This is a true story.
A few years back I was driving home one evening after teaching a graduate class at the University of Maryland. It was a November evening at about 10:15 p.m. and I was less than a mile from home when a police car appeared in my rearview mirror with its lights flashing.
ME: I was confident I had done nothing wrong. I thought “Hmmm, maybe my taillight is out.”
OFFICER: “Good evening sir, may I please have your license and registration.”
ME: As he goes back to his car, I start thinking of important things like whether the Steelers will make it to the Super Bowl this year.
OFFICER: “Do you know why I stopped you, sir?”
ME: “No sir.”
OFFICER: “I saw you driving north on Colesville Road and when you approached University Avenue you did a U turn to go south on Colesville – which is illegal. Isn’t that what you did, sir?”
ME: “Uh, no. I was driving west on University Avenue. I turned left/south on Colesville and a little bit after that you pulled me over.”
OFFICER: “Oh.” Pause. “Sorry sir, have a nice evening.”
ME: “You too.” And I think to myself that this young man must be seriously sleep deprived to have hallucinated my U turn.
I encourage you to share this story with some of your Black friends and ask them how they think the whole scenario would have played out if they were the person driving the car – not me. I have done that and here are some examples of what they have told me.
Police car appears in rearview mirror with flashing lights.
BLACK FRIEND: Even if I was confident I had done nothing wrong, I would have thought “Here we go again.” I would have gotten very nervous and tried to remain calm.
OFFICER: “Good evening sir, may I please have your license and registration.”
BLACK FRIEND: As he goes back to his car, I immediately call my wife and tell her what’s happening. I’m close to home and she wonders if she should drive over. I tell her no, but to get ready. I put her on speaker. I try to remain calm.
OFFICER: “Do you know why I stopped you, sir?”
Same exchange between the Officer and my Black friend, where he explains he did not do a U turn. But here is where it becomes especially interesting.
The experience was already day and night different for me and my Black friend due to the anxiety and stress they would feel, while I didn’t really think much of it. Many Black friends don’t think that the police officer would have believed them. I’m a white guy with grey in my beard, driving a boring Volvo. Many Black friends tell me stories about being followed by police cars for no apparent reason – worrying they will get pulled over for fake charges.
One Black friend told me, “You have to understand that even if he did let me go, I would have wondered if he was just trying to hassle me. You thought he was sleep deprived and I would have thought he was just trying to give a Black man a hard time. This would have bothered me for days whereas you just brushed it off.”
We usually don’t think of things like this when we think of White Privilege. But it definitely is one: the privilege of not worrying about being discriminated against – sometimes with tragic results.
