The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

In my opinion, I think that everyone of any culture or social identity has experienced some type of bias or prejudice. I myself can remember an incident about 2 years ago where I was a victim of prejudice.

One evening I was visiting my mother to help me prepare for my baby shower. An African American young man in her neighborhood was shot twice in the head and died. About an hour after this incident there were policeman and detectives in the neighborhood, because this was the third homicide that month in that same neighborhood.

My brother and I left the house to get something from the grocery store up the street. As we drove off, a police car and a detective car begin to follow us. We then turned in the store which was our destination and the policeman blue lighted us so we pulled over. A white male officer approached the window and was very rude and asked for license, registration, and also for us to step put the car. His partner then begins to chastise my younger brother asking him where the marijuana was and that they knew he sold and smoked drugs.

First, I would like to explain that both my brothers and I was sort of sheltered compared to the children in our neighborhoods. We all have clean records, great academic records, and always kept a legal job. Also my brother, who is now 23 years old has never smoked any type of drug, let a one a cigarette, in his life. My brother began to become very angry because he has never experienced this before and he started to ask questions of why they were doing him the way they were such as rough handling him and throwing him against the car.

Watching this hurt me to my heart because I knew that my brother was incident and me being of the African culture, and having a lot of experience with the police automatically thinking that all African American young men are guilty, I already knew that they were going to treat him as if he had done something wrong because of his race.

As they searched as threw everything all over my car, I kept calm even though I was boiling inside. I mentioned to the policeman that my brother worked and that they could drug test him and find that he was clean they finally saw his work id and saw that we had no warrants. The detective stepped in, spoke with me calmly, and shook his head at the policeman to stop. They then apologized, tried to straighten up the car a little, and said that we could go.

 As we walked to the store I explained to my brother that he had done nothing wrong and because of whom he was, him claiming his innocence in the angry way that he did would just make tings worst for him with the police. I told him that he would understand a little more a he grew older and the way they treated him was not right but it will understand it a little later on.

In order for this incident to change into an opportunity for greater equity for be for not only the police but for people to see everyone as an individual and not a group. A stereotype was what led this situation. What the police did to my brother would create a stereotype for themselves which he now sees is that they are not there to protect him but they are against him. Now two years later this situation has not yet seem to change but has gotten worst. I try to think of the saying, “It has to get worse before it gets better.” In my heart I hope that what is currently happening will be the worst it gets.