WHO GETS TO BE SAFE? On Tyreek Hill and DWBs

If you grew up a person of color with a driver’s license, like I did, you know very well the fear of getting pulled over for a DWB – driving while black. Racial profiling is nothing new, the subject has even made it into popular tv shows like Grey’s Anatomy. Especially with the complicated history between law enforcement and people of color in recent years, DWBs have turned deadly. The ACLU reported on the disturbing reality of DWBs all the way back in June of 1999 saying “On our nation's highways today, police ostensibly looking for drug criminals routinely stop drivers based on the color of their skin. This practice is so common that the minority community has given it the derisive term, "driving while black or brown" – a play on the real offense of "driving while intoxicated."”  

Does it really take four police officers to detain one man? NFL player or not, does that not feel excessive? When there is one officer with his knee pressed into the back of a man already in handcuffs, how can the other three not see what is happening is wrong? The Miami-Dade police department has placed one officer on administrative leave following yesterday’s incident, but I want to know about the other three. They get to continue patrolling the streets thinking that what happened is okay? Thinking that they did their job keeping the streets of Miami-Dade county safe from another Black man. 

But who gets to be safe? If money and notoriety cannot guarantee you safety, is it just the color of your skin? We know it’s not education after the 2009 arrest of Henry Louis Gates. Does it always come back to race in this country? What are Black Americans supposed to do when the people paid to keep them safe are the same people that see them as a threat? In his post game press conference, Tyreek Hill told reporters “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill? Lord knows what that guy or guys would have done.” Most of us aren’t Tyreek HIll, what hope do we have? 

I am TIRED of seeing police officers with their knees on Black men’s necks. Because today it’s an NFL star, tomorrow it could be your loved one that the world only knows after their name becomes a trending hashtag. I’m tired. Tired for Tyreek Hill, for Sonya Massey, for Sandra Bland, and for every person of color I know will come after them. We must do better. 

Tyreek Hill’s touchdown celebration hours after run in with police

Photo via AL DIAZ/MIAMI HERALD/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE VIA GETTY; accessed through people.com