- One day, we took Sana and his parents on a road trip to Niagara Falls. Just past St. Catharines, Sana tossed a dirty tissue out the window. Within seconds, we heard a siren: a cop had been driving behind us, and he immediately pulled us onto the shoulder. A hush came over the car as the stocky officer strode up to the window and asked my dad if he knew why we’d been stopped. “Yes,” my father answered, his voice shaky, like a child in the principal’s office. My dad isn’t a big man, but he always cut an imposing figure in our household. This was the first time I realized he could be afraid of something. “He’s going to pick it up right now,” he assured the officer nervously, as Sana exited the car to retrieve the garbage. The cop seemed casually uninterested, but everyone in the car thrummed with tension, as if they were bracing for something catastrophic. After Sana returned, the officer let us go. We drove off, overcome with silence until my father finally exploded. “You realize everyone in this car is black, right?” he thundered at Sana. “Yes, Uncle,” Sana whispered, his head down and shoulders slumped. That afternoon, my imposing father and cocky cousin had trembled in fear over a discarded Kleenex.
That's it, I'm moving to Ca—oh wait. I had a black English teacher in undergrad. He wore suits and drove a nice car. He got stopped all the time (this was in Texas). He said the Midwest was worse than Texas, unbelievably. He'd get stopped by Kansas police who would outright accuse him, "Did you steal that car?" "What do you do?" "I'm an English professor." "You can't lie to us, you know we can look it up." -_- I'm white (or white enough), and I get the same reaction from my white friends. "Racism isn't a problem anymore" "One of my best friends grew up Hispanic in El Paso; you're trying to tell me El Paso police aren't racist?" "Oh, but it's not bad here." "Yes it is, you just don't see it." It's infuriating. Part of why I left Texas. I have a lot of friends there, who otherwise seem like really good people, but when race comes up, suddenly they're blind and deaf. It was really hard to live around. Kinda like having a nice neighbor who bakes the best cookies with swastika icing. Same BS if I mention Native American atrocities, or current rez poverty. Freedom can't exist without transparency. Ihre Papieren, bitte?When I told my white friends about these encounters with police, they’d often respond with skepticism and dismissal
All that information lives in a top-secret database
it’s important that you always carry identification
My German grammar is rusty, but I believe Ihre is the accusative plural (papers being plural), though I think you're right, Papier should be accusative, as in '[you] [give me] your papers.' Regardless, 'Ihre Papiere, bitte' was a common phrase in Nazi Germany.
Hmm, that makes sense. I'm iffy on when and how pronouns should be changed.
I know that I'm not supposed to read the comments, but I started to. Here's one of them: Meanwhile, this guy: has just been named Toronto's new chief of police.This should be required reading for everyone in this city who thinks [Toronto] this is such a tolerant and forward-thinking place to live.
I agree. People who say there is no racism have to spend a month in someone else's skin.
