Walking while black- thoughts

[Elsa]

I posted on CEP first, forgetting what today is. Dammit.

Anyways. I need thoughts on this. Its news my circle for several reasons (where it is, who wrote the oped, my boss' H is a cop- not in that city but still, etc)

www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20151028-dorothy-bland-i-was-caughtwalking-while-black.ece


Flashing lights and sirens from a police vehicle interrupted a routine Saturday morning walk in my golf-course community in Corinth.

I often walk about 3 miles near daybreak as part of my daily exercise. However, on Oct. 24, I delayed my walk until late morning as I waited for the rain to stop. I was dressed in a gray hooded “Boston” sweatshirt, black leggings, white socks, plus black-and-white Nike running shoes. Like most African-Americans, I am familiar with the phrase “driving while black,” but was I really being stopped for walking on the street in my own neighborhood?

Yes. In the words of Sal Ruibal, “Walking while black is a crime in many jurisdictions. May God have mercy on our nation.”

Knowing that the police officers are typically armed with guns and are a lot bigger than my 5 feet, 4 inches, I had no interest in my life’s story playing out like Trayvon Martin’s death. I stopped and asked the two officers if there was a problem; I don’t remember getting a decent answer before one of the officers asked me where I lived and for identification.

I remember saying something like, “Around the corner. This is my neighborhood, and I’m a taxpayer who pays a lot of taxes.” As for the I.D. question, how many Americans typically carry I.D. with them on their morning walk? Do you realize I bought the hoodie I was wearing after completing the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education in 2014? Do you realize I have hosted gatherings for family, friends, faculty, staff and students in my home? Not once was a police officer called. To those officers, my education or property-owner status didn’t matter. One officer captured my address and date of birth.

I guess I was simply a brown face in an affluent neighborhood. I told the police I didn’t like to walk in the rain, and one of them told me, “My dog doesn’t like to walk in the rain.” Ouch!

I didn’t have my I.D., but I did have my iPhone, so I took a picture of the two police officers and the Texas license plate. One of the officers told me I should walk on the sidewalk or the other side of the street for safety’s sake.

Although I am not related to Sandra Bland, I thought about her, Freddie Gray and the dozens of others who have died while in police custody. For safety’s sake, I posted the photo of the officers on Facebook, and within hours, more than 100 Facebook friends spread the news from New York to California.

“You are now in the company of Henry Louis Gates and others with the same experience,” wrote one of my former students from Florida. “We must stop racial profiling.”

For anyone who doesn’t think racial profiling happens, I can assure you it does happen. For a sanity check, I stopped by the mayor’s house and asked him, “Do I look like a criminal?” Mayor Bill Heidemann said no and shook his head in disbelief. I appreciate the mayor being a good neighbor, but why should he need to verify that I am not a menace to society?

I refuse to let this incident ruin my life. As I was finishing my walk and listening to Urban Praise radio, I encountered an elderly white woman who asked if I would like some roses. She gave me a half-dozen roses. It was a random act of kindness and that’s why I call Janet Herbison of Gemini Peach and Rose Farm in Denton a good Samaritan. That evening I had dinner with neighbors.

The more often we talk and get to know people as humans, the stronger we will become as a nation. We are all part of the human race.

Dorothy Bland is the dean of the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism and the director for the Frank W. Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism at the University of North Texas. Reach her at [e-mail].

ANOTHER TAKE: POLICE RESPONSE

Corinth Police Chief Debra Walthall says the encounter was about resident’s safety, not race.

I appreciate the opportunity to respond to Ms. Bland’s comments. My officers, a field training officer and his recruit, observed Ms. Bland walking in the roadway wearing earbuds and unaware that there was a pickup truck directly behind her that had to almost come to a complete stop to avoid hitting her.

The driver of the truck looked at the officers as they passed and held his hands in the air, which implied “aren’t you going to do something about this?” The officers turned around and drove behind Ms. Bland.

They activated their in-car video camera, which shows her again walking in the roadway impeding traffic. They activated their emergency lights — no siren was ever sounded — they exited their patrol vehicle and contacted Ms. Bland.

They immediately advised Ms. Bland about the pickup truck and the fact that it was safer for her to walk against traffic so she could see the cars and jump out of the way if necessary. The interaction between Ms. Bland and the officers was very cordial and brief.

Ms. Bland had been observed earlier by these same officers, but she was not in the street and impeding traffic, so she was not contacted.

Impeding traffic is a Class C misdemeanor, and it is our policy to ask for identification from people we encounter for this type violation. I am surprised by her comments as this was not a confrontational encounter but a display of professionalism and genuine concern for her safety.

Please review the video and I’m sure you will agree the officers’ intent was simply to keep her safe. Ms. Bland never contacted the police department to voice her concerns regarding this encounter and has not returned my phone message left at the number provided by the mayor.

The citizens of Corinth as a whole are a highly educated population, and it is disappointing that one of our residents would attempt to make this a racial issue when clearly it is not.

Debra Walthall is Corinth’s chief of police. Reach her at [e-mail].

[Elsa]

I have no idea why that eyeroll emoticon is in the middle of the link. lol

[thatgirl2478]

I don't know.

It's obvious from the video that she's walking on the wrong side & oblivious to what's going around her so I can see it as a safety issue.

Was there another way to address it? I don't know.

I will say that racial profiling DOES happen. I just don't know that it was happening here.

[thatgirl2478]

Oct 30, 2015 10:19:27 GMT -5 freedom said:

Oct 30, 2015 10:18:37 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

Did you watch the video?

No, I didn't see there was a video, sorry. I read the article posted.

watch the video. 

[thatgirl2478]

Oct 30, 2015 10:21:02 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

I already responded on CEP..

I think it's a good example of heightened tension and a greater need to work on police/community relations.

I don't think these officers did anything wrong. My first impression was she tried to manufacture a problem, but I think she wrote it how she saw it. I think her defenses were way up, and given current events, I don't blame her. I would love to see this end in another beer-gate, but I'm sure that's not going to happen. I think this event is an opportunity to come together, but I am already anticipating the facebook posts I'm going to see that are going to make me sad.

I can see that.  

[thebuddhagouda]

I think racial profiling absolutely does happen. I don't think it happened here.

[LLL]

you need two officers to tell a jogger to walk on the the sidewalk? Why isn't this conversation being had on the sidewalk if her safety was the primary concern? 

[thebuddhagouda]

And my initial reaction is "Come on, lady, you're just making things worse" but that's obviously very easy for me to say as a caucasian, and I'm not going to pretend she doesn't have a reason to be hyper aware of racial issues with police officers and easily interpret it differently than me. So basically, I don't know what I think .

[thatgirl2478]

Oct 30, 2015 10:22:55 GMT -5 freedom said:

Oct 30, 2015 10:21:18 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

watch the video. 

I can't watch anything with sound until after work.

gottcha - She was walking on the wrong side of the road (in a neighborhood where there are side walks), it took a while for her to even notice the cops behind her trying to get her attention.  She had her hoodie up and her earbuds in (so her peripheral vision was cut off and she couldn't hear what was going on around her).  They stopped her, told her it was safer to walk on the oncoming side so she didn't get hit by a car, then asked for ID so they could complete the call (no tickets - just sounded like record keeping).  She didn't have it but said that she lived 'over there' and that someone over there can vouch for her.  However, they just took her name address & dob and didn't press further for more info.  As they were waiting for (I suppose) the 'all clear' to leave, she mentioned how she usually walks in the morning, but didn't today because it was raining & she doesn't like walking in the rain.  One cop said some people like it, but even his dog didn't like to walk in the rain.  I guess you could take this as an insult if you were looking for that to be the situation, but when I heard it it sounded more conversational than insulting.

[Elsa]

Oct 30, 2015 10:25:28 GMT -5 thebuddhagouda said:

And my initial reaction is "Come on, lady, you're just making things worse" but that's obviously very easy for me to say as a caucasian, and I'm not going to pretend she doesn't have a reason to be hyper aware of racial issues with police officers and easily interpret it differently than me. So basically, I don't know what I think .

Yes, this was basically my reaction.

I think that, overall, the encounter with the police officers was not negative. I was surprised when they asked for her ID, but after reading the article, and speaking with my boss (who's H is a cop, and she shared that they track EVERYthing, and since they had gotten out of their vehicle, that this was SOP.

As far as having two officers approach her....I agree, I'm not sure that was necessary. But I couldn't tell she was black from behind because of how she was dressed, so again, I'm not sure that racial profiling played into the decision for both officers to get out of the car. I do think that I read that one officer was a trainee, so he may have been instructed to stick tight to the training officer to learn how to handle all types of incidents.

[readyin07]

I was always taught that if I was walking on the road that I should walk with the flow of traffic so my first thought was confusion on the officer's advice. Apparently this is only correct for biking, I had no idea so c,early I have been committing misdemeanors every time I walk on a road without a sidewalk. I fail to see how she was impeding traffic. I mean it is a non busy residential road, wtf didn't the Truck just go around? And if she wasn't impeding traffic it is not a misdemeanor and just giving her the heads up that she needs to be more aware of her surroundings doesn't require someone to take your name and address,

[FastHands]

Oct 30, 2015 10:21:02 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

I already responded on CEP..

I think it's a good example of heightened tension and a greater need to work on police/community relations.

I don't think these officers did anything wrong. My first impression was she tried to manufacture a problem, but I think she wrote it how she saw it. I think her defenses were way up, and given current events and life, I don't blame her. I would love to see this end in another beer-gate, but I'm sure that's not going to happen. I think this event is an opportunity to come together, but I am already anticipating the facebook posts I'm going to see that are going to make me sad.

I added the bolded to your comment.

It's of course impossible to know the intention of the officers, but judging by the video, it does seem fairly innocuous. But placing it within the framework of her life and experiences, it's not at all hard to see why she would come to the conclusion that she did. It is evidence of the realities of racism still alive today, not because the officers were necessarily profiling, but because she's not crazy to think that she would be profiled. 

[thatgirl2478]

Oct 30, 2015 10:24:46 GMT -5 LLL said:

you need two officers to tell a jogger to walk on the the sidewalk? Why isn't this conversation being had on the sidewalk if her safety was the primary concern? 

I'm sure there's some sort of protocol on that or something. 

And if the cop car is already stopped in the road, it's unlikely that anyone is going to run over them at that point. 

I'm not sure why they didn't tell her to use the sidewalk, but they did tell her to walk on the other side so she could see traffic coming.

[Deleted]

Elsa what is today? I'm sorry, but I'm missing some context.

[cayl]

As an impartial (white) observer, do I think the officers did anything wrong? No. I think they were very respectful and made it clear that it was about her safety, and I truly believe that they would have stopped a white person in the same circumstance. I also kept looking at the sidewalks and wondering why she wasn't walking there.

However, I can certainly see and understand her viewpoint. As the officers pointed out, she didn't notice the truck that almost had to come to a complete stop, so from her perspective, how does she know they're telling the truth? She sees it as white officers stopping a black woman while walking in an affluent neighborhood. And that IS what happened. The motivation behind it is what's at question, and how that is viewed is obviously interpreted by past experiences.

My question is what should the officers do? It seems like they did everything right - explained what was wrong and that they were concerned for her, let her photograph them and their plates without any argument, were respectful. I wouldn't want them to NOT stop her for a safety concern because she's black and they don't want it to seem like profiling. Is there a right answer?

[thebuddhagouda]

Oct 30, 2015 10:35:21 GMT -5 @courtneyloves said:

Elsa what is today? I'm sorry, but I'm missing some context.

It's AE day on CEP 

[Elsa]

Oct 30, 2015 10:32:22 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

I was always taught that if I was walking on the road that I should walk with the flow of traffic so my first thought was confusion on the officer's advice. Apparently this is only correct for biking, I had no idea so c,early I have been committing misdemeanors every time I walk on a road without a sidewalk. I fail to see how she was impeding traffic. I mean it is a non busy residential road, wtf didn't the Truck just go around? And if she wasn't impeding traffic it is not a misdemeanor and just giving her the heads up that she needs to be more aware of her surroundings doesn't require someone to take your name and address,

I figured they used the "impeding traffic" to help look out for her safety. They stated in the video that they had been behind her for 20 seconds, and she had no idea. That is definitely dangerous.

As I said earlier, my boss explained that any time an officer approaches a citizen it becomes a "contact" and they usually try to get name/ID/address for their records. I was not aware this was standard, but she said it was (her H is a cop in a nearby city)

[Elsa]

Oct 30, 2015 10:35:21 GMT -5 @courtneyloves said:

Elsa what is today? I'm sorry, but I'm missing some context.

CEP's Halloween AE day where they all create AEs and post as them.

Funny, but not ideal for discussing real stuff

[thebuddhagouda]

Oct 30, 2015 10:32:22 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

I was always taught that if I was walking on the road that I should walk with the flow of traffic so my first thought was confusion on the officer's advice. Apparently this is only correct for biking, I had no idea so c,early I have been committing misdemeanors every time I walk on a road without a sidewalk. I fail to see how she was impeding traffic. I mean it is a non busy residential road, wtf didn't the Truck just go around? And if she wasn't impeding traffic it is not a misdemeanor and just giving her the heads up that she needs to be more aware of her surroundings doesn't require someone to take your name and address,

Yup. You bike with traffic. You walk against it. 

At one point she is pretty clearly almost in the middle of the road, and we didn't see the truck incident. I know that I would feel uncomfortable as a driver passing someone who was that oblivious to traffic in the same way I get really nervous driving by people walking with small children in the road. 

[papie]

I am not black, nor am I american.  I think they stopped her because she was walking on the wrong side of the street and flailing her arms around and looked like she was oblivious to everything around her.  I think they should have left it at the safety recommendation. It is very weird that they then felt the need to verify her identity.  It's also weird that she took their pictures.  

[specialk]

Oct 30, 2015 10:24:46 GMT -5 LLL said:

you need two officers to tell a jogger to walk on the the sidewalk? Why isn't this conversation being had on the sidewalk if her safety was the primary concern? 

There were two officers because one was a field training officer there to train, observe, and supervise the other officer. 

I agree with the statement that this is an example of a needs to work on police and community relations and that while racial profiling does happen, I don't believe this is an example of it.

[papie]

Oct 30, 2015 10:32:22 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

I was always taught that if I was walking on the road that I should walk with the flow of traffic so my first thought was confusion on the officer's advice. Apparently this is only correct for biking, I had no idea so c,early I have been committing misdemeanors every time I walk on a road without a sidewalk.

I,ve always been told that when you jog, you do it against traffic.  

[amberlyrose]

Oct 30, 2015 10:24:46 GMT -5 LLL said:

you need two officers to tell a jogger to walk on the the sidewalk? Why isn't this conversation being had on the sidewalk if her safety was the primary concern? 

The article did say that one was in training, so I could see why two cops were present, but I agree they could move it to the sidewalk if it really was in the name of safety.

[WOT?*]

There were two officers because of protocol. More importantly, there were two officers because one was a field training officer and one was a recruit. The field officer could have handled it on his own (and left the recruit in the car), but it was a training opportunity for the recruit, and best practices would be to have him at the scene as well. Otherwise, how would he be able to observe the interaction and learn procedures?

I absolutely think that there is frequently bias, but I didn't see it here. I couldn't tell her race because she was covered and the interaction seemed cordial and professional. The ID question was answered above...it's needed for the report.

[FastHands]

This reminds me of a marital dispute when things are already on the rocks and tensions are high. I truly don't believe there were any poor intentions on the part of the officers, but you HAVE to understand where this woman would jump to being defensive and "here we go again." I don't think this is a case of "who was right."

[aliciaflorrick]

I think it would serve the police well to do a better job of explaining why they are asking for ID. They were respectful but I can see why it bothered her.

[LLL]

The sound is not working for me on the video so I can't hear the convo. For me it has less to do with the validity of the claim (yes, she should be walking on the sidewalk--it does seem as though she is unaware of her surroundings). I feel for her that what should be just a basic interaction between law enforcement and a distracted citizen becomes so much more, given the social climate. 
I remember last year, someone posted an OpEd from QuestLove regarding a neighbor getting off on another floor to avoid being stuck in an elevator with him. Plenty of people came to the defense of the woman. He had done nothing wrong but plenty of people understood and empathized with her discomfort. To me this is the same thing. 

[Elsa]

Oct 30, 2015 10:53:42 GMT -5 aliciaflorrick said:

I think it would serve the police well to do a better job of explaining why they are asking for ID. They were respectful but I can see why it bothered her.

I agree- I think transparency was missing here. I think that explaining might help.

[bittybomb]

Oct 30, 2015 10:21:02 GMT -5 mockingbird said:

I already responded on CEP..

I think it's a good example of heightened tension and a greater need to work on police/community relations.

I don't think these officers did anything wrong. My first impression was she tried to manufacture a problem, but I think she wrote it how she saw it. I think her defenses were way up, and given current events, I don't blame her. I would love to see this end in another beer-gate, but I'm sure that's not going to happen. I think this event is an opportunity to come together, but I am already anticipating the facebook posts I'm going to see that are going to make me sad.

I don't think she was trying to manufacture a problem; I think she genuinely felt profiled.  I think this incident just goes to show how broken our system is.  The fact that she genuinely felt that way, says so so so much to me.  Its sad to me and I hate that she was made to feel that way.