Besides the fact that the highway patrol in VT has been known as complete assholes to everyone and that they are only patroling actual highways, they are the one's who are monitoring "thru" traffic. Brattleboro, itself, is a bit unique because there are 3 exits that people use to place themselves around the city. Very few people would travel thru "downtown" traffic if they had to go from exit 1 to exit 3 area. So, many "locals" and by "locals" I mean Brattleboro and every other smallish town around it for about 45 mins out, will go to Brattleboro for shopping, grocery shopping, movie theater, high school, and work.
On top of all that, the state relies heavily on tourism. Summer campers/ hikers, fall leaf peepers, and winter enthusiasts who enjoy skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, etc.... It doesn't help that VT as a state has about 650,000 people as a total population of full time residents and that many of these full time residents happen to be white. It's not exactly full of culture!
Add to that, most of the state police are white (and dick heads) and are dealing with a massive influx of opiates into the communities... It used to be mainly pot and drinking that most people engaged in, but like many other rural, white, struggling communities, there has been a massive increase of pills/ heroin coming into the area...
Some are using the drug trade to make ends meet and others are trying to forget their shitty existence and a lack of good paying jobs that is demoralizing the "youth" and ever creeping into their 40's - kids who grew up in the 90's with pretty ok lives and now can't seem to begin to catch up to where their parents were when they were that age. (This is kind of where we need an FDR type of stimulation for Main St of govt paying jobs and a transition into green energy systems.
So, you have dick head state patrol asshats, local yokels, with prejudices/ bigoted ideas in the back of their heads mainly due to lack of diversity growing up in VT and because some of these hicks are just down-right racist assholes who actually use the N-word, use the term "spics", and call someone from the ME a "sand-N-word". So, they are racist asshats.
So, they are making assumptions that any PoC or Hispanic person living in or traveling to VT is suspicious. I honestly believe these cops would think, that a car full of younger black persons was "up to no good" and even worse thinking that way if the plate was out of state. And Brattleboro itself is the first exit on I-91 from MA into VT that many tourists encounter. I honestly think the cops would question highly a MA, NY, or CT plated car with young black men as suspicious, they couldn't possibly be coming to ski or snowboard, because you know, "black people don't like the cold". (And I'm not kidding you on that sentiment from asshole hicks in VT). Also, there isn't shit to do after a certain time at night. If you are riding around town with your friends, bored out of your mind, trying to find something to do, every car full of young person's traveling around after 10pm is looked at funny, and definitely if it's after 12 and movies are out and any restaurant job should be over with, you are probably up to no good.
Also, like that Baltimore cop said on TYT, harassing and arresting people in a community that won't have possible powerful ties in the community, is easier for "making their money". When I went to high school, there was a wealthier family who had 3 boys, all around my age. They were "soccer stars", which most in VT know is a big deal. And Friday nights after a home-game win, the family would allow a high school, alcohol and pot and Bon fire, on their property... Shoot the parents even provided the alcohol. If the cops showed up, there wasn't a thing they could do because of this family's prominence and financial ties into the town. All they would do is say keep the kids on the property overnight, camping in tents, or we will stop the drunk drivers later. Getting an invite to one of those kid's parties in the town that had wealth and prominence was like a "get out of jail" card. What teen wouldn't love the protection of partying under age and NOT have to worry about the police at all?
So there is a bit of who you are and who your family is and how long your family has roots in VT thing going on. Harnessing the tourists that will just pay their fines and tickets rather than drive or fly back to fight them AND harassing people they think in their tiny pea brains are up to no good because they are bigoted assholes, is how they are mucking shit up...
Why would anyone want to willingly move into VT, when any newbie is treated like an outsider and with suspicion? Why would anyone want to come into VT, with the idea of creating jobs, only to fight insane environmental ordinances, and possibly give people a community of vibrant economics and culture?
Many of us have left. I haven't lived in VT now since 18. My family is stil there and struggling their butts off.
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