Image and Black Perception among Others

I took a drive to McDonald's one night with my white husband. We got in the parking lot and there were about 6 to 7 police officers standing around talking...We went through the drive-thru and as we pulled off....I began to gain insight on racial profiling...

My husband works late nights and often gets off at 2am in the morning. So, I was up and we felt like going out for a drive..I was dressed in nothing but a t-shirt, capris, and a doo-rag on my head..My husband was driving and I was in the passenger seat. Now, in our local community LUCKILY everyone knows everyone on the police department. In fact, I am very proud to say that the chief of police is a black man that was my next door neighbor I grew up with. His wife is my high-school classmate and his sister is the head of the local NAACP. Plus, our town had never experienced incidents like Ferguson (NOT to say it could not happen).

Anyway, I began to reverse this and put myself in the mind of a racial profiling. What if those cops assumed I was a prostitute with a white man at 2am in the morning. (Unfortunately, our town does have a low percentages of hookers looking for drugs that are BLACK and WHITE). And interracial couples are very rare in our community. What if they had come over to our car asking questions..Would they assume that and not know I am an educated black woman with 3 degrees, a homeowner, and law-abiding taxpayer....What if this happened all because of they way I looked that night..Thank goodness my husband happens to know half of the guys on the police force and I know the chief of police personally..BUT, that is not always the case for many blacks in America.

I remember being in Minneapolis, Minnesota two weeks ago. We went to the Mall of America. We went into Macy's department store. My husband went in the men section, and I went in the women section. No-one was hardly in that section and an older white lady was behind the counter. I was looking for some dresses and wanted to try them on..I got what I wanted and left. BUT, what if I was being racially profiled and accused of shoplifting and arrested...All because I am black...They would assume that without knowing I was in Minnesota attending my graduation ceremony of my master degree and my husband and I had plenty of money to spend....However, that is not always the case for many blacks...

I do not want to myself or anyone to be profiled because of looks. Sadly, Trayvon Martin died senselessly because he LOOKED like he was "up to no good"...


The whole point of this real-life story is to get SOME white people to think about being in the other person's shoes...