Justice and my personal dealings with police officers.
*The following are things that I have personally witnessed and been a part of.* Take that for what it is.
The case was as follows, roughly. A guy was subject to a sting operation for selling marijuana.
He was basically the local weed dealer. No evidence was presented that he sold any other drug.
On the day in question, he met up with someone at a gas station to sell an ounce of marijuana.
The team of police officers, and yes, there was a team of them set up the sting. Around 5..maybe 7...Both exits were supposed to be blocked to prevent escape. One police officer was not in his designated place, so the exit that was supposed to be blocked was not.
The police officer did not block the exit, he pulled up to the gas pump. (This is relevant, just bear with me)
Anyway, our suspect pulled in and realized in a hurry that he was about to be arrested, so he ran.
There was a police officer that was in front of the truck that was at the gas pump, instead of blocking the exit, per the plan. It is my belief that this incident was entirely preventable in several ways. For the love of God, stop prosecuting people for a plant. Second of all, if that police officer would have been where he was supposed to have been, nobody would have gotten hurt. That was the overriding opinion of myself and all of the jurors. However, that's not what we were there to deliberate, unfortunately. As our suspect was fleeing, he pinned the police officer between his car, and the truck that wasn't supposed to be there.
The police officer was severely injured. His leg got pinned between the two vehicles.
So, now we're in court and we had to find the suspect guilty of injuring that officer. Because he did.
HOWEVER, it should have never been that way. Why did they need to set up a 5-7 man sting for an ounce of shitty weed? Why? Maybe because he was African American?
That guy had been arrested a few times for marijuana, but that was ALL. He wasn't violent, he wasn't selling other drugs.
The end result is that we put this guy away for EIGHTY years. EIGHTY. I will NEVER forget the way his mother cried when that sentence was read out. Never.
Then, you know what they do? They hustle us out the back way in case there was retribution. You know what? My ride wasn't there yet. So, I sat in the courtyard for a good 15 minutes before I procured a ride home. People saw me. Nobody threatened me or anything.
So, in my mind if we can put a guy in jail for eighty years, these policemen that are killing people for cigarettes...they need to come to justice. This officer is still on the job, and that guy got eighty years.
Now, same place, I am pulled over in my mini-van. My passenger was smoking marijuana and I know damn well that van was Cheech and Chonged up...smoke rolling out the windows. The officer let me go with a warning after ascertaining that I had not been drinking. "Don't get complacent, ma'am." "Yes, sir."
Another time, same place, one of my sons wrecked his vehicle ..put it in a creek bed. Was resisting a field sobriety test. I was there, just waiting for him to be hauled off so I could bail him out of jail. He was absolutely pretending to have a heart attack, the whole nine yards.
Finally, the officer said..."Is that his momma down there...get her over here, I can't do a thing with him." So I went and told my son real quiet to just comply with the officer. And then he did...he alsoblew over the legal limit for alcohol....
After it was said and done, the officer gave me his card and told me he was going to yell at my son. I said ok. And he did get in his face and chew his ass out, but you know, never once, not one time was I afraid for my son's life. Not once. And he didn't even get a ticket.
One time I was a little concerned in Alabama...one of my other sons was speeding and he was a little aggressive with the police officer, and the officer did take a step back and have his hand hover over his gun. I fussed at my son, and de-escalated the situation, but, I wonder how many of my African American sisters have the luxury of being there when their babies are being interrogated by the police.
I have had one personal experience that was negative involving a police officer, and had I known better, I should have had his badge. I was pulled over in Alabama with my two young kids. Boy howdy, he sure didn't count on their sass, haha! He had no reason to pull me over. Ok, I was going 3 miles over the speed limit. I had already been pulled over earlier that day. and been ticketed in Texas. I was doing the 12 hour drive from Texas back to Atlanta. It was Talladega weekend, and I guess that's a drug corridor or something. Whatever. He pulled me into his vehicle, and left my two kids by themselves in my car while we were on the side of the road. I was so afraid that we were going to get sideswiped. He interrogated me, he interrogated them. I was dropping off a load of stuff to move. That was fucked up. I wasn't afraid for my life, though, beyond traffic.
After all that, I was let go with a warning.
So, is it difficult for me to understand the hurt, and the outrage and the anger of African Americans? Not one bit.
Are all cops bad? No. I have friends that I have served with who are serving as police officers to this day. And they shouldn't have to fear for their lives either, and they do. Does racism exist in this country? Absolutely yes. Does white privilege exist? Absolutely.
It is up to us ...because at the end of the day, we are all Americans..it is up to us to fix this. We need to be right. MORE loving, more understanding, more united.
This isn't cops against people. It's not blacks against whites, it's not cops against black people. It is the government trying to hold on to the power WE have given them to keep us distracted and hating each other. This is what we are fighting. WE need to take that power back.
The politicians that are driving this hatred are so far removed from the average American that we need to toss the lot of them out and start picking from amongst ourselves.
If you are reading this, then I probably love you. Drop a comment, educate me where I'm wrong, support me where I'm right, and let's take this country back. We are gonna have to be sneaky, though, and we're going to have to work together. We can do this.
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