Last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend my homecoming at Jackson State University. My girlfriends and I had a wonderful time attending all the festivities and parties, visiting a campus that no longer looked the way it did when we attended — but rather one that had grown in size and could rival most traditional colleges in the country.
By the time the weekend wrapped up, though I was exhausted with all the activities, I was convinced this year’s homecoming was the best that I’d attended since graduating. Until, that is, I experienced an unnerving encounter with a police officer.
It was Sunday night and my friend and I had just left his grandparents’ home. We were in his father’s new Cadillac driving through a small Mississippi county located near the airport. This area, Rankin County, has a long reputation of racism. As a matter of fact, while attending JSU, I was advised by many students and even professors to “be careful” while riding through Rankin County.
Armed with the information I’d been told previously as well as what my friend, who is a native of Mississippi already knew, we exercised caution while driving to our destination — that meant driving the speed limit, being sure to use the proper signals, etc. Only a short distance from our destination, we saw blue lights behind us. Our initial thoughts were maybe an accident occurred or someone was speeding. However, when the lights got closer to us and finally directly behind us, there was no mistaking — we were being pulled over by the police.
What happened next was obvious — this white officer pulled us over for DWB (driving while Black) in a new Cadillac, no less.
When the officer came to the window, we didn’t get the initial “do you know why I pulled you over,” or “let me see your identification.” Instead we were asked a series of questions from when we arrived in town, where we were headed, what’s our relationship to one another, to the 30 something year old officer finally asking us “When ya’ll leaving” in his thick Southern drawl. Finally after all of those questions, he asked for my friend’s license. When he came back from running Lathen’s license, the officer finally asked if we knew why we were being pulled over. He then asked us if we knew the speed limit. After a long pause, as if he were thinking of a number in his head, the officer told us that we were speeding at 58 mph — something I knew was false because my eyes were glued to the odometer as soon as we entered Rankin County. After a few minutes, the officer said he’d be nice and let us go without any penalty, but that we needed to get where we were going and abide by the laws.
Needless to say, Lathen and I were more than eager to get to our destination and out of Mississippi.
The reason I decided to share this story with you is for a couple of reasons: because it proves how prevalent racism and discrimination still are — even in the year 2008 and because the officer’s actions are exactly why we have to elect the right man to be president of the United States.
No one can change a person’s way of thinking. I can’t nor can Sen. Barack Obama, however, I do think that we can hold people accountable for their actions and institute some form of accountability. Racial profiling has been a major problem in the country for years — and there really needs to be a check and balance system in place to ensure that specific groups aren’t being profiled because of their race, gender, or even sexual orientation. I strongly believe that Obama is more likely to address this particular issue than his Republican counterpart Sen. John McCain.
During the encounter in Rankin County, I couldn’t help but think that this country is making such strides with Obama’s candidacy, but also that in some areas and with some people — progress has yet to come. There are still people in this world who look at my Black face and think “nigger,” regardless of how nice of a person I may be or how much I’ve achieved in my life.
People need to be held accountable for their discriminatory actions — that goes for all people, not just those who discriminate against Blacks, but also those who discriminate against whites, Hispanics, Jews or Muslims.
In only a few days as we watch the results of the presidential election, we’ll see whether this country has truly evolved or not. We’ll know how far America has truly come. Hopefully and prayerfully we’ll see Obama win the election and we’ll see authentic change in the U.S.
