The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I have shared many stories during our weekly discussions and blog post about incidents that have happened to me.  This time I would like to share something that happened to my husband 2 weeks ago.

My husband Santana is a pharmaceutical rep and spends most of his time in his car.  This was a typical workday for him until he was stopped by the police.  Santana was pulled over by two white police officers.  When he stopped his car they both ran to his car screaming "Get out the car".  Santana had no idea why he was being pulled over and did not feel comfortable getting out of his car.  He put his hands up so that the officers could see that he was holding a weapon and told them that he was not sure why he was being pulled over.  The officer approached the driver side window and asked him where the weed was.  My husband told him that they pulled over the wrong person.  As he is saying this 4 more police cars pulled up and they all approached the car.  At this point Santana called me and I knew when I answered the phone and did not hear his voice that I needed to listen to what was going on.  I decided to record what I was hearing in case we needed it as evidence later on.

Santana decided to get out the car and he repeatedly told the officers that they had the wrong person.  The officer told my husband that he was going to search the car.  Santana said that he was going to watch him because he did not want him planting drugs in his car.  Another officer approached him and told him that he would not move from that spot.  Santana told the man that if he could not watch him search his car then he did not have permission to search it.  They went back and forth for a few minutes and my husband informed him that he had a witness on the phone listening to everything that had been said.  Together he and the officer walked around the car searching the inside first then the trunk.  No drugs were found.

Still not satisfied, the first officer decided to go another route.  He told my husband that he had been speeding and was going to give him a ticket for it.  At this point my husband was so over it that he just got back in his car and waited for the ticket.  As I listened to everything that was happening I heard the moment that my husband felt defeated.  Since that day I have noticed a change in him and I know that day was the cause of it.

One of my classmates spoke about stereotypes in her discussion post this week.  Some of the things that the officers mentioned to my husband were the fact that his windows were tinted, he had chrome wheels on the car.  He failed to mention that my husband was dressed in a 3 piece suit with his name tag from work and a briefcase on the passenger seat.  The way they spoke to him it was clear that they thought Santana was less than them.  He was not treated fairly and I truly believe that if he had not mentioned that I was on the phone then something bad would have happened to my husband.

It breaks my heart that their is so much hatred in the world.  My husband is the pillar of strength and these men took his power away from him.  I have to be honest and say that it is hard not to have negative feelings towards the white race and if it were not for my faith in God , I would have hatred in my heart.  But I am a Christian and I believe that God never puts more on us than we can bear.  So in those times where I feel as if my faith is being tested all I can do is pray for peace in my mind, heart and soul.  And then I pray for forgiveness.

I shared this with you all because racial profiling is wrong. Many of our African American boys and men are subject to this often and nothing is being done about it.  You have to know your rights when it comes to the law and I am so grateful that my husband knew to call me so he would have a witness.

The smell of marijuana is one that most people recognize and does not just go away.  If marijuana is what they smelled then they should have smelled it as soon as my husband let the window down.  At that point they should have realized their mistake, apologized and let my husband go.  Had that happened none of the other stuff would have happened.  I think it should be mandatory for all government officials to take yearly classes on diversity.   Maybe then would this country truly be the land of the free.