A few days ago, I was leaving my nine to five plantation gig, simply headed home. As I got to an intersection, I noticed the traffic light was red, so I sped through it. I was immediately pulled over by two police offiers. One officer came to the driver’s side door and said that I ran a stoplight. I said, “I turned on my hazards, looked both ways, and continued through the intersection because I have to be sure no one is following me.” He said, “why do you think someone would be following you?”
Things went terribly wrong after this. The officer snatched the keys from the ignition and pulled me out of the car, and immediately, two white officers had guns pointed at me with my body stretched out on the pavement. I then said, “I think you guys need to just write the ticket and do whatever you need to do.” It happened so fast and the situation quickly got out of hand. Other motorists on the road noticed what was going on, but they seemed to slow down just long enough to get a quick glimpse of the situation.
After calling for backup, another officer pulled up in front of my car. This officer was a Black guy. He took one look at me and had that “Oh No” look on his face. He said, “write this nigga a ticket, and get out of here.”
I said all of that to say this: do you see how quickly this could have turned for the worse?
Now, I doubt that there are many great officers, patrolmen and wanna-be cops out there, and I have seen and heard about so many terrible things such men and women do to people of color. I think I got off easy. Neither I nor my vehicle was searched. Neither I nor my vehicle was shot up. I consider myself one of the lucky ones!
The two sentences in the previous paragraph beginning with “neither” clearly makes the case that this story is untrue. Ridiculous! Isn’t it? But, that is what I was thought of as I read about movie producer Tyler Perry’s account of a recent run in with the popo.
Surely, the issue of racial profiling is a serious one, but I think we do a disservice when we introduce other factors into the equation that are serious problems themselves like Mr. Perry has. Give me some time to explain.
It’s hard enough to get from point A to B, being a Black male, even while abiding by all laws of the road. It’s extremely difficult to establish one’s offense as “driving while Black” when you admit to clearly breaking the law. Tyler Perry undeniably wrote, ” I made a left turn from the right lane…” So, instead of turning from the turning lane that he later wrote about, he attempted to circumvent the law only to try to justify it after being caught.
I do believe that laws and rules should not be some viscous, or stagnant, behavioral guidelines. There are times when circumstances should trump what the laws or rules of the road state. Yes, if someone feels they could possibly be being followed, by all means, attempt to establish that as reality or otherwise and/or evade, especially if it could be by police officers. But, that was not Perry’s argument. He pretty much reduced it to “I’m Black, and they didn’t believe I could possibly be important enough to be the subject of pursuit–unless, I had done something wrong.” He committed a traffic violation and was pulled over.
Then, ol’ Tyler goes into a rant over his ignition switch and key. Basically, this is done to bring attention to how “nice” of a car he owns. This is a petty attempt to ease readers into the mind of “even ‘successful’ Black men are subjects of racial profiling.” Again, yes. It happens all the time. As stated in the song “All Falls Down” by Kanye West, “Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coup.” We know this. Yes, Tyler Pery, we know that you are a ‘succesful’ African American driving an expensive vehicle. He could came out and stated that plainly–all pussyfooting aside.
After the officers disregarded what Tyler Perry may have believed to be total inclusion into white mainstream America by Black standards–financial success, as shown by his material possessions–he felt the need to show his stature in American culture and society as greater than even average white folks. He wrote, after tension arose over the key incident, “At this point, I told him that I wanted to get out of the car. I wanted the passersby to see what was happening.”
Now, what Black man REQUESTS to get out of his car after being pulled over and harrassed by white cops on both sides of him? Well, one who is generally famous and is using it as a distress signal. I’m sure he wanted someone to recognize him, so passers-by would know it wasn’t merely your run-of-the-mill successful Black man being harrassed by the police, but Tyler Perry for God’s sake! Maybe he thought someone would alert officers as to who he is or a crowd would begin to form. Of course, there is always a photo op for Twitpic or even cellphone video for YouTube or WorldStarHipHop.
So then, Perry went on to tell us how a Black officer showed up, recognized him, and called the other officers off. He didn’t stop there. He made it clear that one of the white officers was “very apologetic” after being enlightened. Maybe if he had donned his fatsuit and talked with that annoyingly squeaky voice, things wouldn’t have escalated so far. But, NO TICKET? Only an apology? I guess it pays to be a Black rich, award-winning director, writer, producer, and actor.
You may be thinking that racial profiling was in fact a factor in Tyler Perry’s ordeal. I agree. If it had been a successful white man, things probably would have gone down a lot differently. But Perry’s case far-reaching to consider the whole ordeal one of racial profiling. He made an illegal turn, and was pulled over. His celebrity and social status got him off. While it is true that officers escalated the situation, probably due to Tyler Perry’s skin color, it was his class status that shielded him from “the worse.”
I’m sorry, but I rarely feel sympathy for people who ride around in their expensive cars who are pulled over–and, AT LEAST ticketed–by police when they have the means to defend themselves in court with either their money or celebrity, let alone are given a pass. What “Madea-out-of-wardrobe” brought to the light, however, was the problem of class. There is a class within the United States that at times trandscend race. Of course, even in those higher classes, race is a deviding line that creates a class within itself, but how many average white individuals would have gotten off without a ticket? Some, surely, would have been ticketed, as it seems Tyler Perry was not. Better yet, who of any race who told their story of ill police treatment through social media would have prompted a department investigation into the matter of something so simple as being pulled over, harrassed, and let go? Even with multiple pics, numerous video, and various eyewitness accounts, worse incidents take place with mere turning of the cheek after the fact. These things happen all the time, and many of us don’t have the financial backing, celebrity, and/or socio-economic and class status to trump the color of our skin.
The main problem with Tyler Perry’s rant is that he used it as an attempt to bring the issue of racial profiling to light. By all means, that is a great thing. But, it should not be done if disparities of class are trumpeted as a means to overcome racism or as an escape route. Most people of color who are targets of racial profiling are also victims of class profiling. But, of course, those who are afforded some class priviledge find it very difficult to cause a ruckus about something that keeps them protected from the turmoil and strife that so many others experience, in the same way many use race (white) privilege to escape the fate of racial minorities.
Never once did Tyler Perry, in his Facebook post, make a call to level the playing field for those not of his class. Perry did not question whether it was right or wrong to be given a pass because he reached finanacial status and celebrity that most Americans will never see or experience. His rant was multilayered; it exhibited multiple facets of injustice and exposed just how easily many, many people can fall in line with the one-dimensional framing, ignoring or not noticing the obvious unleveled playing field, slanted against most of us. Tyler Perry railed against racism, but allowed for classism to prevail, and even promoted it. Was I the only one who noticed?
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