#CrimingWhileWhite caught fire across Twitter on Wednesday night, as white Americans shared stories of crimes they committed without punishment from the law.
The hashtag was a response to a grand jury’s decision not to indict New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner. The white cop placed the black civilian in a choke hold after Garner was allegedly spotted selling loose cigarettes.
Twitter users submitted anecdotes to shed light on the racial double standard in U.S. law enforcement and the advantages that come with being white:
#CrimingWhileWhite: 1 time arrested w/weed, let go with warning by judge, black girls with me not so lucky. I was called a “nice girl”.
— Pookabun (@Pookabun) December 4, 2014
My 13yo son and his friends were loitering at Walgreens recently. Only his black friend got searched for shoplifting. ~ #CrimingWhileWhite ~
— Dave Hoover (@davehoover) December 4, 2014
At 13 I stole a car with my friends & drove it 2wks before we got busted. Only one charged was black. #CrimingWhileWhite
— Cecily Kellogg (@Cecilyk) December 4, 2014
When I was 17 I was caught shoplifting and they politely asked me to leave the store (with the merchandise) #crimingwhilewhite
— Mark Agee (@MarkAgee) December 3, 2014
#CrimingWhileWhite appears to have inspired another hashtag revealing the other side of the divide, in #AliveWhileBlack:
Crossing the grocery store parking lot. Cops stopped to ask me what I was doing there. I was holding grocery bags. #Alivewhileblack
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) December 4, 2014
Pulled over Edina, Mn- 7:00am. Taking grandparents to doctor. asked “who’s mercerdes I was driving. Who’s Karen finney” #alivewhileblack
— Kathryn Finney (@KathrynFinney) December 4, 2014
Pulled over by cop for playing Jay Z while driving with open windows in Lincoln Pk, Chi. Detained 45 mins. #alivewhileblack @JamilahLemieux
— Amy DuBois Barnett (@amydbarnett) December 4, 2014
Robbed at gunpoint, didnt want 2 go 2 police ’til my mom urged me. Told police my story,treated me as if I robbed someone. #alivewhileblack
— CrackmusicDescendant (@hautcommodity) December 4, 2014
I remember one time when a bunch of us in a salsa band needed to ask for directions. It was late. It was dark. We were overdue for the gig. We found a small country bar. One of the guys said to me: “Emilio, you’re light enough to pass. Go in there and find out where the hell are we.”
And sometimes EVEN I was not light enough.
I recall the time when I was heading from Arizona to the Great Lakes states in the mid 1990s. The little car I was driving was on vapor. But I wasn’t about to stop at some of those towns I passed by.
Not until I got to the Interstate.
When un-white, one learns to deal with it and, for the most part, it is accepted of a sort (so as not to go mad). But the idea that present-day Right Wing Confederates are trying to sell of “white-males-as-vicitims” is just that.
A sell.
I was just at a gas station and I paid at the pump. I kind of chuckled at the fact that despite the sleet and rain I had to stand there and wait for the receipt. None of my white friends even bother with the receipt, but I know of no one black or brown who doesn’t make certain they get that receipt. Why? Because if the white guy pumping gas next to me steals gas and we both drive off at the same time even though the clerk may say it’s a white guy in a white truck, the police are might very well stop me.
It’s funny, most every black or brown person I know spends every day actively trying to avoid going to jail. You don’t want to drive too slow or too fast because you might get pulled over and hauled off to jail. You don’t want to look threatening or angry because you’ll be stopped and asked where you’re going, what you’re doing. It’s a constant and exhausting battle. If white folk were subjected to half of what minorities experience there would be an all out civil war again.
I know I’ve related my years having been bused to a desegregated junior high school in late-60s Miami.
That the culture there was formative.
So much so-- for many years after my family left Miami-- that I had very much the same type of paranoia-- while drivrng/hanging out as a teen-- in an upper-middle-to-upper-class part of Atlanta (kinda makes sense now doesn’t it?).
Matter of fact-- I still treat traffic stops the same way I did as a teen-- yessir/no sir-- hands 10&2-- windows down, dome light on when approached-- regardless of the age or race of the officer.
And as I still drive fast just about everywhere (Houston sprawls!)-- I get stopped once/twice a year.
I think the style of my compliance is almost confusing to white cops. Though the black and brown ones seem to see it for what it is.
jw1
I think there was a book about this:
Black Like Me.
Minority paranoia is intense. At home, we’re constantly looking out the front and back windows. When driving, we’re constantly checking the rear view. When walking down the street, we’re constantly looking around. I really do believe that deep-seated paranoia (is it really paranoid when folks really ARE out to get you?) is why black folks run from the police. They’re not running to necessarily avoid catching a case, but because folks are genuinely afraid.