Lifesaving Advice From A Black Woman HELD AT GUNPOINT BY POLICE

[MrScorpio]

(Basically, it's surrender or die. Because as a black anything, cops won't hesitate taking our lives if they think that they can get away with it.)

BY TONYA JAMESON

It’s still hard for me to believe that last month I almost became a hashtag — another black person gunned down by a panicky cop.

I don’t have a criminal record.

I shop at Trader Joe’s.

I’m college-educated.

I’m a woman.

As I stared at the officer nervously pointing his gun at me, I realized immediately what he saw: a black person who had no business being in his neighbor’s driveway.

Wait, let me take you back to the beginning:

On April 28, I bought a 2005 Isuzu Ascender from a woman in Jefferson City, Tennessee. I was on my way home to Charlotte, North Carolina, from Nashville, Tennessee, and I found the SUV on Craigslist. I had been searching for the perfect SUV for more than a month. This had a female owner who followed the maintenance schedule, relatively low miles, leather interior, tow package, roof rack and even a sunroof. The Ascender was the one. I bought it on the spot.

I left with both sets of keys, the title and a bill of sale, which she signed. Over the next couple of days, we talked a couple of times as I confirmed my pickup date of May 3. That’s how I found myself at the end of her son-in-law’s gun. I drove a rental car to Morristown, Tennessee, and took an unmarked taxi to the woman’s house about 3 p.m. I talked to her the day before. The Ascender was parked in the same spot in her driveway as it was the previous week when I purchased it. Her newer Toyota 4Runner was parked beside it.

The cab dropped me off and sped away. We’d gotten lost along the way, and he was irritated. I was tired but excited. The sun was shining, and the area around me was beautiful with lush trees and rolling hills. I soaked in the scenery.

https://theundefeated.com/features/lifesaving-advice-from-a-black-woman-held-at-gunpoint-by-police/

[sheshe2]

1. Sad to have to say this...

She is very lucky to be alive.

Thank you for posting this, MrScorpio.

[enough]

2. My heart rate is up just reading that. NT

[irisblue]

3. Cop's fears often equal a dead POC

Cripe! Damn!
F this shit.

[ThoughtCriminal]

4. And if he had murdered her

We would just hear his side - with quite a few fabrications to back up self-defense. The deputy would back it up, and even assuming there were charges, he would be acquitted.

[murielm99]

5. Very scary.

Thanks for posting. This needs to stay on the front page of DU.

[rogue emissary]

6. Listing that she's college educated and has no criminal record isn't germane.

Those things never really stopped cops from gunning us down. Hell, the only thing that theoretically could save you is literally having white skin.

The best line of the article. Which I whole heartedly agree with is below.

"The legal system is asking untrained civilians to de-escalate panicky cops."

[pnwmom]

9. It IS germane, because many white people don't realize that it doesn't matter how much

a black person has achieved, they are still at risk from the police when they are out in the world, going about their business.

[rogue emissary]

12. That unintentionally suggests a black person that hasn't achieved anything . . .

in their lives deserves to be gunned down. Which is why, as soon as one of these tragedies goes down. The media starts digging up every offense and run in with the law a victim has committed. So they can justify their murder at the hands of a police officer.

I understand the argument and have made it myself on this board and in my life. I've just come to realize many whites will never understand that fact.

[MrScorpio]

18. It's entirely germane...

As a retort to arguments based in respectability politics, that all we have to do to keep from getting victimized by police violence is merely be one of those "good negroes."

[rogue emissary]

19. Agreed, as a retort to that assertion.

[femmedem]

24. Yes, that was my favorite line as well.

It's heartbreaking and anger-inducing and makes clear the insanity of what is expected of POC.

[DAMANgoldberg]

28. It's germane here...

and I have met the subject in person, back when she wrote for the O when they were a traditional newspaper with a large building downtown and much more stories and staff. Straight up class. #justsayin

[Warpy]

7. It's a good thing she didn't pick up her cell phone when it rang

Anything shiny in someone's hand (even with a loud ringtone) = gun to a panicky cop and black skin causes them all to turn panicky, it seems.

I am glad she is alive, that she managed to stay calm, and that she is telling her story.

That cop needs a desk job. Anyone who draws a weapon in a non life threatening situation is too twitchy to work on the street.

[Scarsdale]

8. I cried

when I read this. What has this country come to? A happy time, getting a "new" car, turns into almost getting shot.

[tiredtoo]

10. Sad story

Just shared the link on my Facebook page. thanks for the link.

[SamKnause]

11. I am so sick and tired of these EVIL fucking police !!!!

The response is always the same.

They acted appropriately.

They think everyone not wearing a badge is a criminal.

They are the criminals and this fucking country is protecting them at all costs.

This country doesn't give a damn about it's citizens.

There is no rule of law in this country.

There is no justice is this country.

[heaven05]

33. " they think everyone not wearing a badge is a criminal"

I will add especially if they have brown skin.

[GeoWilliam750]

13. Thank you for posting

[pansypoo53219]

14. philando was calm. cops aren't when they kill blacks.

gotta weed out the scaredy pants/racists. still could be dead if MALE.

[rurallib]

15. So my first thought was - what if one thing changed - the color of her skin

The SIL would probably still come over. He would ask what was going on.
There would be no gun.
He would make a call or two to do the proper checks and then apologize for bothering her.

[True Dough]

26. I believe you're right

There was no need to have the gun drawn.

As the author said: " Not knocking on the door was also suspicious, but I suspect knocking would’ve been suspicious, too."
She was in a no-win situation, it was essentially a matter of preserving her life, which is an unacceptable position for her to have endured.

[WinkyDink]

16. If someone had mistaken the off-duty cop pointing a gun as the villain and shot him, I

wouldn't care one whit.

Sick of this racist crap.

[LuckyLib]

17. This is a must read. What African Americans have been saying for years.

Pass it along.

[yuiyoshida]

20. K&R and Tweeted Mr. S!

[Stonepounder]

21. I'm going to have to look at my insurance plan to see if it covers Counseling for depression.

I grew up in the damn 50's with Jim Crow laws, the KKK, and lynchings. I marched for fair housing in Columbus, OH. I marched and demonstrated for Civil Rights legislation. I cheered when US Marshals were called out 50 years ago to put down riots over James Meredith registering at Ole Miss.

And blacks and minorities still have to face this shit. Cops seem to have a mind set that all blacks are criminals and are preparing to kill cops until proven otherwise and that it is better to shoot first and ask questions later.

I'm just glad that I'm old and don't have to grow up watching my country crumble around me as it turns into a third world banana republic.

[Stuart G]

22. This is a great post...and very well written..Thank You for posting..I must add this..

Last edited Sat Jul 15, 2017, 05:28 PM - Edit history (1)

This short true read should be required reading in every police training course in the U.S.A. It doesn't matter where that training course is, this needs to be required reading. If you want to be a police officer in this country, with our diversity of people, then this is required reading. And, as this is written evokes fear, the fear of being shot down and killed for no reason..(but the cops imagination)...

Every police person in training must read this..It will save lives and prevent some awful situations. It is also important the pictures be there too. So the trainees can see who wrote it. Perhaps, a stand in for the cop with the gun could be presented..or...if he has real sympathy for his actions, and understanding of the possible consequences....the real cop's picture can be shown...They don't read to reenact this, just the pictures so trainees can see the situation...............

Remember the person who wrote this was in an unfamiliar area. She had completed buying a car in a different area than she lived.. Every police person in training must read this, discuss this, and understand this.

If that happens, lives will be saved, and unnecessary shootings of innocent people will be prevented.

[calimary]

23. Whoa! MAN was she smart.

Cool-headed and collected as can be. Sounds kinda like she picked the only behavior option that was realistically available.

Nervous cops and itchy fingers. Bound to be a recipe for bad outcomes. Thank goodness at least SHE reacted properly. But it's a shame what her clearly obvious takeaway was: it's now the responsibility of the CITIZEN to de-escalate with a jumpy cop. Can't count on the cop to do it.

[Rhiannon12866]

25. Wow. I found I was holding my breath just reading that.

Good advice, but certainly terrifying. I thought of Sandra Bland.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

27. This is just so wrong. And you know what?

Even if a person were trying to steal a car, I will never accept the idea that they deserve to be shot to death for it. Cops need to be trained in other ways to handle these situations. #%@*%#!!!!!

[DFW]

29. This reminded me of something that happened to me 30 years ago

Not exactly similar, as no lives were in danger or guns drawn (it was in Switzerland, after all), but the anger and the insult of automatically being assumed to be something we were not--I can SO relate.

The difference is that the incident so shocked the people at the top, they incorporated it into their permanent training manual, and the offending party was subjected to immediate (and humiliating) discipline--not that it placated two girls aged 2 and 4 who did not understand the concepts of the injustice committed nor the attempt at rectification.

In Tennessee, the off-duty killer cop (and I fully believe he was a heartbeat away from becoming that) will receive no reprimand, and probably no further training to remove the lethal threat that he obviously still is.

[tavernier]

30. I'm quite sure I would have knocked on the door

before attempting to put the plate on a car in a strange neighborhood. But since no one was home, the guy might have taken that as even more suspicious and the scenario wouldn't have changed.

[Fla Dem]

31. This is the reality of the cop/ suspect scenario. And it shouldn't be.

From her article:

"I don’t have de-escalation training. I’m the one being held at gunpoint. I’m the one thinking my life could end if he panics. Yet, I’m the one who must remain calm. The legal system is asking untrained civilians to de-escalate panicky cops."


Cops today are being trained as if they are fighting ISIS in the Mid-East and many cops are veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. Police have to stop treating everyone, especially if dark skinned, as a terrorist.

[heaven05]

32. on this day of worship

in ameriKKKan christiandom, the most segregated hour in america mind you, this situation faced by this AA woman is as perfect a description of racist ameriKKKa that can be ascribed to a self proclaimed privileged people carrying, in it's gun wielding lethality, all the threat inherent of perceived white superiority vs minority standing in that white superiority/privilege mindset.

That this mindset is extremely prevalent and murderously used by gun wielding authorities of the state is even more telling of the white superiority/privilege mindset in this country and worldwide.....and don't get me wrong I have laments about all races and our negatives but for the purpose of this response to the OP I will only talk about white racism/privilege not black self-hate or human failings in general.

That Ms. Jamison survived is a miracle. She was an unarmed black person in this time of whites reasserting their superiority over minorities after 8 years of unfounded racist white terror at the fact that an AA President could send them off to resettlement camps in montana somewhere to settle accounts for Native-american genocide and the forced slavery and servitude of African-americans to white whims and notions of superiority. She was on the receiving end of a racist's lethal solution, in his cowardly racist mindset, to the "problem" of AA citizenship.

Yesterday I was talking to another person of mixed race origin, his white genes coming from a mother, just as I. We had a long conversation on white genocide perpetrated against the Native-american and the unjust slavery of African-americans by white people exercising their privilege and technology of the time(guns) against vastly undergunned or ungunned minorities facing white american religiously inspired 'Manifest Destiny' here in amerikkka.....and yes I WILL continue to us the KKK in describing this culture because americans have been viciously racist from the beginning and the campaign and presidency of the boy-potus now making hay with this so-called democracy show me this culture and it's inhabitants of European origin are still vicious and hate driven when it comes to the jealousy exposed because of the strength of minorities in surviving this racism and hate in this country specifically.

[Nitram]

34. Excellent and frightening account.

This alone proves to me the fact that, as a white man, I am privileged in this society.

[JI7]

35. i think most gun nuts fantasize about pulling a gun and shooting a black person

or other minority.