- Joined
- Jul 16, 2008
- Messages
- 26,808
- Points
- 113
https://sg.yahoo.com/news/black-officers-torn-between-two-175331652.html
Best or worst of both worlds? See what they say.
Black police officers say they too have experienced racism — on and off the job.
Norman, Oklahoma, officer Ralph Manous recalled an experience while attending Missouri State University. He was walking home from his overnight job when he started to hear honking from a truck in the distance.
“Somebody threw a full beer at my head. And so I instantly took off running. And they chased me, throwing beers, a whole bunch of racial slurs, stuff like that," Manous said. As a former junior college wrestler, he was still athletic enough to escape after jumping some fences and hiding behind a backyard shed.
Even as an officer, he is leery of other police. When he leaves Norman, he hangs his wallet badge on his rearview mirror to make sure if he is pulled over, officers immediately know he’s one of them.
He’s been to protests in Norman. He said the response from black people is usually negative when they find out he’s an officer.
“They typically start to clam up and get secretive or think that I’m out to get them,” he said. “They crack the little sly jokes. I get where they are coming from."
Once, when he was the first officer to show up on a call for a disturbance, the man who answered the door wouldn’t speak to him or let him into the house. When his white partner arrived, the man immediately explained everything to the other officer. When it was time to leave, the man shook his partner’s hand but turned his back on Manous and walked away.
“I said, ‘OK. This is the America we are living in.’”
