The Disproportionate Risks of Driving While Black

I have though a lot about the topic of "White Privilege"  recently  An article in the New York Times led me to blog about the vast differences that exist between how blacks are treated and how whites are treated.  An examination of traffic stops and arrests in Greensboro, N.C., uncovered wide racial differences in measure after measure of police conduct.

In 2013, Rufus Scales, age 26, was driving his younger brother to a hair cut appointment in a suburban area of the city.  Before he knew it, sirens were flashing and two police officers pulled Rufus over for minor infractions that included expired plates and failing to hang a flag from a load of scrap metal.  Here's what happened next.  Rufus reached to restrain his brother from opening the door and a black officer stunned him with a Taser, while a white officer yanked him from the driver's seat.  Temporarily paralyzed by the shock, he fell face down, and was dragged across the asphalt.  Today, Rufus doesn't leave home without a hand-held video camera and a business card with a toll-free number for legal help.  Sadly, Rufus' experience is not unique.

Documenting racial profiling in police work is a daunting task due to a multitude of factors, including elevated violent crime rates in many black neighborhoods,  but we know that there is a wide  difference in police conduct based simply on race.  In North Carolina, where traffic stops were studied, it was found that officers were more likely to stop black drivers for no discernible reason, and were more likely to use force if the driver was black, even when they did not encounter physical resistance.

In Greensboro, which is 41% black, traffic stops help feed the stream of minor charges that draw a mostly  African-American crowd of defendants to the county courthouse on weekday mornings.  National surveys show that black and whites use marijuana at the same rate, but black residents in Greensboro are charged with the sole offense of possession of minor amounts of marijuana five times as often as white residents.  In addition, more than four times as many blacks as whites are arrested on the sole charge of resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer, an offense so borderline that some North Carolina police chiefs discourage its use unless a more serious crime is involved.

Yes, it is risky to drive while black.  Those of us who are white don't think about  the possibility of being stopped by police every time we get in our car, but blacks certainly do.  I guess this is part of  what I call "White Privilege."  Just being white entitles you to get in your car and drive without the anxiety that a police car may pull you over for little or no reason.  White privilege will be a topic I will blog about another time, but for now, just pay attention to who's getting stopped on the side of the road in your city.