Police Brutality and White Supremacy: The Fight Against American Traditions by Etan Thomas

Author:Etan Thomas [Thomas, Etan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Violence in Society, Basketball, Sports & Recreation, Civil Rights, Social Science, Political Science, Law Enforcement
ISBN: 9781636140582
Google: 1G9KEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 59569195
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2022-01-11T12:12:54+00:00

White Privilege

We don’t hate nobody because of their color. We hate oppression.

—Bobby Seale

My son Malcolm often traveled with me during my college book tour for We Matter: Athletes and Activism. Sometimes he opened with a poem, or he would just sit and listen to the discussion or presentation. One time at Penn State, before an audience of mostly white males, a student told me he hated the phrase “white privilege” because it was, in his opinion, overused in society, similar to the word “racism.” He said sometimes he thinks people “play the race card” far too often to get out of taking responsibility for their actions.

I asked him if he had ever been pulled over by the police, and he said yes. I asked him his first thought when he was pulled over. He said that he hoped he wouldn’t get a ticket—and the few Black people in the audience laughed. The white people were not sure what the joke was. I explained that they were laughing because the furthest thing from our mind when we get stopped by the police is if we will get a ticket. But he still didn’t understand.

I asked them to look at Malcolm. I told them he would be of driving age in a few years and I would be scared for his life to the point that I wasn’t sure if I even wanted him to drive. I told them I had been teaching him what to do when he gets stopped by the police, even though he was still several years away from driving. Lessons like, “Don’t make any sudden movements, keep your hands visible at all times, don’t ever put your hands in your pockets.” I then told the student, “You all can cuss out the police, be drunk, spit in their face, tell them you’ll have their badge, but me and Malcolm, and all of the other Black people in this room, have to follow a different set of rules. We have to do everything right in order to de-escalate a situation that is only escalated because of the color of our skin. And you, and all of the white people in this room, do not have to worry about that.” I told him there are two separate worlds in this country, and that is white privilege. The crowd fell silent.

I asked him if he had ever been told by any teacher that he was slow and would never be able to write complete paragraphs. He said no. I told him that happened to me in fifth grade, with Ms. Scalet. I asked if he had ever been accused of cheating because the teacher didn’t think he could get as high a grade as he did on a math test. He said no. I told him that happened to me in sixth grade, with Ms. Stewart. I asked him if he had ever been told that he needed to sit down when he spoke to teachers because his stature was too intimidating, even though there were other kids the same height and even bigger in the class.

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