“Driving while black” is not limited to any one city, but it’s pretty telling that the phenomenon is now being investigated in Missouri.
In a 2013 report by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, the data showed a disproportionate number of police stops in the majority-black suburb of Ferguson. According to the Washington Post, black drivers were stopped in traffic 86% of the time. The picture is also bleak statewide, with black drivers 66% more likely to be stopped than white drivers.
Maybe it really was because of a moving violation, a broken tail light, expired plates or any other number of infractions. But for many blacks and people of color, an encounter with white cops while driving is oftentimes simply a question of being seen as an outsider. “What are you doing here?” becomes a de facto referendum on whether or not someone who’s a minority has any good reason to travel through white or affluent areas, with the underlying assumption that it’s to commit a crime.
Even pedestrians get stopped for “walking while black” — a reality known all too well for a black TV producer who was confronted, cuffed and forced to sit on a sidewalk on Aug. 22, because he “matched the clothing and physical characteristics” of a robbery suspect. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Charles Belk was in the area to attend a pre-Emmy Awards party, only to be detained for six hours after leaving a restaurant.
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