It is horrible. I went to school in inner city Cleveland and was blessed to have black friends and also was a person who was allowed to audit a black heritage club (couldn’t be a member because I was white).
Interesting things I learned during that time.
- I lost a lot of white friends who shunned me after
- I learned about profiling when a cop profiled us from coming from a gas station (gravel does not taste good) for a robbery we didn’t commit
- I learned the importance of leaving a receipt in your hand upon exiting an electronics store and showing the receipt to clerk on exit
- When pulled over unless I had something on me I did not move except to open a window and then I asked if I could do something (or) I had my partner get something prior to the cop arriving.
- I cringe when I see cop lights still to this day because of #2
The thing is … I am privileged and if those things still have an effect on me, I can’t imagine the horror of replaying a variety of those issues “every” day for an entire life time.
It is down right deplorable and given the shit storm of gendered expectations toss this on it …. ugh.