A scenario and a question about it
A young engaged couple walks into a dollar store in Phoenix. He’s 22, I don’t know her age but it’s likely to be close. They are with their two daughters, one aged four and the other a one year old being carried by her mother, who is pregnant.
The four year old walks out of the store carrying a box with a doll in it. No one has paid for it.
The family drives to their destination, day care. Upon arrival the car is surrounded by screaming cops (using copious obscenities), at least one of whom has his gun drawn. The couple is ordered out of the car. The young man is cuffed and kicked in the back of the legs. The young woman is ordered repeatedly to exit the vehicle but she’s on a side in the back seat where the door doesn’t open so she can’t do it quickly, which is just making the screaming escalate.
By way of justification, the police claim the couple also stole underwear from the store. The allegedly stolen underwear is not found in the vehicle.
The doll was of course returned to the store. There is no evidence the couple noticed the box on the way out of the store. The store is not pressing charges.
That’s the scenario. Here’s my question for you:
What race is the couple?
The question is of course facetious. If you read the story, you already know what race the couple is. A four year old girl walks out of a dollar store with a box containing a doll, guns are drawn and a man is cuffed and kicked over this.
No one was killed. It wasn’t a big enough crime. After all, it’s not like the four year old girl was selling individual cigarettes in front of a grocery store in Staten Island.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/phoenix-officer-be-fired-pulling-gun-parents-over-doll-taken-n1070296
10/30/2019 @ 9:57 am
People who are paying attention are aware of the story and scenario and know that the couple is black.
People who are not familiar with the story and scenario might acurately guess that the couple was black based on knowledge of news reports of similar situations and circumstances.
Then there are the people who are completely oblivious, indifferent, and incredulous. Theses are the folks for whom scenarios of this nature make absolutely no difference because none of this matters to them. Their lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles are unaffected by the realities people of color live with on a day to day basis….
These folks are more than indifferent, they just don’t give a shit about anything or anybody but themselves…
10/30/2019 @ 11:30 am
Some don’t believe it, some don’t care. Those who don’t believe it believe that if the police did that they must have had a valid reason and that Black people complaining are highly unlikely to have a valid reason because Black people complain about this stuff all the time. (Guess why?) In other words, they assume from the outset that the police are more trustworthy in situations like this than Black people are. They stereotype.
The Don’t Care phenomenon was best illustrated by the White reaction to the OJ verdict. Black people cheered, White people didn’t understand why. Black people saw the police miss their mark because of racist behavior, White people thought the racist behavior was trivial compared to the case itself when of course the racist behavior had vastly greater consequences than the murder did.