“Stop being black!” This succinct advice from my father perhaps best summarizes how to protect oneself from hostile encounters with the police. If you can manage to shed your race, then you have already diffused the situation immensely. However, if your race is as immutable as mine, then shedding it is not an option nor is it preferred. Therefore, more practical advice is in order.
I would start by noting this, there is the way the world is, and the way the world should be. The key to surviving a police encounter is to approach the situation not from the perspective of the way the world should be, but the way that the world is. In other words, there is a manner in which we expect the police to behave towards all citizens, and then there is a manner in which they behave toward blacks. Unfortunately, it has become abundantly clear that black citizens are subjected to a different set of standards when they encounter the police (of course not all police treat blacks differently but far too many). Failure to understand this reality has cost way too many of my black brothers and sisters their life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Alton Serling among the latest tragedies.
Thus, I want to use this space to pull the veil back and reveal the unspoken rules on how to survive an encounter with the police if you are Black. I have deduced these rules based upon my experience as a civil rights lawyer and a Black person in America.
- DO NOT FEEL FREE TO EXERCISE YOUR 4TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS:
While it is true (1) that you have the right to resist an unlawful arrest;[1] (2) that if an officer, without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, approaches you, you have a right to ignore the police and go about your business;[2] (3) that the police cannot search your car without a warrant or probable cause if you do not give them permission;[3] (4) that if the police want to call the dogs to search your car they have to do so in the time it would take to write a traffic ticket;[4] (5) that the police cannot use deadly force to stop a fleeing person who does not pose a threat;[5] (6) that the police cannot search inside your pockets during a Stop and Frisk unless they feel something hard like a weapon [6] ; and that the Fourth Amendment affords you several other rights…
…NONE OF THESE PERTAIN TO YOU IF YOU ARE BLACK!!
What you must understand is that the U.S. Supreme Court has created a world filled with legal fiction that views our encounters with the police from the perspective of how the world should be, not how it is. Trying to avail yourself of these legal fictions will get you maimed or killed. In the end the police officer will lie if they have to. They will say they smelled the “distinct odor of burnt cannabis emanating from the vehicle” to create probable cause where it does not otherwise exist. They will say they warned you when they did not. And they will shoot you in the back and say they feared for their life because they saw you reach for a gun, even though you were unarmed. Yes, you may have rights in theory, but if you cannot enforce them in court, then what you have is an illusion. Don’t die for an illusion!
- REMEMBER TO REMAIN SUBMISSIVE AT ALL TIMES:
Under no circumstance should you feel empowered to defend your God-given dignity. Rather, you must recognize your place. Remember, the police have government issued weapons that they are not afraid to use. In fact, if they use these weapons against you unlawfully, please know that it is very unlikely that they will receive any form of punishment. (See Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray). Rather, you or your family will spend years trying to redeem your good name in a media all too willing to demonize you by bringing up that one fight you had in the second grade.
That is why I implore you to remain submissive at all times, preferably slave-like, when addressing the police. If they ask for your slave papers, I mean your license, then readily provide them for the officer. If they ask you where you are going, don’t get indignant. Give them an answer, even if it’s “Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go.” The key is survival, and that can only happen if you remember that you are not that far removed from your ancestors.
- DO NOT RESIST THEM:
Although I posted an article a few weeks ago about Why Black People Run From The Police, I want to be clear–this is not something we should do. In fact, when you encounter the police, stop moving, lift your hands slowly and start screaming really loudly, “I am not resisting officer! I am not resisting officer! Please don’t shoot!” Feel free to add any other descriptors of what you are doing in that moment as well. Hopefully this will draw a crowd with cell phones, and that is where the real protection comes in. Because let’s face it, if police brutality isn’t caught on camera, it does not exist…and even then…
However, if you find yourself without a crowd with cellphones, you still must avoid the urge to resist. Do not run, do not flitch, and do not try to breathe as they choke you to the ground. Even if you have done nothing wrong, if the officer says get on the ground, then get on the ground. You must understand that for Blacks in America, every crime is punishable by death, even selling CDs and loose cigarettes. Thus, whether you are wrong, right, or that gray space in between, your sentence may be the same. As I noted above, you can be well within your right in resisting the police, but still end up dead and your name scandalized. Ask yourself, is it worth it?
Ultimately, the best way to survive an encounter with the police is to recondition the American psyche to not fear Black people. America has built its house on the faulty foundation of white supremacy. This foundation has killed Blacks and poisoned the minds of all. It is a weak foundation that has created an even weaker house. As I look out onto the landscape of America I see a storm brewing and I am not so sure the house will withstand it.
We can work to end police brutality, but it is symptomatic of the underlying issue. Police brutality will continue, as my father says, “So long as the police, and most of Americans, see Blacks as suspects instead of citizens; as those who are to be hunted instead of those to be protected.” That will only happen when we as a nation commit ourselves to ingrain in our minds the truth that Black Lives Matter too; that they are to be valued along with all other lives. We must work to rebuild the foundation of our house. Until that happens, then I’m afraid the best solution for Blacks are the rules listed above…or perhaps something more subversive.
–Until Next Time–
Palooke
[1] See John Bad Elk v. U.S., 177 U.S. 529 (1900)
[2] See Florida v. Royer, 460 US 491, 498 (1983)
[3] See Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
[4] See Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 407-08 (2005)
[5] See Tennessee v. Garner, 471 US 1 (1985)
[6] See Terry v. Ohio, 392 US 1 (1968)
This one left me breathless. I could see you shouting this at the top of your lungs. This reminds me of Criminal Procedure in law school. I recall our professor saying that these protections only really come into play when the case is being argued in court. In other words, don’t try to assert your rights in the heat of the moment when it’s just little ol’ you and the cops. I do think that it’s sad that the emphasis with Alton Sterling’s case has become “well he did have a gun” the assumption being that he was unlawfully in possession of one. He may have been – only time will tell – but carrying a gun does not necessarily justify your being wrestled to the ground and shot. Lord have mercy.
I read a lot of present day willie lynch in this. It’s a sad state of affairs we live in today…a sad, sad commentary….