I’ve seen some surprise parties that went really well, but they didn’t hold a candle to this kind of surprise. My next thought was, “if this devolves into a gun fight, I am in the WORST seat imaginable. Maybe other than Dave.”
They bodily lifted him out of his seat, started rifling through his pockets, and asked him questions like, “how much money do you have?” And “where are you going?” He still seemed a little dazed and confused, and was answering that he didn’t have any money. He was given no explanation as to why he was being harassed or why his rights were being violated. Am I wrong here, but aren’t cops supposed to have some kind of probable cause before they can go through your pockets? At the VERY least, don’t they have to explain that you match the description of someone they’re trying to find, and they need to see what you’re carrying? Dave got none of that. They just treated him like a criminal.
After they abused his civil rights for a couple of minutes, they told him to sit down and then started to walk away. FINALLY, one of the guys told Dave he matched the description of someone they were looking for, “because of the baseball cap.” This was after they rousted the poor guy up out of his seat and humiliated him in front of the entire train car. Then I finally heard one say, “the guy we’re looking for has long hair… dreads.” That’s apparently why they finally decided to leave him alone. Dave clearly had a shaved head under the cap. So he really DIDN’T MEET the description once they pulled back his hood, but they continued to question him anyway. I felt really bad for him.
Imagine you’re on the train on your way to somewhere and you peacefully doze off. Then, you’re awakened by 6 men with guns who start harassing you and digging through your pockets. Then they march off without so much as an apology. And all this done in front of about 100 other people who then start murmuring and looking at you suspiciously – and you didn’t even do a thing. That’s got to ruin your day. I’m glad that kind of thing doesn’t happen in America. Oh, wait…
Behold, a pale writer. 