Chris Rock has been pulled over 3 times in the past 7 weeks

[poppy]

..... and takes a selfie whenever it happens.

http://www.unilad.co.uk/articles/chris-rock-takes-a-selfie-every-time-the-police-pull-him-over/

 

That is insane to me.

One of the time, he hadn't even started his car yet.

Chris Rock is rich and famous and is able to be snarky about this.

I imagine pulled over repeatedly for "Driving While Black" would be incredibly depressing, at best, for most anyone.

 

[Guest]

I didn't believe there was a problem until my sister married a non-white person. The really sad thing is, cops treat him nicer when they realize he is Indian and not black.

 

It is a serious problem.

[SKL]

I agree it is a serious problem.  I just have to add, though, that I once got 3 actual tickets in the course of two weeks.  One of them was because the light bulb over my rear license plate had broken (that ticket cost me over $100).  The other two were for speeding (not uncommonly fast, but yeah, I was about 11 over).  My friends were of the opinion that it was my old car the cops didn't like.  I dunno, but I haven't been pulled over since I bought a new car....

 

Stereotyping sucks....

 

I love Chris Rock and am glad he is in a position to bring attention to stuff like this.

[TeenagerMom]

I really don't feel that there is enough information. One time it looks like he was in the back seat. Was it a cab? Limo? Was he/the driver ticketed? Given warnings? Was he even in the same city? I mean really.....I could feasibly see legit reasons, especially if he wasn't even the driver all three times.

 

I have a white female friend. She gets pulled over at LEAST once a month. She admittedly drives her Charger like a bat out of hell.

[zoobie]

The only times my DH was ever pulled over the entire 6 years he drove a gold 84 Monte Carlo through undergrad and law school was when he had a black guy in the car with him. Never got a ticket. His roommate stopped carpooling with him unless I drove my innocuous Civic and he sat in the back. It was ridiculous.

[poppy]

 

 

The other two were for speeding (not uncommonly fast, but yeah, I was about 11 over).  My friends were of the opinion that it was my old car the cops didn't like.  I dunno, but I haven't been pulled over since I bought a new car....

 

USA today article: "Actor Isaiah Washington responded to Rock's post on April 1 by saying, "I sold my $90,000.00 Mercedes G500...because I got tired of being pulled over by Police."  Can't win.

 

[SKL]

..... and takes a selfie whenever it happens.

http://www.unilad.co.uk/articles/chris-rock-takes-a-selfie-every-time-the-police-pull-him-over/

 

That is insane to me.

One of the time, he hadn't even started his car yet.

Chris Rock is rich and famous and is able to be snarky about this.

I imagine pulled over repeatedly for "Driving While Black" would be incredibly depressing, at best, for most anyone.

 

He said he wasn't driving.  If you look closely you can see he's in the passenger seat.  So it wasn't really "him" who got pulled over.  I'm not sure we know the color of the driver.

 

[SKL]

USA today article: "Actor Isaiah Washington responded to Rock's post on April 1 by saying, "I sold my $90,000.00 Mercedes G500...because I got tired of being pulled over by Police."  Can't win.

 

I assume Chris Rock drives a nicer car than my old dead Saturn Ion.  I didn't get the impression his car was the issue.

 

[TeenagerMom]

Speeding is speeding. Eleven miles over the limit could equal death if you hit a pedestrian or substantial damage to vehicles & property depending on where you are and the speed limit. In my town, 11 miles over going through town almost guarantees you a ticket no matter what color you are. Five miles over is generally ignored. If you don't want to get pulled over, don't speed.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I agree it is a serious problem.  I just have to add, though, that I once got 3 actual tickets in the course of two weeks.  One of them was because the light bulb over my rear license plate had broken (that ticket cost me over $100).  The other two were for speeding (not uncommonly fast, but yeah, I was about 11 over).  My friends were of the opinion that it was my old car the cops didn't like.  I dunno, but I haven't been pulled over since I bought a new car....

 

Stereotyping sucks....

 

I love Chris Rock and am glad he is in a position to bring attention to stuff like this.

I got pulled over once while driving an old Junker because the officer wanted to know what was holding my car together.... that's what he said.  I think it's because I was young, blond, and my even younger, blonder sister was with me. 

[Anne in CA]

The nice car I is the issue. They want to know it's not stolen. It isn't fair, because if an ordinary person gets their car stolen th ed police couldn't care less.

[Farrar]

Speeding is speeding. Eleven miles over the limit could equal death if you hit a pedestrian or substantial damage to vehicles & property depending on where you are and the speed limit. In my town, 11 miles over going through town almost guarantees you a ticket no matter what color you are. Five miles over is generally ignored. If you don't want to get pulled over, don't speed.

 

I have never lived anywhere where going 11 over led to getting pulled over even most of the time, much less was anything like a "guarantee."

 

One of the things that bothers me in things like this is the time spent picking apart the context. The point is that white people break/bend the rules in the same way and only occasionally get ticketed while black people get ticketed or pulled over at a much higher rate. I mean, imagine that there's a park full of people. A cop is there hiding behind a bush to enforce that no one litters. She can make allowances for circumstances. Every time a white person litters, she seems to see a reason it's not worth giving them a ticket - too old, it would be a hardship, dealing with that young sick child, etc. Every once in awhile, she does give a white person a ticket, but mostly she just lets it go. She thinks of herself as nice. She thinks she's looking for extenuating circumstances for everyone, but every time a black person litters, she's out of that bush to give a ticket. They never seem to have any circumstances. Should the black folks litter? Probably not. Is the cop being a racist? Um, duh. She may not even mean to be, but she is. And this is life driving for black people. The cops never seem to "see" a reason to let them drive on by. In fact, before they've even done anything, they're often watching them to do something wrong. The white guy driving past doesn't get watched. And if you're not watching, you don't notice when he turns on his headlights and one is busted or when he also goes 11 over.

[MysteryJen]

I was pulled over 3 times in less than 3 weeks last year. One for a light out in my taillight, one for a light out in my brake light, and once for a cracked windshield.

 

It made me extremely paranoid. Because I fit the profile, middle-aged mom in a minivan.

[LucyStoner]

Here's my comment.

 

I have been pulled over for valid reasons and never been given a ticket. Once I made an illegal uturn, and was driving without my license in the car AND my insurance card was expired by a month and I was just politely waved on my way. I could have been given tickets totaling big money for all that.

 

I've been pulled over in the morning decked out in my cold weather workout (layers, hoodie, baseball cap) gear for nonsense reasons. As soon as the officer sees my face, I've been sent on my merry little way. My sedan is like one duct taped side view mirror and a spoiler away from a hooptie. This does not happen in the minivan. This does not happen in daylight hours.

 

A number of times I have been in a car driven by a black person and when they were pulled over the officer visibly changed his tune when I was noticed in the car. This has happened in cars where the black driver was my brother, where the black driver was a friend and where the black driver was an esteemed community member.

 

These things can only happen a few times each before I have to start drawing conclusions. It's not a nice thought but yeah, my pretty white face has gotten me out of so much.

 

Also, where I live there are definitely stretches of roads where people consistently are 10-15 miles over the posted speed limit and it is not at all something that gets most people pulled over.

[LucyStoner]

Humor.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=naUFIUZ2Ryc

[Firefly]

Color me non-nonplussed.  <_<

[Carrie12345]

I've been pulled over twice in my entire life - once for speeding while trying to get out of the way of a tractor trailer and once for expired inspection.  Both were planned "stings", not spontaneous decisions to pull ME over.

 

I've driven a 10yo sedan, 20yo jalopy, a sports car, and 2 minivans.  I didn't become a cautious driver until the minivan years.  I've NEVER been "chosen". It's definitely a sad privilege of being white.

[poppy]

I was pulled over 3 times in less than 3 weeks last year. One for a light out in my taillight, one for a light out in my brake light, and once for a cracked windshield.

 

It made me extremely paranoid. Because I fit the profile, middle-aged mom in a minivan.

 

I am going to guess this is not a 3 week problem, but a life problem for Chris Rock. Enough that he started a selfie campaign.  Because he fits a different profile.

 

 

 

[Southern Ivy]

Oh, I read this backwards. I thought it was 7xs in 3 weeks. 
3 times in 7 weeks isn't really that much. 7xs in 3 weeks...then I'd be really questioning it. 
However, like someone else stated - there's not enough information. Same car? Same state? Same city? Different city? Too many variables for me to immediately say it was race; but then again, I've also never had to deal with race being a negative issue for me, so I'm not really in the position to make a definitive statement. 

[LucyStoner]

Well, if it makes Chris Rock feel any better, I get pulled over because I drive a dark 15pax van with tinted windows. The police are just sure I must be smuggling illegal immigrants into the country, or something. They are always surprised when they look into the car and see a white, middle-aged, frazzled-looking woman and the van full of my own kids.

 

(LOL)

If you were Latina and had 6 kids (some fully grown) and lived in Texas, would your experience be the same? Would they still be surprised or immediately at ease? Would they assume all of the kids were yours or that you were all citizens?

[Daria]

He said he wasn't driving.  If you look closely you can see he's in the passenger seat.  So it wasn't really "him" who got pulled over.  I'm not sure we know the color of the driver.

 

 

As a white parent of a black boy, the rate at which I got pulled over changed dramatically once he got old enough to sit in the front seat.  

 

From the time he was born until he turned 13, I got pulled over once when I accidentally drove the wrong way on a one way street (i.e. 100% my fault).  The cop was polite, deferential, and apologetic "I'm sure you didn't mean it, I'm so sorry to waste your time . . . " and gave me a warning.

 

In the first year he was in the front seat, I got pulled over for 

 

-- stopping at a stop sign, realizing there was a tree blocking my view of traffic on the right hand side, and pulling forward and stopping again with my tires on the stop sign.  The cop in that case approached me from the passenger's side and was clearly surprised when he realized there was a white person in the car.  Once he figured out that we were mother and child he told me that it was within his power to call CPS and have my child "sent back to foster care" if he wanted to.  

 

-- broken light bulb around license plate

 

So, regardless of the race of the driver, I'll say that you can absolutely get pulled over for "sitting in the front seat while black" too. 

[kristi26]

I have never lived anywhere where going 11 over led to getting pulled over even most of the time, much less was anything like a "guarantee."

 

One of the things that bothers me in things like this is the time spent picking apart the context. The point is that white people break/bend the rules in the same way and only occasionally get ticketed while black people get ticketed or pulled over at a much higher rate. I mean, imagine that there's a park full of people. A cop is there hiding behind a bush to enforce that no one litters. She can make allowances for circumstances. Every time a white person litters, she seems to see a reason it's not worth giving them a ticket - too old, it would be a hardship, dealing with that young sick child, etc. Every once in awhile, she does give a white person a ticket, but mostly she just lets it go. She thinks of herself as nice. She thinks she's looking for extenuating circumstances for everyone, but every time a black person litters, she's out of that bush to give a ticket. They never seem to have any circumstances. Should the black folks litter? Probably not. Is the cop being a racist? Um, duh. She may not even mean to be, but she is. And this is life driving for black people. The cops never seem to "see" a reason to let them drive on by. In fact, before they've even done anything, they're often watching them to do something wrong. The white guy driving past doesn't get watched. And if you're not watching, you don't notice when he turns on his headlights and one is busted or when he also goes 11 over.

 

I have nothing intelligently valuable to add to the actual discussion so I'll remain silent on that. However, I too live in a town where going 11 miles over the speed limit is a guarantee you'll be pulled over.  5 miles at most is the accepted norm. It must be a smaller town thing?

[poppy]

Oh, I read this backwards. I thought it was 7xs in 3 weeks. 

3 times in 7 weeks isn't really that much. 7xs in 3 weeks...then I'd be really questioning it. 

However, like someone else stated - there's not enough information. Same car? Same state? Same city? Different city? Too many variables for me to immediately say it was race; but then again, I've also never had to deal with race being a negative issue for me, so I'm not really in the position to make a definitive statement. 

 

Lots of questions about something that is pretty obvious.... why do you think he's taking these photos in the first place?

Chris Rock the author of a pretty well known comedic PSA on the subject that isn't exactly whiny (just linking due to salty language) That was six years ago.

[LucyStoner]

Oh, I read this backwards. I thought it was 7xs in 3 weeks.

3 times in 7 weeks isn't really that much. 7xs in 3 weeks...then I'd be really questioning it.

However, like someone else stated - there's not enough information. Same car? Same state? Same city? Different city? Too many variables for me to immediately say it was race; but then again, I've also never had to deal with race being a negative issue for me, so I'm not really in the position to make a definitive statement.

Say this pace continues (and I doubt he snapped a selfie the first time this happened), that's 22 stops in a year. Think about how you would feel if you were stopped 22 times in a year.

[Southern Ivy]

Say this pace continues (and I doubt he snapped a selfie the first time this happened), that's 22 stops in a year. Think about how you would feel if you were stopped 22 times in a year.

Agreed - that would be a lot of stops. 

And as I said, I don't have the information, nor do I have the background with racial issues to make a definitive statement on the subject. :)

[LucyStoner]

Once he figured out that we were mother and child he told me that it was within his power to call CPS and have my child "sent back to foster care" if he wanted to.

 

 

Oh, my gosh. That is horrible and totally unacceptable. I am sorry that happened to your family. What a nasty assumption that officer made. I've seen those assumptions made a lot as my older brother is black.

[LucyStoner]

Agreed - that would be a lot of stops.

And as I said, I don't have the information, nor do I have the background with racial issues to make a definitive statement on the subject. :)

So you have to experience it to believe what not only other people tell you but mountains of data reveal? I'm sorry but I don't quite understand that.

[Guest]

I'd just assume speeding, illegal parking, illegal merging, etc, before racism. The CHP are notorious jerks. Maybe it's profiling, but I'm not going to buy that just because he claims it is. Few people want to admit guilt in moving violations and we are only hearing one side of the story.

 

I'll remain skeptical on that point. But maybe the reason Ihaven't been pulled over in a decade is because in white? I always just figured it was because I'm obsessive about following the law whenever I'm in a vehicle.

 

Profiling happens, but that doesn't mean it is happening here. Bad drivers abound and taking a selfie or professing a campaign doesn't mean he is being groundlessly pulled over.

[Southern Ivy]

nm 

 

[Annie G]

I have nothing intelligently valuable to add to the actual discussion so I'll remain silent on that. However, I too live in a town where going 11 miles over the speed limit is a guarantee you'll be pulled over.  5 miles at most is the accepted norm. It must be a smaller town thing?

 

Our town is the same way. About 20,000 people living here, and they are serious about the speed limit.  At least on the main streets. 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Are we honestly questioning if race is at play here?

[poppy]

Are we honestly questioning if race is at play here?

I think this is why Rock posted the photos without comment. Because there will always be people who work really hard to argue that race is not a factor . It must be anything else.

 

I don't get the "I need direct experience" thing either. I think ISIS is bad. I think Malala is heroic. I don't know an enormous amount about Iraq, Syria , Pakistan..... But I know enough to figure the fundamentals.

[SKL]

I am sure it happens.  I am equally sure that sometimes people think it is happening when it isn't.

 

We recently had to deal with a tenant issue.  Facts are facts, but the person could not believe it wasn't all racism.  He actually went and questioned our other tenants to try to gather evidence that we were letting others get away with the same stuff.  (He found no such evidence because he's wrong.)

 

I think I understand why he feels that way.  After all, where we live, racism was absolutely taken for granted until recent decades.  Things are better now, but nowhere near equal.  But just because racism is sometimes behind a negative action, that doesn't mean black people are never actually guilty and deserving of those actions.  It also does not mean every non-black person is racist.  That said, I think it's very hard to tell when it is and isn't happening.

 

Statistically, it is clearly happening.  But on a case by case basis, the assumption that it is happening because one is black is unhelpful.  Calling people racist for not doing anything racist is not the way to fight racism IMO.

 

I keep hearing on the internet about non-black people who never get tickets, but that's not how it is in my world.  When I go to traffic court, the majority of people there are white.  Every non-black person I know has had their fair share of tickets or more.  Maybe we just have meaner cops over here.

[Southern Ivy]

So you have to experience it to believe what not only other people tell you but mountains of data reveal? I'm sorry but I don't quite understand that.

I guess more what I was trying (poorly) to say was that since I have never had negative issues pertaining to race, my mind does not immediately go there. I just immediately wondered what all the other factors were. That is where my comment pertaining to experience came into play. 

It's not that I don't believe him. And like you said, it's probably happened a lot to him and he's just now started taking pictures. But, maybe there are some other factors we don't know about. 

 

I don't doubt it happens. I just hate jumping to that conclusion immediately. I hope that makes sense.  

[LucyStoner]

I guess more what I was trying (poorly) to say was that since I have never had negative issues pertaining to race, my mind does not immediately go there. I wonder what all the other factors were. It's not that I don't believe him. And like you said, it's probably happened a lot to him and he's just now started taking pictures. But, maybe there are some other factors we don't know about.

 

I don't doubt it happens. I just hate jumping to that conclusion immediately. I hope that makes sense.

This is the thing though, maybe any one stop is totally legit and not racially motivated. It's the pattern of all the stops that is the real issue. The immediate assumption of my innocence/good intentions when I am stopped and then not ticketed (taillight, that u-turn, expired tabs, driving in the dark, ha ha). My mind does not "jump to that conclusion immediately", but I have to take the totality of experiences and not dismiss them against all evidence either.

 

A poster related a story where she was told during a traffic stop for a minor thing that the cop could take her son "back to foster care"? Another posted that on being seen to be a white white mom, the cops are surprised because they pulled over her passenger van expecting to see something else. I recall a border agent shifting from brusk, rude language to sweet as pie when he saw white me in the passenger seat next to the black driver (we were both law abiding college girls). Should we really be doing backflips to dismiss the racial connotations of this sort of thing? I don't really think so.

[Guest]

It might be a race thing. It might not be. Unless, of course, only Caucasians and Asians perpetrate moving violations and are justifiably pulled over, and anyone who is Latino or Black is just being profiled.

 

Seems *slightly* unlikely that is the case.

[plansrme]

 

I keep hearing on the internet about non-black people who never get tickets, but that's not how it is in my world.  When I go to traffic court, the majority of people there are white.  Every non-black person I know has had their fair share of tickets or more.  Maybe we just have meaner cops over here.

 

Chris Rock has nothing on me.  I was once pulled over twice in the same night.  I was a white college girl driving in rural Alabama.  The second time I was pulled over that night was only one of three times I have been pulled over and have not gotten a ticket.  I have been pulled over for:

 

1.  Speeding, probably 7 or 8 times (I drive a lot and used to drive on the fast side); I received a ticket for all but two of those stops, once when I'd just been ticketed an hour earlier, and once when I was trying to make it back to school after staying home to see if my grandfather was going to survive a heart attack (sounds made-up but was true).

2.  An expired tag, twice, 20 years apart.

3.  Roll-and-go through a stop sign, twice.

4.  Turning right on red when there was a tiny, obscured sign telling you not to.

5.  Having a brake light out.

6.  Suspicion of driving a stolen car.  I didn't get a ticket for this, either, as I explained why my tag did not match my car (new car, old tag, and I had something from the dealership as evidence).

7.  Texting at a stoplight, allegedly.  I actually was clumsily answering my phone, but I still got a ticket.

 

These events were mostly in rural Alabama and Atlanta.  So no, I don't understand all these white people who are getting pulled over and are not getting ticketed.  Where do you drive???

[SKL]

 The immediate assumption of my innocene/good intentions when I am stopped and then not ticketed.

 

You must have a lovely face compared to mine, because my personal ratio of ticket to traffic stop (over the past 30 years) is at least 95%.

 

My white brother and sister both got tickets recently for sliding on icy country roads into the ditch.  (No other vehicles, alcohol, etc. involved.)  My dad had come to drive my sister home, and he asked the cop, "do you ever *not* give a ticket?"  And the cop answered, pretty much no.

 

I've tried every trick to talk cops out of tickets, but none of them work for me.  :/

 

I'll again reiterate that I am sure black people get stopped more often than white people and that racism is a factor for sure.  However, it is not my experience that white people consistently get a pass while black people don't.

 

I would also note that around here, in cities with significant black populations, there are many black cops, so that probably helps.

[SKL]

A slight tangent, but here's an anecdote that happened to me recently.  I was in traffic court for one of those 3 tickets I got in 2 weeks.  :/  I sat next to a black couple near the back.  A white guy's turn came up.  He had been ticketed for not having his current address on his drivers' license.  (I guess that means he was stopped for nothing, if that was all they could find to ticket him for.)  His explanation:  his permanent address is the address on his license; he is in town temporarily to attend college.  So the judge said, "you're a student?  OK, then I will waive the fine."  The black people next to me voiced their opinion that he got off because he's white and "claimed" to be a student.  In their opinion, he would not have gotten off if he had black skin.  While IMO he "got off" because the ticket never should have been issued in the first place.  Granted, I have not seen a black student "get off" for that reason, probably because a. I've never heard of such a ticket before and b. there aren't as many local black students whose permanent addresses are elsewhere.  Everyone else in the courtroom, white and black, got fined.  But what the folks next to me took away was that white people "get off" because they're white.

[EmseB]

I think this is why Rock posted the photos without comment. Because there will always be people who work really hard to argue that race is not a factor . It must be anything else.

 

So the ambiguity is supposed to mean that each time he got pulled over or stopped, the individual cop was racist?

 

Given the ambiguity, no one is supposed to say, "So, why did they pull you over?"

 

If we do ask the question that means we are also racist?

 

Is there any scenario where Chris Rock could have been stopped and the cop would not be considered racist?

 

For those of you talking about situations where you were pulled over and got waved on your way because you were white, I'm wondering if Chris Rock got ticketed in the situations he posted about.  If he didn't, was it because he was famous?  Do we know if he got ticketed or not?

[SKL]

We don't even know if the cops were white or not.  :P

[TranquilMind]

I was pulled over 3 times in less than 3 weeks last year. One for a light out in my taillight, one for a light out in my brake light, and once for a cracked windshield.

 

It made me extremely paranoid. Because I fit the profile, middle-aged mom in a minivan.

Those middle-aged women in a mini-van are apparently very threatening. ;)

 

I've been pulled over too, for turning left on a light that didn't change until I was nearly through.  A local city with NO crime pulls you over for that.  In my city, they wouldn't think twice about it, because it is a larger city with actual areas where crime does occur. 

[LucyStoner]

You must have a lovely face compared to mine, because my personal ratio of ticket to traffic stop (over the past 30 years) is at least 95%.

 

My white brother and sister both got tickets recently for sliding on icy country roads into the ditch. (No other vehicles, alcohol, etc. involved.) My dad had come to drive my sister home, and he asked the cop, "do you ever *not* give a ticket?" And the cop answered, pretty much no.

 

I've tried every trick to talk cops out of tickets, but none of them work for me. :/

 

 

I've never tried to talk my way out of it. I usually just say thank you for letting me know.

 

I also have also never been pulled over for speeding or the like. Most of the times I have been stopped, it's for a small infraction like my taillight is burned out or I haven't put my new tabs on. That said, I have literally been in situations where once I was stopped, I was in serious violation (no license on me, once my nephew wasn't buckled, I didn't have proof of insurance in the car with me, once my insurance had in fact expired, gosh I sound flakier than I am, honest lol) and still, no ticket was given. That u-turn was in the dead of night and there were no other cars so while illegal, it was hardly risky.

[SKL]

I've never tried to talk my way out of it. I usually just say thank you for letting me know.

 

I also have also never been pulled over for speeding or the like. Most of the times I have been stopped, it's for a small infraction like my taillight is burned out or I haven't put my new tabs on. That said, I have literally been in situations where once I was stopped, I was in serious violation (no license on me, once my nephew wasn't buckled, I didn't have proof of insurance in the car with me, once my insurance had in fact expired, gosh I sound flakier than I am, honest lol) and still, no ticket was given. That u-turn was in the dead of night and there were no other cars so while illegal, it was hardly risky.

 

I believe you.  I would just suggest that maybe your experience cannot be generalized to all white people.  Perhaps it's a local thing where you live or maybe you really have a winning face or personality.

[LucyStoner]

I believe you. I would just suggest that maybe your experience cannot be generalized to all white people. Perhaps it's a local thing where you live or maybe you really have a winning face or personality.

Where am I generalizing my experience to all white people? I am not saying that white people never get ticketed. I am saying that I can't credit my lack of tickets with being totally in compliance

with the law. That, paired with what I have experienced/witnessed as a white passenger and considerable statistical evidence leaves an impression. Race matters.

 

I am not willing to write it off to dumb luck and believe me it is not any level of surpassing gorgeousness, lol.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Unfortunately personal anecdotes make this a difficult discussion as any individual stop may (or may not) be justified based on the facts of a given situation (along with luck and whatever else may be going on in an area). However, there are areas where the available data shows a likely racial bias in traffic stops. Throw in policies like stop and frisk and it is reasonable to see why black men can feel unfairly targeted because sometimes they are.

No one is saying every black male is being pulled over for no reason while white women drive by going 30 mph over the speed limit with expired tags and weaving in and out of lanes. But there are places in the U.S. where 25% of the population is being pulled over for 50% of all traffic stops, which leads to questions about whether police procedures in those areas are fair. Throw in how certain groups are sometimes treated differently during traffic stops and anyone looking at the issue reasonably should be able to see there is a problem.

[LucyStoner]

I think it is way more complex than saying that a cop who pulls over Chris Rock or waves white lady on is racist. It's not about any one individual stop. It's the pattern that troublingly emerges when looking at the whole. It would be an easy fix to just say the cop is a racist. No, the framework reinforces the biased results. Does the cop have individual responsibility? Should the cop examine his personal motives and assumptions? Sure, if they are consistenly stopping and ticketing disproportionately. Not all of them are. But nothing is solved by arguing over if any one cop is racist. Likely nearly none of them are virulent vindictive raging racist types. It is more subtle. More insidious. More nuanced than that.

 

Also the race of the cop him or herself has less of an impact on disproportionate policing than one might assume.

[SKL]

Where am I generalizing my experience to all white people? I am not saying that white people never get ticketed. I am saying that I can't credit my lack of tickets with being totally in compliance

with the law. That, paired with what I have experienced/witnessed as a white passenger and considerable statistical evidence leaves an impression. Race matters.

 

I am not willing to write it off to dumb luck and believe me it is not any level of surpassing gorgeousness, lol.

 

Like I said many times, I agree that statistics and anecdotes abound to prove that race is a factor in some traffic stops and some tickets.

 

But your personal anecdotes really don't prove anything beyond your personal / local experience.  Using similar logic, I could say I probably get ticketed because I'm white.  But the fact is that I got ticketed because, e.g., I was listening to Queen really loud in a place where local residents had recently complained to cops about speeders.  Or I had just gone from the freeway to a very low-traffic area and thought I was going slower than I was.  Or I was unlucky enough to encounter a cop who was having a rotten day.  There are reasons besides race, but if I was black, would I assume it was race every time?

 

IMO your personal anecdotes about not being ticketed don't carry more weight than those of white people who say "I get tickets too."

[poppy]

It might be a race thing. It might not be. Unless, of course, only Caucasians and Asians perpetrate moving violations and are justifiably pulled over, and anyone who is Latino or Black is just being profiled.

 

Seems *slightly* unlikely that is the case.

 

Black guy in expensive car gets pulled over frequently.  So frequently he starts taking selfies during it.  Happens 3 times in less than 2 months.

That is what this thread is about. I have no idea what you are arguing or what it has to do with Chris Rock. 

It's not about moving violations at all, really, at one point he is stopped before the car was in motion.

Maybe he had a busted taillight?

Maybe his tags were old?

Must be something other than the elephant in the room.....

[Trilliums]

Last week my son showed me this link. 

 

http://www.nyclu.org/news/new-nyclu-report-finds-nypd-stop-and-frisk-practices-ineffective-reveals-depth-of-racial-dispar

Bolded is mine.

 

• "In 70 out of 76 precincts, blacks and Latinos accounted for more than 50 percent of stops, and in 33 precincts they accounted for more than 90 percent of stops. In the 10 precincts with black and Latino populations of 14 percent or less (such as the 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village), black and Latino New Yorkers accounted for more than 70 percent of stops in six of those precincts."