Post by LIFE AND DEATH on Aug 6, 2005 1:08:13 GMT -5
by Leon Breckenridge
07/29/2005
Editor's Note: A young black man wasn't surprised when he heard about the shooting death of an innocent Brazilian man in London. Forget "driving while black," he says. You can't even run.
OAKLAND, Calif.--Jean Charles de Menezes was scared -- that's why he ran from the London police, who suspected he was a suicide bomber, chased him and shot him in the head seven times. He was simply on his way to work -- a foreign man trying to make money in a foreign land. Though he was a legal alien from Brazil, he knew in their eyes he was an illegal alien. So he ran. It's the natural thing to do.
But in Britain or here in the United States, you'd better be careful if you're Black or Brown and run. I call how the police get down "RWB" -- Running
While Black.
Being Black or Brown in the Western world, you are a always a suspect because you are different. You stand out. Had that been a White British chap with a trench coat and backpack, nothing would have happened. My people, Black people, have been living here in America for 400 years, and we still get labeled as criminals by the ancestor culture of te people who committed a crime by bringing us to America. I've been harassed by the police while running, and it's happened more than once.
The latest time was in South Berkeley on the edge of North Oakland. It was 7 in the morning on a Sunday, and I was trying to get to work in San Francisco. I was headed to the Ashby BART train station in Berkeley when I noticed two teen-aged black men, one on a bike and another on foot. They both acted like they were running from something.
The one on foot was holding the front of his jacket as if he had a gun in his waist.
They went on their merry way and so did I. When I got to the BART station I noticed all the doors were locked. I remembered that on Sunday the BART doesn't open until 8 a.m., the same time I needed to be at work.
In spite of the risk I began to run to the bus station.
I knew running was a risk because I feared the cops might think that I was running away from them. Someone who isn't Black may think that is a little paranoid. But on my way to the bus my fears became true.
Between the BART station and the bus stop an Oakland police cruiser screeched up -- in it was a white cop. Rolling down his window, casually he told me to stop. Knowing what just happened -- the two kids running past me -- I stopped. I was mad that this was happening to me, but it was predictable.
He told me to put my hands up in the air. I did it while trying to think about how I was going to get out of this mess.
While he was patting me down, he asked me, "Do you have a gun?"
I said, "No."
Then he asked me, "Where are you going?" I told him "San Francisco -- to work." While he checked my ID he started asking questions about where I lived, and two more cops showed up.
He asked me who I was living with and all that, but I just stopped answering questions. Then one of them said, "He doesn't have teeth missing so it couldn't be him." After that we parted ways.
I saw the two suspects they were looking for. The cops told me one was wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and black ss. I fit the description so far, except I was rocking old-school metallic jeans. But the cop didn't know the difference.
The two boys were dark-skinned -- I have a light complexion -- and they both were a lot shorter and younger than me. I believe the cop knew it wasn't me; he didn't even pull out his gun. He never looked afraid, not even a little shaky, like he knew I didn't have a gun on me. The only thing I was guilty of is being black and running.
What happened to Menezes in London is no different than what happened to me in Oakland, only I knew the risk of running while Black and he paid the price for being Brown. It will happen again. Why? We are not white. So they will police us while trying to protect themselves, their position in society. In its rise to power, the Western world has had to stomp the weak nations in ways worse than what the suicide bombers did on July 7.
Even the London mayor admitted that Europe and America have been trying to control Middle East's oil since World War I. The battle has continued into Iraq and maybe Iran. But what I'm trying to get at is this: the Western World is scared of Black and Brown young men. That's why I got stopped -- and that's why Jean Charles de Menezes got shot.
07/29/2005
Editor's Note: A young black man wasn't surprised when he heard about the shooting death of an innocent Brazilian man in London. Forget "driving while black," he says. You can't even run.
OAKLAND, Calif.--Jean Charles de Menezes was scared -- that's why he ran from the London police, who suspected he was a suicide bomber, chased him and shot him in the head seven times. He was simply on his way to work -- a foreign man trying to make money in a foreign land. Though he was a legal alien from Brazil, he knew in their eyes he was an illegal alien. So he ran. It's the natural thing to do.
But in Britain or here in the United States, you'd better be careful if you're Black or Brown and run. I call how the police get down "RWB" -- Running
While Black.
Being Black or Brown in the Western world, you are a always a suspect because you are different. You stand out. Had that been a White British chap with a trench coat and backpack, nothing would have happened. My people, Black people, have been living here in America for 400 years, and we still get labeled as criminals by the ancestor culture of te people who committed a crime by bringing us to America. I've been harassed by the police while running, and it's happened more than once.
The latest time was in South Berkeley on the edge of North Oakland. It was 7 in the morning on a Sunday, and I was trying to get to work in San Francisco. I was headed to the Ashby BART train station in Berkeley when I noticed two teen-aged black men, one on a bike and another on foot. They both acted like they were running from something.
The one on foot was holding the front of his jacket as if he had a gun in his waist.
They went on their merry way and so did I. When I got to the BART station I noticed all the doors were locked. I remembered that on Sunday the BART doesn't open until 8 a.m., the same time I needed to be at work.
In spite of the risk I began to run to the bus station.
I knew running was a risk because I feared the cops might think that I was running away from them. Someone who isn't Black may think that is a little paranoid. But on my way to the bus my fears became true.
Between the BART station and the bus stop an Oakland police cruiser screeched up -- in it was a white cop. Rolling down his window, casually he told me to stop. Knowing what just happened -- the two kids running past me -- I stopped. I was mad that this was happening to me, but it was predictable.
He told me to put my hands up in the air. I did it while trying to think about how I was going to get out of this mess.
While he was patting me down, he asked me, "Do you have a gun?"
I said, "No."
Then he asked me, "Where are you going?" I told him "San Francisco -- to work." While he checked my ID he started asking questions about where I lived, and two more cops showed up.
He asked me who I was living with and all that, but I just stopped answering questions. Then one of them said, "He doesn't have teeth missing so it couldn't be him." After that we parted ways.
I saw the two suspects they were looking for. The cops told me one was wearing a black jacket, blue jeans, and black ss. I fit the description so far, except I was rocking old-school metallic jeans. But the cop didn't know the difference.
The two boys were dark-skinned -- I have a light complexion -- and they both were a lot shorter and younger than me. I believe the cop knew it wasn't me; he didn't even pull out his gun. He never looked afraid, not even a little shaky, like he knew I didn't have a gun on me. The only thing I was guilty of is being black and running.
What happened to Menezes in London is no different than what happened to me in Oakland, only I knew the risk of running while Black and he paid the price for being Brown. It will happen again. Why? We are not white. So they will police us while trying to protect themselves, their position in society. In its rise to power, the Western world has had to stomp the weak nations in ways worse than what the suicide bombers did on July 7.
Even the London mayor admitted that Europe and America have been trying to control Middle East's oil since World War I. The battle has continued into Iraq and maybe Iran. But what I'm trying to get at is this: the Western World is scared of Black and Brown young men. That's why I got stopped -- and that's why Jean Charles de Menezes got shot.