I have a lot of respect for Malcolm X. Was he perfect? Of course not, but he was a thoughtful man whose perspective evolved over his lifetime.
Very unusual man in that he found it possible to say, "I was wrong." Would that more of us could learn from that example.
Lemme tell this story....
I'm a guy who graduated high school here in Omaha. Went straight into the Army out of High school. Did 3 years active duty, got my honorable in 98.
I've been pulled over a few times, yes. But there's a couple in particular that come to mind.
The first time, I was still in the military. I had just returned home from doing 8 months in Bosnia in 97. I'm driving a buddy's car. Not my car, mind you.
And, my license was expired. In this state, it used to be that if you had your military ID, you could have an expired license. Anyways, I'm traveling around Omaha in my buddy's car.
I take a left turn down a street, and immediately, I get pulled over.
Here I am, like "Oh shit...I'm a Black dude, in someone else's car, with an expired license. I'm so busted."
He pulls me over, and I say, "What's the problem, officer?"
White officer. If you know anything about the OPD, there's a spotty history of officer work here. He says to me, "Well, sir, can I have your license and registration?"
I explain to him that my license is expired, and that I have my miltary ID along with it. I also explain to him I just returned to the states and I've borrowed a buddy's car to come home in.
He looks at my license, ID, and registration, hands it back to me, and says, "Well, that's all fine and good, but I want you to look down the street and tell me what's different about your car than any other car."
I look. I had turned down a one way street. I felt so stupid. I apologized. The cop chuckles, says, "No problem....just turn it around here in the street and have a nice evening." We both went about our business.
That was almost 20 years ago. Society has changed since then.
The second one happened to me about six years ago. We had just purchased a car (08 Impala). The car was wonderful. The one thing that I really loved about it? It had the darkest tinted windows on it.
I get the car, and the wife and I go down to get our two daughters, who were in day care at the time. As I'm driving down Fontenelle Blvd, and approaching Fort, I see an unmarked police car heading the opposite direction from me.
As he passes us, I notice in my rearview that he turns around and begins to follow me. I say to my wife, "We're about to get pulled over, babe." She's like, "No freaking way."
I take a left turn on Fort Street, and approach 30th. As I get to 30th, and I take a right...sure enough....he pulls me over. I'm thinking, "This....mofo..."
So, as he gets out of the vehicle, I notice that both guys in the car get out...and are wearing tac vests with "GANG UNIT" on the front. So I roll down my window and wait for him to come up to my window.
Again, I say, "What's the problem officer?"
"You made a wide turn back there."
Me: (at least that's what I was thinking).
So I give him my license and registration and explain to him that I just purchased the car THREE DAYS AGO. He never went back to the car...just handed me my license, said I might want to get my tint checked, and sends me on my way.
I was pissed. So, I take the car out to the State Patrol office off 108th and L. I explain to the trooper on duty what happened, and that I wanted a tint meter put on the window.
He comes out with another senior trooper to look at the car. Both guys say, "Man, that's a nice car. What did he say that he pulled you over for?"
"Making a wide turn."
"Where'd you get pulled over at?"
"30th and Fort."
Both Troopers - who were White guys (one a bit older than the other, who was more my age) - looked at each other, smiled, looked back at me, and said:
"Um...you KNOW why they pulled you over, right?"
I smiled back and told them, yep....I knew the score.
Two different interactions with two completely different officers. This coming from a brotha.
(more to come - this one is getting very long, LOL)
