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Racism, he wrote
By Bob Weir
Allegations of racism during this presidential campaign remind me of an incident that occurred several years ago when I was a cop in NYC. It was about 3 a.m. and I was working the midnight shift with my partner on radio motor patrol in Brooklyn. Suddenly, as we turned a corner, we saw a car at the next intersection slowly moving past the red light. As we drove up on the auto it had come to rest halfway across the avenue and stopped, as if it was parked. We exited our car and approached carefully. The black man behind the wheel was slumped over it and appeared to be sleeping with his foot on the brake. Luckily, there was no traffic at that late hour on the side street in the middle of the single-family home area. Afraid to alarm the man, I reached into the car and turned off the engine, while my partner placed our car in the intersection with the roof lights on. When the engine stopped, the man jumped in his seat, slamming his foot on the accelerator, confirming my reason for grabbing the keys. It was evident the man had been drinking, stopped at the light, and fell asleep. I ordered him to slide over and I drove the car to a space across the street. After checking his license I found that he lived just a few houses away.
He was apologizing for his actions and pleaded with me not to arrest him. My decision was to give him a ticket for passing the light and let him off down the street at his driveway. After receiving the summons and walking unsteadily toward his front door, he made some kind of snide comment toward me as he looked back. I dismissed it and continued on patrol with my partner. A few days later, while working a day tour, I was ordered to report to the division office in regard to some sort of investigation. My partner was assigned a foot post until my return. I was ushered into an office and seated in front of a desk being occupied by a ruddy-faced lieutenant in civilian clothes. He was holding a crumpled piece of paper on which was scrawled a letter of complaint against me.
"Officer Weir, do you have a problem with black people?" he said, tossing the letter on the desk.
"I have a letter here from a man who says you used a racial slur when giving him a ticket," he growled.
"Lieutenant, I assure you that's an outright lie," I protested.
"Really?" he replied, furrowing his brow. "I doubt the man would go through the trouble of sending a letter unless he was outraged by your insult."
"Sir, I was very respectful of that guy." I went on to explain what happened, but he seemed intent on finding me guilty.
"Who were you working with that night?" he asked.
"Officer Parker," I replied, as he picked up the phone and called my precinct.
"I'll find out what your partner has to say, because, let me tell you, he could be in as much trouble as you if he didn't report your actions."
For the next 30 minutes, he read me the riot act, determined to add my scalp to his belt.
"Lieutenant, Officer Parker is here," said the woman on the intercom.
"Send him in," he barked. The door opened and my interrogator looked up in shock. "You're Officer Parker?" he said incredulously to the tall, black man standing in the doorway.
"Yes, sir, I was told to report here." Looking as though his fish had popped off the line the supervisor was at a loss for words. "Er...., were you with Officer Weir when he gave a ticket to this man the other night," he stammered, handing the letter to my partner.
"Oh, yes, I remember this," Parker said. "This guy is saying Bob called him what?" my partner said in disbelief, as he scanned the paper. "That's baloney! I've worked with Bob long enough to know that's a lie, and I was there that night. This man was lucky he wasn't arrested."
The lieutenant glared at me and snatched the letter back. "Officer, why didn't you tell me your partner was black?" he said angrily.
"Sir, you didn't ask me. You just assumed I'm guilty because the complainant is black and I'm white."
"Get the hell out of my office!" he sneered, unwilling to admit his own knee-jerk bigotry.
On the way back to our precinct, I told my partner that lunch was on me.
"Why?" he inquired.
"To thank you for being black," I replied with a grin.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
weirtalking wrote on May 21, 2012 8:39 PM:
" Dear TX Swede - I sincerely believe that bigotry, in one form or another, will always exist as long as there are differences in color, religion, gender, etc. Hence, I'm not saying the president doesn't face racism from some in the electorate. However, I think you'd agree that he received a sizeable amount of votes from whites in 2008, without which he had no chance of being elected. Furthermore, I think you'd also agree that many blacks play the race card because they've learned that it works. As in my aforementioned essay, whites are considered guilty whenever blacks make allegations of racism against them. If a white makes such an allegation against a black it's not taken seriously and it's unlikely to receive any publicity. You cite examples of criticism leveled at President Obama as though it's unprecedented in politics. President Bush was probably the most severely maligned Chief Executive in modern history. I suppose if he was black he could have called all his critics "racists." Now that we've experienced the first black president, perhaps it's time for us to stop using race as leverage against anyone who dares to disagree with a person of color. "
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But are you really saying that the President does NOT face racism from a sizeable minority in this country?!?! Do you think the Birthers are motivated by love of the Constitution? Do you think "Kenyan Socialist" is just a clever political label? Is calling him the "food stamp President" or the "affirmative action President" not a dog whistle for racists?
I don't think that you have to be racist to disagree with President Obama, but claiming, as you seem to, that the accusations of racism are overblown seems to be ignoring the facts for an entertaining story. "