Obama’s Been Stopped For Driving While Black, Made Sure Room Full Of Cops Knows It

[KamaAina]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/10/27/obamas-been-stopped-for-driving-while-black-made-sure-room-full-of-cops-knows-it-video/

In a room full of over 14,000 police chiefs, Obama recalled moments from his own life when he was stopped for simply being a person of color. He said:

“There were times when I was younger and maybe even as I got a little older, but before I had a motorcade — where I got pulled over. And I confessed… most of the time I got a ticket, I deserved it. I knew why I was pulled over. But there were times where I didn’t.

And as a report that came out just this week reminded us, there are a lot of African-Americans –- not just me — who have that same kind of story of being pulled over, or frisked, or something. And the data shows that this is not an aberration. It doesn’t mean each case is a problem. It means that when you aggregate all the cases and you look at it, you’ve got to say that there’s some racial bias in the system.

Now, problems of racial justice or injustice have been running themes throughout this country’s history, in every institution — in every institution. And, by the way, bias and stereotypes oftentimes go both ways. So eliminating bias is not something that falls on the police alone.

[HassleCat]

1. I never thought much about it

Until I lived in an area where we had many migrant farm workers, and I drove an old pickup truck. I got pulled over for driving while Mexican (DWM) about twice a week. Most of the time, the cops didn't even try to make up an excuse. As soon as they saw I was an Anglo, they said, "Have a nice day," and drove away.