Beaten Black and Blue by Brandon Tatum

Author:Brandon Tatum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: N/A
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2021-09-23T16:00:00+00:00

Stuck in the Middle - The Story of Officer Ray Hamilton

My name is Ray Hamilton, and I’ve been in law enforcement for about ten years. I started my career in Washington, DC, in the Sixth District. It’s where the projects are, and it’s a tough neighborhood. Now I’m in Northern California in the East Bay area, east of Oakland in the San Ramon area. I’ve been on the riot team, or civil disturbance unit, in both DC and California. And for me, a big part of my story is that I’m black and white, because that puts me right in the middle of all the race and police issues.

Coming from where I do, I tended to just assimilate the views of those around me. So, that meant I didn’t really trust the police too much. When I was a teenager, I was in my car, and I got stopped. I never saw myself as looking tough or like a thug; I had curly hair and an olive skin tone. But I got stopped by the gang unit in Dallas—a true felony stop—with guns drawn and everything. “Put your hands on the steering wheel!” Whoa, I thought. What in the world is happening? “You’re in a gang!” No, I wasn’t, and I never was. However, my cousin was in a gang, and he used to do all kinds of criminal stuff. This was in the nineties, and things were pretty rough. He ended up getting shot five times, and he died. All that really turned me away from being in a gang or doing anything criminal.

Still, I always said I was never going to become a police officer. I did end up in the military. I was in the Air Force working for the Department of Defense on Bolling Air Force Base. At the time, I was working as a sports and recreation assistant. I created extracurricular events, like sporting events, for the Air Force community. What would come after the military I didn’t really know. Then, out of nowhere, I decided to become a police officer. I believe how you do your job is more of a calling than what your job actually is. But for some reason, I got it in my heart that I was going to apply to the DC Metro Police Department. They weren’t hiring at the time. And several people advised me that I didn’t want to join that dirty police department. But I applied anyway, and I waited. I waited for two years. And most people apply to multiple departments to increase their odds of being hired. Me? I only applied to the one because I believed I was supposed to work there. And eventually, after their two-year hiring freeze was lifted, I became one of thirty-five people hired—out of about 10,000 candidates. I just believe I was led to it because I wanted to serve again after the military. And that’s how I started my career with the police.

And, yes, I’ve dealt with different aspects of racism.

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