Perspective: There's no cost to white people who call 911 about black people. There should be.

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 16, 2018 | by Stacey Patton and Anthony Paul Farley, The Washington Post

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Here are the things that black people can't do in the United States in 2018 without a white bystander calling the police on them: sit in a Starbucks coffee shop; eat at a Waffle House; work out at a gym; move into a new apartment at night; golf with friends; fly on a plane; barbecue at a park; shop for a prom outfit; buy a money order to pay the rent; check out of an Airbnb; or take a nap while studying at their Ivy League college campus.

When white callers dial 911 and report that black people are engaged in what they report as untoward behavior, the worst-case scenario is that the police will show up with guns blazing. Even in the best-case scenario, black folks will probably have to deal with the trauma of having been placed in mortal fear.

But most of the time, there is no consequence for the people who weaponize their fear and use the police as an extension of their whiteness. There should be.

It is naive to believe that white callers are not aware of their race privileges when they call the cops on "suspicious" black people. They are weaponizing their fears in a form of violence that buttresses a white-supremacist system. When white people see black people doing exactly the same sort of daily activities that they are doing, especially in spaces that they deem to be theirs, it frightens them so badly that they call 911.

At the deepest level, the callers and their enablers seem to feel black people do not belong, that we should not be allowed to be as free as whites.

This is their vision of America: calling 911, again and again and again, perpetually policing and controlling black bodies.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Dr. Stacey Patton is an award-winning journalist, author, and child advocate. She has reported for The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Her writing on issues surrounding higher education, child welfare, and race has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, the BBC News, and the Root. She has also appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera, CBS, CNN, and Democracy Now.

Anthony Paul Farley is the James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at Albany Law School. He was the James & Mary Lassiter Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law and the Andrew Jefferson Endowed Chair in Trial Advocacy at Texas Southern University's Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2014-2015.

[FatherofFive]

“Judge me by the color of my skin, and not the content of my character”

[Jewbacca]

There’s no cost to calling 911 on almost anyone.

I’ve had 911 called on me for praying before.

[enduserindy]

I don’t have any data and this is just a hunch but I’d bet most 911 calls on black people are made by black people.

[mort56]

Nothing but drivel coming from a pair of racists.

[Blennos]

No rational person should ignore crime statistics.

[CharlesOConnell]

I watched a young black man, as he passed every car on my street, he turned, virtually jerked his head, to see what was in car windows, for some purpose I don’t know because I couldn’t read his mind, perhaps he was making sure there were no dangerous weapons inside each car that he should report. However, since “the bitch got hers” of the OJ Simpson case, the Rodney King “can’t we all just get along”, and the “racist ‘Hispanic’ black man” of Treyvon Martin who had the gall to defend himself against lethal attack, there seems to be an African-American cultural ethos that Blacks should be able to commit crimes against defenseless people, often against other African-Americans, and that it’s racist to legally react to this violence. If so, count me racist.

[Regulator]

“perpetually policing and controlling black bodies”

So what’s her solution?

No laws apply to her?

But she gets to live on this dirt anyway?

Groovy. Then give up your vote, don’t take any money from the State, and forget about property ownership. And of course forget Constitutional Rights, since you are forswearing all that.

Good! Now you’ll be little more then a feral pack animal, roaming the land in search of a meal, always hunted.

Won’t take long after that before you’re put out of your misery.

Or you could be like Mel Reynolds and buy a ticket home to the dark continent. The lack of running water and indoor plumbing should make you feel right at home.

[Howie66]

And LIBERALS. Count on it.

[gaijin]

What if your only contact with blacks consisted of a man screaming the N-word and constantly re-assuring you that he was a GENUINE criminal...?

I think after a decade or so, that would start to make an impact.

Just a guess, though.

[subterfuge]

They’re delusional and really stupid.

[nickedknack]

Basically B.S., but if they believe it’s true, go fix the collapsed black family and put responsible, biological fathers back in the homes. Next, tell your black brothers and sisters who are 13% of the population to stop committing 80% of the crime in America, including 70% of the felonies.

[DoodleDawg]

“Judge me by the color of my skin, and not the content of my character”

A nice idea but one obviously not in practice.

[Salvavida]

Someone call 911 and arrest this biotch for stupidity.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

Wow, I never realized how much of a racist we all are.

The author needs to get out more, and away from the blue sewers.

Even in flyover country, as the song says people are good, for the most part.

[marktwain]

What B.S.

There are plenty of examples of the police being called on white people who acted the way black people acted in the examples she gives, which ignore a great many actions that would get anyone in trouble.

For example, the Starbucks case, where the people mentioned did not buy anything and refused to leave when asked.

What she is asking for, in effect, is black privilege, which many black people do get, because people are afraid of being called “racist”.

She is saying black people should be given a pass on behavior that others would be called on.

[MortMan]

If malevolent characters who “could be” doing any of these things are immediately subject to summary execution when they attack whites who ignore or engage them on friendly terms, we can talk about penalties for calling the cops. The authors do not have two brain cells to rub together between them.

[mewzilla]

I don’t have any data and this is just a hunch but I’d bet most 911 calls on black people are made by black people.

Considering that most black crime vics are victimized by other blacks, not enough of them.

[Old Yeller]

How about when you’re the prey of a polar bear hunter? Of course they sneak up or sucker punch you, so you’re knocked out before you can call.

[zencycler]

OK ... the “penalty” for reporting “suspicious” behavior that turns out not to be anything should simply be a verbal correction either on the phone, if apparent, or through a follow up call, to let the 911 caller know that their suspicious were not warranted.

How about we start with this then:

Caller: Hello, 911, there are people walking around this area carrying rifles on their backs.

Operator: Yes, open carry is permitted in this state.

Caller: But I feel threatened by this, I think it’s unsafe.

Operator: Are they pointing the guns at anyone?

Caller: No

Operator: Are they verbally threatening anyone?

Caller No

Operator: So why do you feel threatened?

Caller: Because they are carrying these weapons in public.

Operator. Again, that is their right - so you really have no reason to be calling 911.