F#%k tha police

F#%k the police comin straight from the underground
A young brutha got it bad cause I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
they have the authority to kill a minority - Ice Cube (F#%k tha Police)

I don't like the police.

Never have. Never will.

I know that they are here to serve and protect. I know that they have a thankless job. I know that 99% of cops are good people. I guess I'm just a magnet for the 1% of cops that are racist assholes. Let me take you back to the summer of 1998 when a young Kyle got pulled over THREE times in ONE week for the same offense...DWB (driving while black)

SUNDAY

I was riding in the car with my boy, JFresh. We had just come from downtown Atlanta and were headed to our townhouse in nearby Marietta. We were waiting at a traffic light when we saw a cop get behind his car. As soon as we made a right turn, the blue lights came on. JFresh, who was driving a sleek black Acura Integra, was calm. He showed the officer his papers and license. The police officer NEVER said why he pulled us over. He just asked if he lived in the area because J's drivers license and license plate were both from the state of South Carolina. He told him the officer that he was a student at Georgia Tech (which was a lie). The officer let us go. All we could do was shake our heads. There was so much crime in Cobb County at the time but WE get pulled over?

WEDNESDAY

I was driving alone. I was on my way back to my apartment after leaving the movies. I was on the same street that I was on just a few days earlier. I made a right turn at the same light. Same results...blue lights! The cop was nice but never said WHY I was pulled over. I didn't ask. Didn't have to. Wrong color.

If I was old, they'd probably be a friend of me
Since I'm young, they consider me the enemy - Ice Cube (Tales from the Darkside)

FRIDAY

I left Atlanta that day and was headed to my hometown, Florence, South Carolina, for the weekend. I'm cruising down Interstate 20 with the windows down. I'm driving through Madison County (about an hour outside of Atlanta) when I see a cop "hiding" in the bushes in the median. I look at my speedometer and it's reading at "60 mph" and the speed limit is 65. I drive past the cop. He sees me and pulls out onto the highway immediately. I saw him pull onto the highway but I didn't know he was coming after me. The next thing I know...I see the blue lights...AGAIN!!! The officer asks me for my information and I give it to him. After a few minutes, he comes back and here's what he says...

Cop: "Sir, where are you headed?"

Me: "I'm headed to Florence, SC"

Cop: "Where are you coming from?"

Me: "I'm coming from Atlanta." (Why do you wanna know asshole?)

Cop: "Can you step out of the car? I'd like to search the car...if that's okay with you, sir."

Me: "Sure. If you want to search it...go ahead." (What the hell you think you gonna find fatboy?"

I step out of the car and stand in the grass as this dude looks around my Nissan Sentra (not a Bentley but a Sentra). At this point, I'm sure that SEVERAL of my civil rights have been violated.

Cop: "Can I look in your trunk?"

Me: "Yeah." (I hope you don't see the dead body back there)

I open the trunk. Nothing back there but my bag

Cop: "Sir, can I open up the bag? I have to ask first...do you have any drugs or guns in this bag"

Me: I chuckled. "No, l left them at home."

Cop: "I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you. It's just that we have lot of drug trafficking between here and Texas. We have been cracking down on it."

Me: "I would never sell drugs." 

Cop: "You are free to leave, sir. Have a good day."

I wonder what was the dead giveaway that day. Was it my hooptie? Was it the Yankees fitted hat that I had on backwards? I know what it was. And so do you. How else would somebody explain getting pulled over by cops 3 times in a week? I did what my parents always told me...1) be calm & cordial 2) always let them see your hands 3) never ride with more than 3 other black kids in a car because you WILL get pulled over.

I have 3 sons. What will I tell them about the police? I'll tell them this story as well as my other run-ins with the cops. I would like to think things will be different for them.

I doubt it.