#CrimingWhileWhite

[AthenaAwakened]

Using the #CrimingWhileWhite hashtag, white Twitter users are apparently confessing to crimes they committed and got away with, that they say could more likely have gotten a black American arrested.

http://qz.com/306243/crimingwhilewh...-crimes-that-black-people-are-prosecuted-for/

Who woulda thunk it?

It appears everybody.

 

[RavenSky]

Wonder if the stats cited in the article will be acknowledged by our resident police defenders

 

[bilby]

Whoever verbed the word 'crime' needs to be shot, whatever his or her skin colour.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

Whoever verbed the word 'crime' needs to be shot, whatever his or her skin colour.

LOL

When my kid first read it to me, I had him do it three times.

 

[Bronzeage]

I shot a man in Reno.

 

[Emily Lake]

I can't compete. The worst thing I've ever done is accidentally run a red light. I'm a lightweight. And a very law abiding citizen. I don't even jaywalk except under duress (like my spouse grabbing my hand and dragging me across the completely empty street while mocking me for being a giant chicken)

 

[RavenSky]

Whoever verbed the word 'crime' needs to be shot, whatever his or her skin colour.

Took me longer than I want to admit to figure out what it was supposed to mean.

One of the tweets suggests having comedians alternate reading out-loud the #CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack tweets.

 

[Angry Floof]

Years ago, I ran out of gas on the DC beltway. I pulled over and decided to have a little toke while waiting for roadside service. A police officer soon pulled up behind me. I cracked the far window and sprayed some air freshener, which any stoner knows, doesn't actually help. The officer came over and asked if everything was OK. I told him fine, just waiting for roadside service to bring me some gas, but as I spoke, his eyes were going everywhere in my car and I could tell by the look on his face that he smelled it. He got very still for a moment, and then just said, "All right, have a nice day" and left.

Even back then, my thoughts went to "what if I were black or poor driving a shitty car?" I felt certain that I would have been arrested had I not been white in a brand new car wearing office work clothes.

 

[Mageth]

I drove through Vidor, Texas; with a white woman in the car, no less.

 

[Rhea]

I've never been arrested - and I could write a book on the things I've done that would have gotten me arrested if I were black. This continued and egregious injustice is breaking my heart. I really thought at some point it would be so obviously wrong, so clearly lopsided, that even the most oblivious people would finally agree that wrongs are happening. And I am still wrong in that optimism. An optimism that, ironically, exposes my privilege.

 

[barbos]

I can't compete. The worst thing I've ever done is accidentally run a red light. I'm a lightweight. And a very law abiding citizen. I don't even jaywalk except under duress (like my spouse grabbing my hand and dragging me across the completely empty street while mocking me for being a giant chicken)

Giant chickens are illegal.

 

[Mumbles]

Whoever verbed the word 'crime' needs to be shot, whatever his or her skin colour.

Took me longer than I want to admit to figure out what it was supposed to mean.

One of the tweets suggests having comedians alternate reading out-loud the #CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack tweets.

That'd work. It's actually pretty jarring to read white people discussing actual crimes that the police waved off, and then black people (yes, I did contribute) discussing times they were pointlessly harassed or attacked by police.

 

[EricK]

I'm not at all suggesting any conclusions drawn are incorrect, but by not even trying to collect stories of eg black people who were let off for minor offences, or of white people who were harassed by police for minor offences, this sort of twitter campaign can only ever give a one-sided account of the situation.

 

[RavenSky]

Took me longer than I want to admit to figure out what it was supposed to mean.

One of the tweets suggests having comedians alternate reading out-loud the #CrimingWhileWhite and #AliveWhileBlack tweets.

That'd work. It's actually pretty jarring to read white people discussing actual crimes that the police waved off, and then black people (yes, I did contribute) discussing times they were pointlessly harassed or attacked by police.

it is extremely jarring to be reading the two threads side-by-side, and with so many examples from everywhere, which is part of what makes them both so necessary, in my opinion.

 

[Earl IV]

I shot a man in Reno.

We need more information to discern the legality of your action.

Was the man in question white or black?

If he was white, you clearly committed a heinous crime.

If he was black, please check the appropriate justification below.
Multiple choices are acceptable, but not required.

He was wearing a hoodie
He was listening to loud music
He was selling cigarettes
He was eating skittles
He made me afraid

 

[thebeave]

I'm not at all suggesting any conclusions drawn are incorrect, but by not even trying to collect stories of eg black people who were let off for minor offences, or of white people who were harassed by police for minor offences, this sort of twitter campaign can only ever give a one-sided account of the situation.

Exactly. A bunch of anecdotes from self selected people means nothing. It has a lot of emotional appeal, but there is no scientific conclusion, or even a "gotcha" to be drawn from it. Maybe we can start a hastag campaign where people tell about their 90+ year old grandparents who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 70 years and never got lung cancer. Just think how powerful a statement that would make if we found 10,000 people to tweet that! That way we can prove to the world that smoking cigarettes is actually safe. Or even good for you!

 

[Derec]

I shot a man in Reno.

We need more information to discern the legality of your action.

Like did he shoot him just to watch him die?

He was wearing a hoodie
He was listening to loud music
He was selling cigarettes
He was eating skittles
He made me afraid

That doesn't even rhyme!

 

[Derec]

Even back then, my thoughts went to "what if I were black or poor driving a shitty car?" I felt certain that I would have been arrested had I not been white in a brand new car wearing office work clothes.

Or maybe it had to do with you being an attractive (if you are, I don't know) female?

 

[dx713]

I'm not at all suggesting any conclusions drawn are incorrect, but by not even trying to collect stories of eg black people who were let off for minor offences, or of white people who were harassed by police for minor offences, this sort of twitter campaign can only ever give a one-sided account of the situation.

Exactly. A bunch of anecdotes from self selected people means nothing. It has a lot of emotional appeal, but there is no scientific conclusion, or even a "gotcha" to be drawn from it. Maybe we can start a hastag campaign where people tell about their 90+ year old grandparents who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 70 years and never got lung cancer. Just think how powerful a statement that would make if we found 10,000 people to tweet that! That way we can prove to the world that smoking cigarettes is actually safe. Or even good for you!

True, but we already know, by the statistics, that there must be a bias in law enforcement and/or justice.
The twitter campaign isn't meant to prove it, it's meant to provoke reaction by humanizing the statistics.

 

[Derec]

I can't compete. The worst thing I've ever done is accidentally run a red light. I'm a lightweight. And a very law abiding citizen. I don't even jaywalk except under duress (like my spouse grabbing my hand and dragging me across the completely empty street while mocking me for being a giant chicken)

Which means you can answer the age old question: why did the (giant) chicken cross the road?