What are you doing in this neighborhood?

I’ve seen a few friends — black friends — share their own personal stories in the past few weeks, stories about their personal experiences being stopped by police for nonsense reasons and asked things like “what are you doing in this neighborhood?” and I realized a lot of white people have probably never had such an experience.

I have.

I’ve been stopped while walking in Studewood — a block away from my own high school — and asked to show ID for no reason. I’ve been stopped in Acres Homes, on Knox St, a couple of blocks from MC Williams for some nonsense reason — the cop said I came into the “other lane”. What “other lane”? There’s no “lanes” on this road. But both times, the real reason came out in the next question — “What are YOU doing in this neighborhood?”

Ahh… why am I in a black neighborhood?!?

After answering a couple of questions, they let me go on about my way. I thought they were jackasses and bothering me for no reason. You can even call it racial profiling — a white guy in a black neighborhood, must be up to no good. But, at the end of the day — these stops were just a mere nuisance to me, more than anything else. And that’s where my story differs from my friends’ that I’ve seen posted. I wasn’t asked to get of the car. I wasn’t patted down. I wasn’t followed home. I didn’t have to “prove” my story in any sort of way.

Oh, but the big difference?

I never. Once. Feared for my life.

Not even for a second.

Never even crossed my mind as a remote possibility.

And that. Is. A. HUGE. Difference.