When I was 17, I was handcuffed at gunpoint by some policemen in Rolla MO (where I grew up) who claimed to have mistaken a squirtgun I was holding for the real thing. It was one of those old toy guns that was made before companies started making toy guns with bright orange plastic, so I can see that they may have had legitimate cause for doing what they did at first. After they realized that neither I nor my friend (who also had a toy gun) were a threat, they uncuffed us and one officer Potter sat us in his car and and gave us a very intimidating lecture in which he explained how many rounds he carried with him and that he would shoot us with every last one if he thought we were a threat. I assume he thought that scaring us straight would be the best thing he could do for us but there is still no doubt in my mind that he enjoyed scaring us and I can still remember thinking that he was kind of a sadist. As a white kid, I never questioned certain things about the exchange but I will say that he didnt seem to treat my friend, who is an Indian, any differently. Basically, I recall this episode now because I think he seemed, like so so many other policemen, like someone who was looking for conflict. I often wonder if things would have ended tragicallly if either of us had shown this windbag the slightest degree of disrespect at just the wrong moment. In addition to dealing with obvious race inequalities, I want government bodies to find a way to separate wannabe heroes from peacekeepers (I pray that there actually may be some) when hiring officers. #wecantbreathe. #fireeverycopandstartover
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 00:49:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015